Record company exec arrested for failure to tweet

Jake Widman
Wednesday, 25 November 2009 02:27

Your IT - Entertainment

Police in a New York suburb, faced with an unruly crowd of girls waiting to see a teen idol, asked an executive from the idol's record company to use Twitter to tell the crowd to disperse. When he refused, he was arrested for hindering the police effort.

The crowd had turned out at the Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, New York. (The mall stands on the site of the airport where Charles Lindbergh began his 1927 transatlantic solo flight, hence the name.)

The occasion was a CD signing by 15-year-old pop singer Justin Bieber, who was due to appear at the Justice store, a Tween Brands property.

Bieber was scheduled for 4 p.m., but by 2:30 the mall had called the police for help with crowd control. Thirty-five police units responded.

Nassau County Police detective Kevin Smith told Long Island newspaper Newsday, "We shut this event down. There was a public safety concern."

As part of their efforts, the police asked Def Jam Records senior vice president James Roppo to set out a Twitter message telling the crowd to go home.

Roppo declined and was arrested. He was later charged with felony assault, endangering the welfare of a child, obstruction of governmental administration, reckless endangerment, and criminal nuisance. Apparently the police feel that his failure to tweet was the reason one officer and five mallgoers had to be treated for minor injuries.

Roppo has pled not guilty and is out on US$50,000 bail. He is due back in court on December 9.