Iron Man busted? Are the police Stark raving mad? Read more below:
“The NYPD is making good on its pledge to rid Times Square of its costumed super-zeroes — busting four more menaces in just 30 minutes over the weekend.
Two Iron Men, a Spider-Man and an Elmo were accused of blocking pedestrians, while Spider-Man also grabbed a passerby to pose for a picture, cops said.
The busts came just hours after cops started handing out fliers telling visitors to the Crossroads of the World that they don’t have to pay for photos.
The four rogue characters were charged with disorderly conduct late Saturday, with “Spider-Man” William Suarez, 32, also charged with aggressive panhandling for allegedly laying his hands on a potential mark.
Suarez, “Iron Man” Javier Hernandez, 37, and “Elmo” Jose Maria, 25, were all locked up pending arraignment, while the other “Iron Man,” Khalid Lahmadi, 40, was released with a summons.
The crackdown followed Saturday’s police distribution of fliers in several languages that said, “Photos with costumed characters are free. Tipping is optional.”
Two uniformed cops continued spreading the message Sunday, approaching tourists and saying, “You don’t have to pay,” after they took snapshots with cartoon copycats.
Carlos Oliveira, 40, of Richmond, Va., said that despite the NYPD’s efforts, a man dressed as the Statute of Liberty demanded $5 after posing with Oliveira’s kids, Nicholas, 8, and Geovanna, 5.
Oliveira called that amount “too much” and instead gave $2 to someone dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants, who also posed with his children.
“There aren’t that many things for kids to do in Times Square, so this was a fun thing for them,” he said. “As soon as we got here, they wanted to take photos.”
Many of the panhandlers are Hispanic immigrants, and Lucia Gomez, head of the immigrant-rights group La Fuente, stopped by Times Square Sunday to take photos and video of the cops in action.
Gomez said she was contacted by several costumed characters last week and was holding a series of meetings to try to organize them and help shape any potential legislation.”
Source: NYPost
