It all started as a light-hearted prank at a Powder Puff football game, but ended with a 20-year-old in jail for Silly String.
As farcical as that sentence may sound, it accurately approximates what occurred near Palm Beach Florida on Tuesday, when a recent high school graduate was arrested for aggravated battery after he allegedly sprayed a Jupiter (Fla.) High staff member in the face with Silly String.
According to the Palm Beach Post, 20-year-old Joshua Melvin was one of four men who raided an annual Jupiter powder puff football game -- competed between girls rather than guys, without pads – and rushed onto the field wearing a ski mask and wielding a can of silly string. Because a Jupiter staff member couldn’t actually tell what was inside the aerosol can that Melvin was carrying, he or she chased after the man to try and tackle him. Yet, when that staff member got close, he got a face full of Silly String.
There was no word of injury to the Jupiter staff member. In fact, if he or she was affected by the Silly String, that might be a notable first for the classic novelty product. In case anyone doesn't realize what Silly String looks and acts like when shot out of a can, you can check it out in the video directly below.
According to the Post, Melvin and his cohorts, who were quick enough to jump a nearby fence and escape, were only attempting to spray coaches and players in an act of light-hearted mischief.
His spraying of the Jupiter staff member was clearly an extension of that, though it was at closer range that the “stringing” administered to players and coaches during the quartet's run by.
Perhaps because he had no real weapon and posed no practical threat to anyone, Melvin was released on Wednesday, after spending Tuesday night in the Jupiter town jail. There is still no word of whether charges could be filed against the other three men who took part in Melvin’s prank; at the moment they have quite literally outrun the long arm of the law.
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