'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

July 2, 2006 -- A Manhattan face-painter and balloon-animal maker said overzealous cops tackled him off his bike, shoved two guns to his head and threw him in the slammer for more than four hours - all because his misplaced balloon pump looked like a bomb.

Alexander "Sasha" Alhovsky said the takedown occurred in front of dozens of horrified children on Thursday at about 5.30 p.m. outside an Upper East Side playground.

"They thought I was a terrorist," Alhovsky, 36, said yesterday.

The previous Sunday, Alhovsky said, he left a rainbow-striped balloon pump in a Starbucks on 66th Street and First Avenue - and a worker called cops.

Four days later, he was cycling home from Central Park - where he's plied his trade outside the zoo entrance for 15 years - when about eight cops jumped on him from behind, he claimed.

"There was a gun in my face and another on the back of my neck," he said. "They were screaming, 'Get off your f- - -ing bike, you f- - -' . . . They were dragging me around."

Alhovsky was taken to the 19th Precinct station house.

Eventually, a plainclothes officer came into the room with a photo of the $850 electric air pump he had purchased online.

"I told them what I did for a living and that it was just a pump," he said. Alhovsky was then released.

Alhovsky said he wants an apology from cops.

"It appears the officers took prudent steps to handle what may have been a dangerous situation," Police Chief Michael Collins said in a written statement.

From our friends at the New York Post.

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

:lol: :lol: :lol: :rock::lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

Sue, or blow them up. Irony?

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

He should bomb the precinct now.

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

Jeez.

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

Street performers get exactly what they deserve. A light pummeling. The man is in his 30's and he makes ballons for a living. Hopefullt the cops knocked some sense into his dirty, encrusted, pachuilli stinking head.

...

Goddam hippie.

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

Cops are too...crazy these days.

They shouldn't be allowed to abuse their power like that. Shoot first, ask later is not a good approach to take.

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

yea, I was watching dateline the other day, it was about online sexual predators or whatever, and how they talk to kids online or whatever. Anyways, Dateline had this house set up where they were going to "meet" a kid, but instead they get to the front door and walk in and there's ted coppel or whoever from dateline. Anyways, on their way out they are then arrested. As they are walking back to their car, the cops jump out and scream at the guys and brutally shove them to the ground. It was obvious these guys had no intention whatsoever of running, as soon as they see the cops they put their hands up, yet the cops still find the need to shove them to the ground. Now im not saying these are great guys, I mean what they were doing is obviously wrong, but I find the excessive force to be a simple matter of the cops going on a power trip for no reason.

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

This is a common misinterpretation. Cops force suspects to the ground in a rough manner for their own safety. Sure, maybe someone looks like they're going to go quietly... and then when the cop lets his guard down the suspect pulls out a weapon and attacks. I have 2 friends who are cops. It happens more than you think, even in areas that are considered "safe".

Police officers go out everyday and put their lives on the line and have protocols that are in place to keep themselves safe. For every hippie that takes a tumble, thats one more cop that goes home safe. If you start asking police officers to pre-qualify the intentions on a suspect you are opening the doors to further violence.

Now I say this knowing that there is unneccessary violence by police officers, but its hardly the rule and that guy's little bruise is not an example of it.

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

What if you were innocently walking home one day and the police misinterpreted any item on your person as a bomb. Then they tackle you to the ground, bruising your ribs and causing further damage as you scrape up your face on the sidewalk. Now you're in pain with your face cut up and it was all for nothing.

Would you get up and say "Good show, boys. This is a great way to keep average Americans like me safe from terrorists."?

Hmm, Professor? Hmmmmm?

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

I'd probably just go murder the cop's family, jeeeeez.

Re: 'Terror Balloon' Bust is a Bruiser
 

Actually, yes. I'd get better. If I had a bomb, those that it killed wouldn't. I'd like an apology, but I wouldn't whine like a damn bitch. Maybe my opinion comes from working as a bouncer and having the experience of bouncing those that may or may not have been a problem. Its better to bruise someone's ego, which is what really happened here, then to end up with an emergency room situation because someone got stabbed or their head got busted open.

You see scrapes and bruises, I see prevention of something far worse.