Bob Dylan Picked Up by Police

1. filangieri
   August 15th, 2009 at 7:57 am

   What I like most about this story is that even though the officer didn't believe his story, she still treated him with respect.

2. LisaL
   August 15th, 2009 at 8:58 am

   Lol, very funny story. I probably wouldn't have believed him either.

3. Geekazoid
   August 15th, 2009 at 9:02 am

   A cute story, and what a cutie officer!

4. Rick
   August 15th, 2009 at 9:24 am

   I wonder if she's ever heard of Elvis?

5. Edward
   August 15th, 2009 at 9:27 am

   Oh, come on! How many of you 50+ year-olds would have believed him?

6. Miss Cellania
   August 15th, 2009 at 9:30 am

   All of us. We would recognize the voice, if nothing else.

7. webmonkey
   August 15th, 2009 at 9:34 am

   I think that this is good example of how when you just cooperate with the police you can work out the problem and discover the truth. Unlike the recent arrest of Harvard professor Henry Gates who was basically in the same situation and refused to cooperate with police and the situation spun out of control.

8. Guud Spelar
   August 15th, 2009 at 9:36 am

   Bob Dylan did not perform at Woodstock. No wonder she didn't recognize him, she was thinking of Arlo Guthrie.

9. Charlie Harper
   August 15th, 2009 at 9:57 am

   Good thing he is white. He wouldn't have gotten off so easily otherwise.

10. Altery
    August 15th, 2009 at 10:24 am

    LOOK! It's the Karate Kid!!

    Ralph Machio grew up all femmie

11. Wiem
    August 15th, 2009 at 10:26 am

    It's funny because its like Apartheid?

    Can't go anywhere without your papers, kaffer.

12. Matt
    August 15th, 2009 at 10:45 am

    @#9 - Hold on, he was a white man in a minority neighborhood. Somebody called because he looked out of place. I'd say this was a bit of racial profiling according to the current definition. (Somebody who doesn't look like us is wandering around the neighborhood.) Dylan, unlike Gates, was respectful of and cooperated with the police. I'd suggest that if the roles were reversed you'd hear all sorts of claims of racial profiling and racism. Dylan didn't get off easy because he is white - he was respectful of the cops and didn't lose his cool. He didn't tell the cops "You don't know who you're messing with." There is something to be learned here.

13. gryt
    August 15th, 2009 at 10:48 am

    What an eccentric - going for a walk? How dare he.

14. Matt
    August 15th, 2009 at 10:49 am

    Here is a link to a news story describing the neighborhood as "a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood."

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iy8jnlcZu7jfNUS3KQ5p hFhctnBQD9A2UAHO1

15. poneyup
    August 15th, 2009 at 11:10 am

    Should have busted him.
    Kill all hippies!

16. Rod Holmgren
    August 15th, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    The reason he was all nice is because he had a bag of weed in his raincoat pocket. Lucky for him she didn't pad him down.

17. thesledgehammer
    August 15th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    They'll stone you while you're looking at a house...

18. Jill Harness
    August 15th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    Why shouldn't a white man be allowed to be in a black neighborhood without getting hassled by the police? It's just as offensive as a black man getting hassled by police for being in a rich neighborhood.

    Whether or not Bob actually got arrested because he acted polite is irrelevant; she had no reason to go bug him in the first place.

19. PaulVI
    August 15th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    "Buble picks up Bob Dylan" - hehe.

    To prove that he is Bob Dylan, have him sing.

20. Kate
    August 15th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    "He was wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head."

    White or black, if you saw someone that looked out of place in your neighborhood, wouldn't you call the cops?

21. Wiem
    August 15th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

    "White or black, if you saw someone that looked out of place in your neighborhood, wouldn’t you call the cops?"

    Do you know why I wouldn't call the cops?

    Because I'm an AMERICAN.

    Maybe you should consider living somewhere else.

22. AshleyZ
    August 15th, 2009 at 2:52 pm

    Suppose you saw an elderly man, shabbily dressed, wandering the streets in the pouring rain. He doesn't seem to have any destination or business. If you were a police officer, wouldn't you go over and say hello? Ask him if he's lost, or cold, or needs help? When he claims he's Bob Dylan, but doesn't have any ID, you might reasonably suspect that he's mentally ill. So, you give him a ride back to where he says he's staying, and when someone verifies that he is, in fact, the real Bob Dylan, everybody laughs at you. Why?

    Should a 24-year-old cop be expected to know what a musician looks like, 45 years after he peaked? I mean, I've heard of Bob Dylan, but I have no idea what he looked like in the 60s, let alone today. And frankly, he's not that big anymore. I'm 29, and I only recognize two songs from his greatest-hits album. If they hadn't been on the Forrest Gump soundtrack, it would probably be zero. From the same era, I recognize about half a dozen songs by the Rolling Stones, a handful by Elvis, a dozen by Simon and Garfunkel, and at least 30 or 40 by the Beatles. You can blame society for not popularizing songs that couldn't be easily commercialized, but you can't blame young people for not knowing him now.

23. Greg Bowen
    August 15th, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    When Dylan played in Medford, Oregon - the security didn't let him back stage because they didn't recognize him.

    He should have just busted out with one of his songs acapella that should have solved matters.

24. Greg Bowen
    August 15th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    Oh - and wait - why was he picked up - for walking around? This is the real story.

25. Chris Cyrek
    August 15th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    "He should have just busted out with one of his songs acapella that should have solved matters."

    Yeah, mumbling incoherently would have helped his case. I kid! Dylan is awesome.

26. Ben B.
    August 15th, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    > Should a 24-year-old cop be expected to know what a musician looks like, 45 years after he peaked?

    Should a cop be bothering a pedestrian, committing no crime?

    Or, if walking around, standing, or looking at a house is a crime, shouldn't we get those laws repealed?

    Bod Dylan or Joe Schmoe, the cop was wrong to accost him. The only question in my mind is, are the laws responsible, or was the cop responsible?

27. sc0tty
    August 15th, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    ANything is "suspicious" these days it seems: black guy in a white neighborhood, white guy in a black neighborhood, skinny & short guy in a big & tall store.

    I walked home in the rain a couple nights ago, so what? It was the first rain we've had in about 2 months and I'm like a duck when it comes to water. A couple cop cars drove by me but since I didn't run or make any sudden moves I guess they figured me ok. And I was on a fairly heavy pedestrian walked street. I was trying to put on my best "good ol'boy" face though. And my bag of loot was camoflauged well. (sarcasm)

28. mag jay
    August 15th, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    Go girl...hurray to the girls...

29. Denara
    August 15th, 2009 at 5:43 pm

    According to the CNN article on this, he was peering into the windows of the house that was for sale.

    Creepy old man walking down the street? It's not right stop him.

    Creepy old man in my neighbor's yard peering into their windows? Hell yeah I'm calling the cops.

30. Jill Harness
    August 15th, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    I agree Ben B.

31. Point
    August 15th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    I disagree with Jill Harness.

32. Mim
    August 15th, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    I am old enough to be painfully aware of Bobby Dylmans, and all his hacky piss-work. The only people who are impressed by his affected whining have never read an actual poem. I would have arrested him being awful, if I were a police officer, and that was allowed.

33. Mim
    August 15th, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    Time flies, the aged beast he rambles
    The road not fit for walkin'
    A lantern blue she crosses paths
    With eyes without a wonder who
    Or care, she worries not who hurries
    Mumbles lightly as a clown
    And floats on high o'er smoke and nails
    With shit like this
    Bashed out
    Over a lunchtime pancake
    To make another million.
    It's easy.

34. Garster
    August 15th, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    Has she been living on the moon all of her life?

35. Kevin C
    August 15th, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    Great, now you only need a GED to become a police officer in some jurisdictions.

36. She'd recognize Elvis
    August 15th, 2009 at 7:43 pm

    I'm pretty sure the officer is Elvis's other daughter.

37. Pinkhair
    August 15th, 2009 at 8:00 pm

    But he was so much older then; She expected him to be younger than that now.

38. Robolasse
    August 16th, 2009 at 5:49 am

    That hairy freaky hippie got what he deserved.

39. AshleyZ
    August 16th, 2009 at 6:01 am

    "Should a cop be bothering a pedestrian, committing no crime?"

    Loitering, trespassing, and public drunkeness are all crimes. There's a lower tolerance for vagrancy in the suburbs then there is downtown.

    Also, the role of the police is to protect AND serve. If she's helping an elderly or mentally ill man find his way home, she's serving him and the community. She gave him a ride; it's not like she arrested him. It would have been nicer if she had let him ride in the front of the car rather than the back seat, but the regulations are in place to protect her.

    If your parents or grandparents wandered away from a hospital or senior's home, would you want a caring community to look out for them? Or would you prefer a bunch of libertarians that say "I look out only for myself, and you can do the same".

40. Ralph
    August 16th, 2009 at 7:05 am

    > Now, I’ve seen pictures of Bob Dylan from a long time ago and he didn’t look like Bob Dylan to me at all. He was wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head.

    Looks like Bob Dylan to me.

41. Thomas
    August 16th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    "I’m 29, and I only recognize two songs from his greatest-hits album."

    You make me sad. He's Bob frickin' Dylan. I don't even know what to say, except I'm sorry.

    @32, Mim - I don't like you. One day, I hope you achieve something so great that people care enough to hate it.

42. Jill
    August 18th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    "Loitering, trespassing, and public drunkeness are all crimes."

    Where does it say he was drunk or trespassing. Last I checked, going to another neighborhood isn't trespassing. Hell, if he's walking, he's technically not even loitering. Maybe you should learn what big words mean before you try to act smarter than everyone else.

43. ted
    August 19th, 2009 at 6:14 am

    From the description of his behaviour, it sounds like he was disoriented and possibly a little high.

    He was going into people's yards, and he said he was looking at a house for sale. He's never heard of a real estate agent? Was he seriously going to buy a house there? Dude was baked. She should have run him in.

44. Nichole
    August 22nd, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    I just wanted to say that I am 28 and I am a huge fan of Bob Dylan and could recite the lyircs to almost all of his songs. I would recognize Bob Dylan any day. I saw him live a few years ago. Unlike many people my age and otherwise, I do not limit the music I explore to only that which is grossly marketed to me by big music execs and is manufactured meaningless dribble like Brittany Spears, Justin Timberlake, or the Jonas Brothers. In my opinion, anyone who is moved more by the 'If U Seek Amy' than Dylan's 'It's alright ma' or "Death of Emmitt Till' is contributing to the 'dumbing down of America'. And, what is with the 'death to hippies' sentiment that some people have exhibited here? Bob Dylan and many other so-called hippies, have borught more attention to and raised the public consciousness regarding significant American social issues than most people will ever even give a second thought about. Im sorry some people do not want to take the time to try to use their mind a little to interpret or understand lyrics. With regards to music, it seems that today hardly anyone cares about raising the public consciousness about social issues but rather, just a catchy beat, flashy videos, and meaningless, party lyrics. God bless Bobby D and his contributions to society.

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