Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Oopsie--Mall Cops ( Warning--Slightly Graphic)

Well, heck. I thought it was staged. After braving the Mall of America crowds (and scoring a great jacket for Brian at Macy's), we decided to have dinner at Crave's.

The waitress commented: "Looks like we're having an episode of Mall Cops here tonight." Apparently, there's an actual reality TV show called "Mall Cops" that's filmed in Mall of America. The mall has a branch of the Bloomington Police station right in the mall, as well as its own mall cops. And there were all these lights and cameras and cops. . . . and I jumped up with my camera to go take a look-see.

Part of this shot is through a glass partition; thankfully that explains the streaks on the right--not my camera falling apart!

And I snapped 3 shots:
The first is of a bunch of cops standing around.



And then it was obvious to me that the action was somewhere on the ground, and why is that cop grinning?



. . . and then, EWWWWWW! That looks like blood!!!



At this point, a woman turned to me and said harshly "This is NOT funny, quit taking pictures."

Well, I wasn't laughing, and it suddenly occurred to me that the thing about those reality tv shows usually means it's real. I turned to someone else and asked, "Is this staged????" "Nope." And I went back to our table.

The waitress came back later with the "scoop." She said that a guy had been going from bar to bar in the mall, drinking and not paying his tab. When he went into a liquor store, opened the bottle, and starting drinking it right in the store, the Mall Cops were called, and he fled to our restaurant.

It was really weird to see the camera crew with the Mall Cops. They moved like one big single organism, with this mass of lights on poles, and cameras. Remind me that the next time I see something like this, I might want to consider that those guns are real, and someone might be pulling some triggers. No photo is worth my obit shot; that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

16 comments:

Maria said...

What an adventure! Doesn't it give you a renewed respect for journalists who travel to really, really scary places in the world?

Cindi Koceich said...

wow...what an experience!!!!
And, you were right there!!!!
Now I must keep my eyes open for this show! HAHA!

Barb said...

My goodness Angela. You are turning into the paparazzi. :)

Yolanda said...

Looks like you stumbled into an adventure. I've never heard of this show-- I'll have to look.

Jeanne said...

Oh goodness, what an experience! I've heard of the show, but haven't seen it. Your life is a tad more adventurous than mine, that is for sure! LOL

Nicki said...

Never a dull moment for you guys - go holiday shopping (with camera I might note) and capture a TV reality show - you are an adventure magnet. I remember the movie Mall Cop, but didn't know it was also a reality show.

Reds said...

Wow - what a show! Glad you had your camera with you!

Margaret said...

Wow! What a story. Nothing that exciting ever happens to me at the mall. (I guess that's a good thing, right?) Although back in October, we had a mall scavenger hunt for Mallory at a nearby mall, and the security guard kept getting on our case, telling us the girls were being too rowdy. They really weren't....but he was a little overzealous....:)

pat said...

Man, scary! If I were going to be in the midst of a reality show, I'd rather it be "The Amazing Race"!

shirley said...

Cool adventure, that's for sure! I love that you took pictures of the altercation - maybe you could sell them to the tabloids!

Gypsy Girl(Brenda) said...

Well that was some experience for sure. Looks pretty scary.

Suzy said...

What an adventure! I would have been taking photos to!

The Au Family said...

Oh my! What an adventure! Kind of scary!

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Sharon said...

Who says you thought it was funny? Were you giggling? ;)

OK, I am. That is probably a lot of excitement for the mall cops.

Nicki said...

Angela - thanks for the comments on my blog. I would love to take my camera with me - but my family hasn't gotten there yet. I will live vicariously through you and other camera packing moms until that day comes. :)

Anonymous said...

I agree you should be careful, and I disagree with the lady who scolded you. If you follow me on twitter, you know I think people do bizarre things and it is just human nature to find them interesting:)