Wednesday 25 December, 2024

Man dresses up as ninja to 'help police'

Pity the neighbours didn’t see it that way.

PERHAPS HE WAS inspired after watching Kick Ass 2? Perhaps he’s just a little eccentric?

A 19-year-old Pennsylvania man who dressed up as a ninja and lurked near homes has had the legality of his actions called into question.

Todd Kapcsos of Johnstown was in court on Wednesday to waive his right to a preliminary hearing on charges of loitering, prowling at night and disorderly conduct.

Police said Kapcsos frightened some elderly residents who saw him sneaking around while carrying a black baseball bat and wearing a hooded sweatshirt, another long shirt, a mask and a pair of gloves–all of them black.

But hey, he was just trying to help. Kapcsos contends he wanted to help police catch bad guys.

I dressed up in all black, snuck around, went through bushes. There’s not enough police officers, the community should do something rather than sit back.

The teen vigilante claimed to be practicing ‘ninja moves’ including rolling into a ball so he’d appear to be a rock hidden in the shadows.

But one neighbour, Chris Trevino said that

It looked more like he was trying to break into homes, not like he was gonna be a ninja and save the world. He was going back and forth creeping.

Trevino quickly called the police on the unlikely superhero.

Several high-profile crimes have occurred in Kapcsos’ neighbourhood in recent months, including three of the city’s five homicides. The last one occurred Aug. 6–a stabbing at a car wash–about three weeks after Kapcsos was arrested.