Should Joseph Carnevale have been arrested?
Asked by
kenmc (
11773
)
June 17th, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31395158/ns/us_news-weird_news/
RALEIGH, N.C. – When Joseph Carnevale chopped up three stolen orange and white traffic barrels from a construction site to create a massive sculpture of a roadside monster thumbing a ride, the North Carolina college student said he saw it as a form of street art.
Raleigh, N.C., police just saw vandalism.
They dismantled the 10-foot “barrel monster” and arrested Carnevale. Hundreds of online supporters want the charges dropped and the publicity has turned the history major and part-time construction worker into a local celebrity.
The article continues…
Hamlin Associates, the construction company whose barrels were turned into a monster, doesn’t want to press charges.
“We’ve had a fair amount of vandalism, but never anyone turn it into art,” Company President Steven Hussey said. “I actually thought it was pretty neat.”
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9 Answers
If he has the owners permission, even if it is after the fact, I don’t get how it can be considered vandalism? I should probably read the article.
If the owners of the property he damaged don’t care, I don’t see why he should be arressted. Unless there is some law about causing a distraction on a public road. I can see where that could be a problem. Some places have talked about (and may have done it) doing away with the roadside memorials where people have died in car accidents for that same reason.
I guess only if the owners of the barrels pressed charges.
Even then, if they didn’t press charges, maybe if it violated some traffic law I would think just a citation.
The thought of this wasting money in a court makes me ill. <—Hyperbole
If the owners don’t care I can’t see why anyone would. He should pay to replace the cones and it should be over.
Even the construction company thought it was neat, why should the artist be arrested. I think it’s something nice, he turn some boring plain barrels into a masterpiece, something fun. I don’t think he should be arrested at all, can nobody express their love for art anymore?
Fined, maybe. Arrested, no way. Especially given the construction company’s reaction.
He did steal but the construction site deciding not to press charges was a class act. The police were doing their job on this one.
If the police have cause to believe a crime has been committed, then they can and do have the power to arrest the person who committed the act in question. However, unless he was breaking a law about blocking the ROW (Right Of Way), creating a distraction to drivers, or some other statute, the owners of the barrels would have to press charges. If they don’t press charges and no other laws were broken, then the police must release the person.
This brief article says only that he was arrested. It does not say that charges are being pressed or that he has been indicted or even tried. It sounds as though Carnevale should have asked permission to cut up the barrels first, and possibly gotten a building permit for the place he installed it. It also sounds as if he is doing quite well out of all this.
The police are doing their job correctly.
God no! that thing was bad-ass.
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