Under Arrest

Boy, do I have QUITE the story to tell....

On Saturday afternoon, we decided to FINALLY take advantage of our 7 Peaks Passes that we haven't used all summer and go for the last 3 hours of the day. Well, my friend's mom (who has never used her pass before, but paid $40 for it) gave one of my friends her pass to use for the three hours ($16 pass).

As we hand the VERY POWERFUL gatekeeper our passes, he asks who is who. My friend tells him that she is not the pass owner, but the pass owner let her use the pass since it was paid for but never used. Along with that, she told him if there was a problem with that, she would just pay the $16 for a ticket. Well....the gatekeeper passed this "high profile case" onto his supervisor the highly esteemed Head of Seven Peaks Security.

When we talked to the security guard and told him the situation, he explained to us that using someone else's pass is a criminal act of theft of services. He claimed he was trying to think of a way around the policy (I can think of 10 other ways it could have been handled off the top of my head), but there was just no way around the issue and he had to follow protocol.

Well...let me tell you...protocol is a little bit harsh in my opinion. Especially since there was no sign at the gate stating what would happen if you used someone else's pass OR on the pass itself. So how are you supposed to know what could happen if you use someone else's pass??

Well, I will tell you what will happen....

They took our friend into the security office, where 4 men were "guarding" her so that she couldn't leave. They took her picture and put her on the Seven Peaks "do not let in" wall, and then banned my friend's mom's pass until 2013. After that, they called the police and charged her with "Theft of services". Weird...since no services were ever stolen the entire time we were there...

Once the police got there, he escorted my friend out of the park and took her to his car for questioning....took her fingerprints in lieu of taking her to the police station...and gave her a court date stating that she is being charged with a misdemeanor of theft of services.

ALL OVER A $16 PASS FOR 3 HOURS AT SEVEN PEAKS!!

I am still so shocked by this! I mean, they treated an innocent person like a criminal...rather than simply banning her from the park, or making her go back and pay for a pass.

Seriously people?? There is so much crime and abuse occurring in the world, but instead we are wasting our tax money on cops that arrest people for borrowing an already paid for pass that was NEVER used??

I don't think I will ever understand that logic. So there is my rant. Negative story time over now. Processed and released.

Here are some pictures:

Megan and I waiting for our friend as she is being guarded in the security office

Our friend in the police car. We were all sneaky pretending to take a picture of us, but really taking a picture of the police car.