Deputy has to pay admission to make arrest at county fair

[Liberal_in_LA]

Deputy has to pay admission to make arrest at county fair

Published : Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010, 7:11 AM CDT

LAPORTE, Ind. (AP) - A sheriff's deputy was told he had to pay admission before he could enter the LaPorte County Fair to make an arrest.

Sgt. Mike Kellems was called to the fairgrounds Friday to arrest a person another deputy had recognized as wanted on a felony warrant.

But when he stopped at the gate to tell attendants why he was there, Kellems was told he had to pay the $5 admission price.

The fair hired a private security firm this year, but deputies have to be called in to make any arrests.

Under the new rules, deputies have to pay admission unless called to make an arrest. It wasn't clear why the attendants insisted Kellems pay.

The fair's general manager says common sense got overlooked.

http://www.topix.com/news/weird/2010/07/fair-makes-deputy-pay-to-arrest-suspect

[sharp_stick]

1. Sure he was there to make an arrest...

You know he just wanted to check out the Jelly making competition and scam his way onto the tilt-a-whirl.

[petronius]

2. That's pretty funny - I'm guessing the fair has had issues in the past with LEOs

flashing badges to avoid entry fees. Although $5 is a pretty cheap fair admission - guess they make it up on ride tickets and fried twinkies.

Still, gotta give the deputies credit - the first one (who I assume was off-duty) apparently decided not to make a heroic solo felony take-down on the midway, and the second one chose not to taze the ticket seller. Pretty solid police work, all-in-all... :)

[sharp_stick]

3. Chose not to taze the ticket seller...

ROFL I'm glad I'm not the only one that wondered why nobody was tased in this incident. It seems tailor made for a taser testing field in many jurisdictions.