Comments on: Headphone Dancing Ends in Arrest in DC

By: ell

ell — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:13:33 +0000

The replies to this are nothing like I expected them to be. How is it that this can be seen as anything other than abuse of power by the park police?

By: paul

paul — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:48:00 +0000

i participated in a silent dance party in dupont circle (located in washington dc) several months ago – it was the middle of the night in a public park area and 120+ people were there. no one got arrested that night….the dude was just bored. notice how it said someone was detained and it didn’t say anything about anyone getting CHARGED…? what the hell are they gonna charge him with?

By: Katelyn

Katelyn — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:18:52 +0000

This is just stupid…me and my friends dance all the time. I live in Baltimore, MD (about 20-30 minutes from D.C.) and they never reported this on the news or anything. This is just stupid that people don’t have the right to dance and be an individual! This is was Thomas Jefferson stood up for…I mean not really dancing but the right to be free!

GIVE US THE FREEDOM TO D.A.N.C.E!

By: tony

tony — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:54:41 +0000

@LegalView
i admit that u should let a police officer do his job – unless he imposes on ur rights as an american citizen.
#1 – There were under 25 people – there is no problem with the Jefferson Memorial rules – nothing is being broken
#2 – Yes, he may ask people to leave, but what purpose was it for? if anything, he should have a complaint written against him for for doing the unnecessary in the first place by asking people to leave.
#3 – only wanna-be-cops do s*** like that. he probably needed to feel important once in his life – all the rent-a-cops do that to me when im doing something that isnt necessarily illegal.

@everybody else
it is pretty weird to dance in the jefferson memorial…very weird. feel free to do what u want to do – even if that means dancing for jefferson. the cop probably saw this as very awkward and prepared himself for the “worst”

But my honest opinion – the cop is a jerk who never got anywhere in life – just like all the wannabe-cops/rent-a-cops

By: Drew

Drew — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:06:27 +0000

Willow, why do you hate America?

By: Willow

Willow — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:07:12 +0000

When i was watching the video, i did notice that the dancers were being rather loud. true, they had headphones on, but that didnt mean that they were being quiet. Then when the police officer came in and they started arguing with them, i couldnt help but notice that they were being rather petulant. Was it really so hard to just leave?

@ Nichole – i think you had the right idea. I’m pretty sure that they went in there hoping for attention of any kind, good or bad. i highly doubt they really cared about jefferson and his birthday, i think they were just looking for an excuse to act in a way that would make people notice them.

Once they were asked to leave, they began to argue, as the video shows. Imagine if the cops had asked them to leave, and the people had argued, and instead of arresting them, the cops listened and left them alone: would it really be fun after that? I’ve noticed that whenever youre doing something fun and get yelled at for it, its not usually fun if you keep doing it anyway.

And if they had really wanted to celebrate jefferson’s birthday, they would have gone to the memorial to look at it, not to dance in it. they didnt care, they just wanted to attention.

@ GreyBear
>The question is what law did they break? Disorderly conductat ? Is dancing so disorderly? When? So we should raid clubs now which are also btw public places.<
yes, clubs are public places, but the purpose of a club is specifically for dancing. the jefferson memorial (any memorial) is not, its purpose is for people to pay respects, and none of those people were being very respectful, even if they had gone at night.

one last thing: Their arguments were really flimsy. “read the walls you protect”? “If jefferson were here right now he would be very dissatisfied”? and is it any wonder that the police officer got angry with them? the camera carrier was taunting him: “youre angry…wow…”

By: Drew

Drew — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:26:00 +0000

OH NO THE TERRORISTS ARE DANCING WITH HEADPHONES ON AROUND THE JEFFERSON MEMORIAL!!! WELL THEY’RE NOT GETTING THEIR 40 VIRGINS ON MY WATCH!!!

By: Marisa

Marisa — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:11:14 +0000

I dont think these guys were necessarily kicked out for dancing but more because they were in a big group and they suspected something out of the ordinary might escalate. It was obvious they were all together but maybe if they were spread out more it wouldn’t have been a big deal.

Although there weren’t any music, they weren’t really being ’silent’. I’m pretty sure it’s standard to be quiet at memorials anyways so this was just stupid.

By: Hannah

Hannah — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:19:22 +0000

Also, the terrorist assumption is pretty screwed – I think that everyone knows the police knew they weren’t terrorists…if you who think that the police thought they were terrorists are so paranoid, then what is America about when you ARE America? Your generation has become scared of just an immature group of dancers…this had nothing to do with terrorists at all. I believe that you have taken things way out of proportion…they were dancing, making noise, they were asked to leave, fought with the police, one girl got arrested…it was probably predictable if they’d thought it through, and now it’s done. There isn’t anything left to argue about.

By: Hannah

Hannah — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:09:47 +0000

Honestly, I hope that all of you aren’t adults, because I’m 15 and even I can tell that that event wasn’t silent or coordinated – it was a little bit of chaos, I’d say…and I think the guy with the camera couldn’t really make a decent argument, I mean, “This is the Jefferson Memorial…we’re, we’re just dancing for his birthday,there’s nothing wrong with that; we’re just silently dancing…read the walls…” I don’t know, I just don’t think it was very silent or orderly – everyone was laughing and clapping their hands – and giving that policeman a hard time was unnecessary when he just asked them to get out.