jlowry@bbnccv.UUCP (John Lowry) (09/25/85)
From _The_Boston_Sunday_Globe_ 9/22/85, without permission.
Masked intentions
At coffee break, _Lionel_Lee_
stepped across the street from the
Pensacola, Fla., construction site
where he was working and forgot to
drop the bandanna he wore to keep
dust out of his mouth and nose.
Passerby _Joe_May_, 62, was in a
clowning mood when he "saw this guy
walking down the street. He looked
like the Lone Ranger ... I very
innocently raised my hands as a gag."
But a nearby policeman missed the
joke and decided Lee must be a
dnagerous criminal. He ran over and
alarmed May, who concluded that Lee
must have been a bad guy and tried to
help by pointing that he went
that-a-way. Reinforcement police
arrived, entrances to the coffee shop
were blocked off, and somebody
yelled, "Hit the ground!" as the
construction worker emerged, went
down on his knees and was handcuffed
before everything got straightened
out. By the time he was released,
needless to say, Lee had lost his
taste for coffee. "If it's my fault,
I'm sorry," May said. "But it's good
the cops are right on the job, isn't
it?"