Man Arrested For Making Baby Smile

by Elise Nersesian (Subscribe to Elise Nersesian's posts) Feb 9th 2009 1:00PM

Last week eight police cars filled with armed officers swarmed a London man in his 50s and arrested him on the street. His crime? Trying to make a baby laugh.

The man (who has not yet been named) allegedly, approached the baby and its mother with a "silver ray-gun", which lights up and makes a buzzing noise when the trigger is pulled. He pointed the toy at the baby and said, "Pow-pow!"

23 year-old mother Alison Edmonds said she doesn't know the man, and immediately called the police, who sent an armed response team to find and arrest the man, who was waiting for a bus less than a few hundred yards away.

"It was unbelievable," said Edmonds, who told police a man with a gun had threatened her and her baby.

Eyewitnesses were stunned, saying, "What happened next was truly astonishing. I've never seen anything like it. These eight cars screamed to a halt and surrounded the poor man at the bus stop."

"They were fully kitted out with machine guns, rifles and everything."

"The man didn't know what was happening. All he was trying to do was make the baby crack a smile."

Police seized the man's toy ray gun and arrested him on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm in a public place.

This is sort of ridiculous. On one hand, I understand the mother's concern -- a total stranger was playing with her baby. And although in 2008 the crime rate in London fell by 6.5%, I can't say I wouldn't panic if a total stranger started playing with my baby. However, eight cop cars rushing to the scene seems extreme.

Do you think this mom did the right thing by calling the cops, or was she over-reacting? What would you have done in the same situation?

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Comments (39)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Karen 2-09-2009 @ 1:52PM

The mother's young, and we don't know how old the baby is -- I know that when I was a new mother, even at 36, I didn't have exactly a great grasp of reality. And if someone pointed anything at my baby and said "pow pow," I would have freaked. The guy at best showed bad judgment in pointing even a toy weapon at a stranger's baby and making what would be construed as a threat. I hear babies also often smile when you say "a woo woo woo" and stick out your tongue; why bring a weapon into it?

Lisa 2-11-2009 @ 3:40AM

I do agree that is was an dumb thing for the guy to do, pointing a gun at a baby toy one or not. As a mother I would be quite concerned as well, as for her telling the police that he was pointing a gun at her and her baby she should have specified that is a toy gun. They are both at fault here, but please if you wanna make a baby smile talk to the baby, make a silly face don't point a gun at it real or not dummy!

Jaakko Mäki 2-12-2009 @ 8:18AM

When I was about five or six, I got a toy gun that made a noise when you pulled the trigger at a fair. This young guy(20-30) just grabbed it from me and started pointing it at me in a very threatening way..

My grandmother reflexively punched him out cold and gave my toy back.

Nowadays you seem to need cops for everything because practically nobody dares to intervene.

Sandyone 2-09-2009 @ 2:00PM

You might panic when a total stranger plays with your baby? Really? Everybody plays with my baby. I wouldn't panic unless someone tried to steal my baby...and then I'd put my panic on hold while I did something about it.

Unless this mother has been a victim of violent crime (or someone she is close to has been), she completely over-reacted. The cops were probably responding to a report of a man with a gun. That requires a big response.

Karen 2-09-2009 @ 5:54PM

There's a difference between strangers playing with a baby and strangers pointing things at a baby and SAYING POW POW, which can definitely be taken as a threat (and is at airports, schools, domestic violence shelters, etc.). And I wouldn't wait to see whether the silver was plastic or nickel plating before trying to get the he l l out of there and calling the cops. Also, did the news story say anything about the guy pulling the trigger? I didn't read anything about that, so it makes no difference what noises the toy would make.

It's also not reasonable to assume that a woman has not been affected by violence and is not suffering from post-partum depression. Blaming her for freaking out is not fair, especially since we do not know her situation. And neither did the weirdo.

Now, once I found out that the gun was a toy and the guy was just a weirdo, I wouldn't press charges. But I don't feel at all bad because the guy was arrested. He deserved to be, for using such incredibly poor judgment. (Also, what kind of grown man walks around with a toy gun in his pocket? Does it rhyme with "mild protester"?)

Sandyone 2-09-2009 @ 6:40PM

"It's also not reasonable to assume that a woman has not been affected by violence and is not suffering from post-partum depression."

So we're to assume that most people have been affected by violence and are probably suffering post partum depression? I'm more inclined to assume that most people have a more 'average' or 'typical' life. What I said is that I could understand her over-reaction if she had a good reason...like having been a victim/being close to a victim.

I'm disturbed by the number of mothers who think that people shouldn't want to touch their babies, or that people shouldn't want to play with them or even hold them. There's such a paranoia out there and most people just want a little lovin' from an adorable kid. Lighten up, moms!

And stupid people should be arrested? Oy, there'd never be time to find the real criminals. Let's keep civil rights in mind.

Vanks 2-10-2009 @ 12:58AM

You write as if you're completely out of touch with reality. It's a maternal instinct to protect ones child. I'm living in one of the "safe" neighborhoods in FL and still all day long you hear of child abduction, child molestation, incest and the raping of a child (happened 4 days ago or so,) and you think we're anal? If a person whom has no affiliation with me or my child even dares come close with a toy gun and is even dumber than that to say pow pow, you best believe I'm calling the cops. Leave the baby loving to the people that actually love the baby. He or she will not suffer one bit by not having a stranger shower their affection.

Brooke 2-09-2009 @ 3:37PM

Umm what the HECK was he thinking to try to make a baby smile with a gun? If the mother doesn't know that it's fake, or didn't see the whole thing, of course she would be upset, and has every right to be. Why would a grown man try to use a toy gun to make a baby smile? Why would that be acceptable?

Dave SIRUS 2-10-2009 @ 8:57PM

Why did you reply without reading the article? It was a gun that lights up, meaning it was designed for children.

Brooke 2-10-2009 @ 9:12PM

I did read the article, and it doesn't matter what kind of gun it was. Why would a complete stranger, a grown man, point ANY kind of gun at a baby? It's completely inappropriate, it doesn't matter what kind of gun it is. And by the way, not all guns that light up are designed for children, and they're ESPECIALLY not designed for babies.

Joy 2-09-2009 @ 5:01PM

It was a "silver ray-gun", which lights up and makes a buzzing noise when the trigger is pulled, not a "real" looking gun. How could a "toy" that lights up and makes funny sounds look real?

I can see being weirded out or nervous and I can see thinking to myself, "what a nut" but why call the police and say you've been threatened with a gun? She had to know it was a toy and didn't say that to the police.

I think in a lot of ways, we have come a long way and then you read something like this and it just makes you wonder. Overly paranoid much???

Ronald 2-10-2009 @ 8:22PM

This stupid mother needs to be arrested for making a false statement when reporting the event. She endangered this friendly stranger's life by failing to tell 911 that it was not a "real" gun.

She was getting her jollies by being upset over nothing.

Dave Sirus 2-10-2009 @ 8:57PM

This woman is obviously a liar who knew the gun was fake and just wanted to get the attention of screaming that someone was threatening her baby because she's mentally ill. She knew it was a toy, she just didn't like a person talking to her baby, but she couldn't tell the police that, so she screamed "gun".

Everyone defending her is pretending this "might" have been a real gun, which it clearly wasn't if you read the entire article. Having a baby doesn't give you the right to lie to the police and that is exactly what she did.

ronni 2-10-2009 @ 9:26PM

testified! good freaking answer, man. :)

Tina 2-10-2009 @ 11:00PM

I think the mom should be seen by a shrink. Sorry but ray guns are not a real gun unless your blind. Babies are cute and people like to look and talk to them. i hate when they kiss them due to the germ factor as i don't like to be kissed by stange people. how are you going to teach your child how to stay safe without real lif experiances. I teach my kids where and when it's ok to talk to stangers when it's not. A guy asking for change is not someone to talk to but a old lady on the bus it's ok. We treat our kids like eggs these days I can't wait to see how our kids turn out!

ronni 2-10-2009 @ 9:25PM

PATHETIC mother. i bet her kid will be so smothered and hidden that it will FREAK when shown the real world! a FAKE ...um ray gun, (seriously, a light-up ray gun) shouldn't scare someone, they should check her mental stability! honestly, saying pow pow, like that is a threat? ridiculous people here seem to think so, so if i pointed a flower at your kid and went pow pow, and smiled, you would be scared? at least mind your own freakin business and ignore the weird man with the 'ray gun'. calling the police? some poor person might have been victimized while you waste the cops time with pathetic crying over N O T H I N G. grow up, people.

Natalie 2-10-2009 @ 11:06PM

did she even bother to ask this man to go away? maybe she should try that before calling the police and telling them some guy who's trying to make her kid smile has a gun. police are trigger happy, and if they weren't close enough to tell it was a toy gun or not, this man could be dead instead of in custody. ridiculous. completely and utterly ridiculous. she owes this man an apology.

Lee Bosworth 2-11-2009 @ 1:21AM

Keep in mind the "gun" was a toy ray gun, therefore quite obviously not real, or was it that obvious? For all she knew the man could have been an engineer that tinkers with home made ray guns in his spare time. Perhaps he was attempting to bombard the child with microwaves, or ions, or gamma rays, or a LASER. Perhaps that was his plan from the beginning, an extremely sophisticated (given the deadly directed energy weapon the mother must have mistook the toy for) terrorist attack on... a baby. You can never really know in "these times."

Kimchee 2-11-2009 @ 7:10PM

Bahahhahahahahah! Wooooooooo! That is hilarious! Honestly, that woman is a whack job. It's situations like this that make me just say to ladies, "your kid is cute " or "beautiful baby". Half the time the mom's are so ignorant they don't even crack a smile back or say thank you. She was probably one of those types. I agree with the person who said police are trigger happy. That is absolutely right. Had the man been killed by police, kharma would have been hell to pay back. As it is, the way she acted in this situation, I would not be surprised to find out twenty years from now that the kid grew up to be a Manson or Dhamer. Total mommy complex of some kind because she is a smothering psycho. Maybe the kid will pull a Michael Jackson, she will love that. The civil reaction would have been, "Look man, back away from the baby, you are creepin me out." If he didn't listen, tell him you will call the cops or scream or just call the damn cops and say that he won't go away. I think all common sense has been illusive to a grander portion of the population lately. Usually I don't even bother telling someone twice, nor do I bother with cops. Had I told the idiot to back off and he didn't, I would simply make that toy a permanent fixture in his back side.
Moral of the story:
She has head up her rump
Baby will grow up to be serial killer
Man will now probably kill her even if he had not planned on it before because she just got something up his rump in jail
Don't you just love happy endings?