Justin Marling thought wearing a Stormtrooper costume for charity was a good idea.
Jasper County police didn’t see it that way.
Marling was arrested on a charge of reckless conduct and wearing a mask after neighbors spotted him walking around in the costume and called police, according to 13WMAZ.
Marling was wearing the Stormtrooper outfit for Star Wars Force for Change, an organization focused on continuing the philanthropic efforts of Star Wars creator George Lucas.
According to Georgia law, a mask can only be worn in public on holidays or at a function, such as DragonCon. In April, eight protesters at a white power rally in Stone Mountain were arrested in connection with the rarely used law to control the crowd.
Police said Marling was walking around the neighborhood in full armor and holding a plastic gun with both hands.
Police asked Marling to drop the weapon, but instead he turned around and walked away, thinking they weren’t serious, he told the news station.
“I didn’t realize,” Marling told 13WMAZ. “I was kind of in shock.”
Police asked him again and Marling set the plastic gun down and backed away from it.
“I was scared, because their guns are real,” Marling told the news station. “Mine isn’t.”
This is not the first time Marling was arrested for costuming in public.
“In Fort Drum [in New York], military police arrested me, but they didn’t charge me with anything,” he said.
Marling was released from jail Tuesday on a $2,000 bond, the news station reported.
Surprisingly, Marling isn't alone in his masked adventures. Police are looking for an Alpharetta man who broke into a Shell gas station wearing, and perhaps fitting, a Kylo Ren mask, Channel 2 Action News reported.
As for Marling, he will continue to defend the force, but it would come with a price, he told 13WMAZ.
“As long as there’s Comic-Con conventions or anything like that, I’m a Stormtrooper for hire,” Marling said.
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