Here's a Mayor Who Should be Impeached

Peoria, IL’s mayor sent the police after someone who parodied him on Twitter, according to Reason.

Jim Ardis, mayor of Peoria, Illinois, ordered police to track down whoever was responsible for a parody Twitter account mocking him.

As a result, police raided a West Bluff home, seized property, and detained three people for questioning. The Twitter account, @PeoriaMayor, has been suspended. According to the Journal Star, the account had all of 50 posts and an equal number of followers. The Twitter profile apparently did not initially indicate that it was a parody account, but added that label in early March.

The label was hardly necessary, though, to prevent reader confusion. The Journal Starexplains that “police were informed of the account by Ardis on March 12. The tweets implied ‘Mayor Ardis utilizes illegal drugs, associates with prostitutes and utilized offensive inappropriate language,’ according to an affidavit filed for the warrant.” Who would actually believe such tweets were coming from the mayor? Well, maybe residents of Toronto.

Well, yeah.

Still, it’s not a crime to be a pest on Twitter.

Check out the update:

Over at Vice, Justin Glawe knows the people involved in the parody account andreports on their fears. He also highlights some of the problems with the police department there. It’s worth a read.

The police seem to have treated the parodist as if he’s the kingpin of an international drug cartel.

Jon Daniel woke up on Thursday morning to a news crew in his living room, which was a welcome change from the company he had on Tuesday night, when the Peoria, Illinois, police came crashing through the door. The officers tore the 28-year-old’s home apart, seizing electronics and taking several of his roommates in for questioning; one woman who lived there spent three hours in an interrogation room. All for a parody Twitter account.

If someone is not suspected of a violent crime — in this case, not a crime at all — what’s the justification for police going all SWAT on them?

After the military-style arrest, Daniel may rack up enough lawyer fees defending himself that he’ll end up bankrupt.

For not committing any crime…