It seemed like a good idea at the time. When 40-year-old Star Wars fan George Cross bought a Stormtrooper costume, he thought it would be fun to show it off around the neighborhood in Lynn, Massachusetts, and surprise students at an elementary school. What could possibly go wrong?
Cross quickly found out.
According to Boston.com, dismissal of Brickett Elementary School was delayed Wednesday afternoon as police received numerous alarmed reports of a man in a Star Wars costume holding a toy gun outside the main entrance. Cross was quickly arrested and charged with two misdemeanors: disrupting a school assembly and loitering within 1,000 feet of a school zone.
"I bought a costume, I was walking through the neighborhood showing friends, and then all that," Cross, who was described as cooperative and apologetic during the arrest, told WHDH News outside the courthouse.
Police Lt. Dave Brown told Boston.com Cross "caused quite a commotion," noting law enforcement couldn't simply assume his plastic blaster was a toy. Acknowledging Cross' intentions were innocent enough, Brown said, "It was a poor decision.”