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Uncategorized Friday, June 22nd 2012 at 3:10 pm

What Could Be Worse Than Minecraft’s Creepers? How About the SWAT Team?

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It turns out that there is a little game that some people connected to this great series of tubes like to play. It’s called “SWATing” and it involves calling law enforcement officers on the home of someone who irritated you on the Internet. On June 17, 16-year-old Jacob Neumann‘s home was surrounded by heavily armed police officers for banning a Minecraft player from the server he was administrating.

If you are being an ass in an online Minecraft server and someone kicks you, it’s obvious that you have only one option: Call the admin’s local police station and tell the dispatcher that a man murdered his daughter in cold blood. It only makes sense! A 16-year-old kid from Kingston, Washington was on his computer and, upon looking out his bedroom, saw a police officer holding an M16. The officers arrested Jacob Neumann’s father, Dave Neumann, after receiving a report that he shot his teenage daughter in the head. Dave Neumann does not even have a teenage daughter. Investigators are speculating that the report came from a Canadian gamer, putting the caller outside of the jurisdiction of state laws.

Law Enforcement personel are all trained to take every report seriously and respond accordingly; the police officers were just doing their job. Apparently, this was not the first time this prank has taken place. It has been used to target bloggers as well as random individuals. This prank places public safety officers and citizens in a very delicate situation. One false move from anyone could lead to catastrophe.

Wow. Just Wow. You better watch what you do on the Internet, folks. You may just end up handcuffed on the ground.

(King5 News via Kotaku)

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  • Dr Coene

    Lol. Gotta hand it to him. That’s a pretty epic prank right there.

  • Jack Bond

    Our tax money at work. And Canada is the one fucking things up in America this time. Go figure.

  • Benjamin Eugene NElson

     Ha got to hand it to him, it’s a crime not a prank.

    And what fi there were a real crime that needed the swat team wile they were dealing with this?

  • Benjamin Eugene NElson

    How so?  One Canadian represents Canada?

    The SWAT team were doing their job, nobody was hurt, they get paid the same weather they’re on or off duty..

    If that’s all it takes America is fucked…

  • Spyone

    This probably predates the internet. First one I heard of was a phone hacker: he got the home phone number of someone who had honked him off, then spoofed the Caller ID so it looked like he was calling from that number: he dialed 911 and reported that he was being held hostage in his home by an armed intruder.
    Instant SWAT response.

    I am curious if the laws against filing false reports specify the jurisdiction involved. That is, might the caller have violated Canadian law by his actions. I mean, we don’t care whose pan gets used so long as his ass gets fried, right?

  • Wjwood126

    No kidding! Why Brett Kimberlin (the Speedway Bomber) or one of his supporters isn’t in the slammer for this is beyonnd me…

  • Troyldailey

    Somebody could have been shot by the SWAT team because of that prank.  I know this may come as a surprise but not all Police officers or SWAT personnel are exactly level headed…just one idiot with an assault rifle and an attitude and there would be one less dad in the world.  THAT is why this is serious.  If it was me, I’d either sue the jackass or drive up north and issue a beating.  Oh, two more things…*whether, and no–one Canadian doesn’t represent Canada and that is fortunate.  

  • Benjamin Eugene NElson

     You do realize that I don’t condone this, right?  I was meaning to say “thank goodness nobody was hurt.”

    And good luck with that international law suit considering from what i understand lawsuits are expensive and time consuming enough even when they don’t involve multiple countries.

    And one more thing, don’t be a dick. My spelling may not be the best, but correcting it generally is saying “Hey, dude, I’m going to be an ass here..”