(WSVN) - He was hired to play the Elmo character, and he did. But when a 911 caller thought a crime was committed, the man playing Elmo was arrested. Should he have been? It’s tonight’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
Darren is an actor. Commercials, reality shows, bad guy in a TV show — he can do it all.
Darren Anselmo: “It’s actually really cool, and it’s very exciting. I could be a doctor, a lawyer, whatever they have me do.”
Recently an agent called to see if he wanted to dress up as a character from Sesame Street.
Darren Anselmo: “I’m going to be playing Elmo, in the day care.”
Darren said yes. Excited because it wasn’t going to be taped; it was live.
Darren Anselmo: “So everything is filmed as they go. So it’s like totally livestream. That’s what they call live streamers.”
It was actually two shows.
In one, Darren acted like he was kidnapped without the costume. In the other, he played with kids, as Elmo, at a day care.
Darren Anselmo: “I was like, ‘Hey, you know what? I’m up for anything.'”
The creators of the livestream had written “free candy” on the side of the van. They planned to drive to meet parents to see what their children would say when they got candy with Elmo tied up in the van.
Darren Anselmo: “I’m in the Elmo costume, and I’m tied like this, and I’m laying like this in the back of the U-haul van.”
As they head to the location, you can see Elmo is in the back, and the live camera, which never goes off, shows what happened five minutes into the drive.
Darren Anselmo: “So I could hear them saying, ‘Oh, my God, there’s cops coming. There’s cops coming.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, this is – it’s part of the skit.'”
As you can see and hear, the people in Broward Sheriff’s Office uniforms were not part of the skit.
But in the back of the van, Darren still thought they were actors doing a great job.
Darren Anselmo: “Like, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is really – they really got it going good now. Like, they set up cops and everything.’ I thought it was all staged.”
Then the doors of the van opened.
Darren Anselmo: “And I see this cop there, like with his gun there like that. Took my Elmo head off. He unties me, and then he says, ‘Get on the ground now.'”
And Darren realized this was not a skit. It was real.
Darren Anselmo: “They had helicopters, helicopters flying. They had – they said, ‘Massive ground patrol.'”
Elmo, aka Darren, was arrested along with the three people in the front of the U-Haul.
Darren tried to explain he didn’t set this show up.
Darren Anselmo: “And I said, ‘Look, I’m a paid actor. I’m not part of the production or anything like that. My agency sent me here.'”
Didn’t matter to the deputies.
Darren got out of his Elmo costume and was taken to jail.
Darren Anselmo: “So now I’m in a cell with all these wacky people. One guy’s, like, going to eat us, he says, and is freaking out.”
A few hours later, Darren was released and called his wife to tell her where he had been.
Darren Anselmo: “She’s like, ‘You were doing your job and you got arrested,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, and as an Elmo.'”
You wanna laugh, but Darren says the disorderly conduct charge has stopped some production companies from hiring him.
Darren Anselmo: “I was a paid actor to be Elmo. I don’t think I did anything wrong. I literally went to a job.”
Well, Howard, did Darren dressed as Elmo commit a crime?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal expert: “No, he didn’t. The police responded as they should have to a kidnapping case. But now, two months later, after the facts have become clear, the state attorney should see there is no crime and drop the charges against Darren in his role as Elmo.”
BSO and the Broward State Attorney would not comment on an open case.
The police officer’s report said the skit put law enforcement officers in danger and that a 911 caller said they looked in the van and saw a juvenile with his hands tied.
Darren says the video shows he was the only person in the back of the van.
And then Eric Schwartzreich agreed to defend Darren in his Elmo case.
Eric Schwartzreich: “To charge him with a breach of the peace. It makes no sense, and again, I’ll get a lot of cheesy analogies here. Perhaps they weren’t tickled by this, but it should never have been a crime, and it’s certainly not a breach of the peace.”
Darren is facing 60 days in jail. Eric says Darren will plead not guilty and ask that the charges be dismissed.
Darren Anselmo: “I just feel it’s wrong. I shouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place.”
Eric Schwartzreich: “So, it is our intention and our hope that this case doesn’t go any further, doesn’t see any more light of the day, and that we are going to free Elmo.”
What about the three people who were in front of the van producing the skit? They face the same charges as Darren. We will be in court as Eric and Darren try to end this Elmo saga.
Come across a bad character? Ready to give it a rest? Bring us on stage to deliver an Elmomentary solution.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
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Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
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