Children and parents at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Tallahassee were startled as the friendly mouse mascot, or the man portraying him in costume, was handcuffed and arrested last month, and now more people are weighing in after newly released police bodycam video of the incident went viral this week.
In one video released by the Tallahassee Police Department, as two police officers entered the restaurant in pursuit of a man suspected of credit card fraud, one said, “We’re gonna detain the mouse. … I want you to grab him.”
“Want me to cuff him in front of the kids?” asks the other officer in another video. “Yeah,” replies the first.
As they approached Jermel Jarreau Jones, 41, who was wearing the familiar green and purple mouse costume and oversized red sneakers and interacting with several kids, one officer said, “Come with me, Chuck E.,” and grabbed his arm, another advising, “Do not cause a scene, here, sir. Chuck E., you’re being detained. Stop resisting. … Let your hands go.”
Within seconds, Jones complied and was cuffed with his arms behind his back.
“Oh no!” said a young boy observing the arrest. Another woman tried to shield her children from looking at the scene, while other children ran away.
As the officers led the costumed man out of the restaurant, a distraught woman yelled, “You could let that man walk out the door.”
“It’s a criminal,” replied one officer. “What would you like to know?”
“I would like y’all to walk him out the door instead of traumatizing all these children. … Would y’all put Mickey Mouse in handcuffs?”
“Chuck E., no!” a child’s voice can be heard as they exit.
After they escorted Jones to a patrol car parked in front of the restaurant, officers removed his furry mouse-eared head, placing it on top of the car, frisked him and read him his rights.
“I work here. I was just doing my job,” Jones protested. “I didn’t do nothing. I’m just entertaining kids for a living.”
When questioned, he insisted that recent purchases he made at a local burger shop and grocery store were made using his Cash App, not someone else’s credit card.
“The parents are not happy with me — us — for detaining Chuck E. Cheese,” one officer observed.
“Too bad,” said Officer J. Wynn.
Police were called to the restaurant on July 23 after officers responded to a call from Michelle Allen, who alleged she had video proof of Jones using her stolen debit card, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by USA Today.
Standing in the parking lot, Allen told officers she was at the Chuck E. Cheese to confront Jones, whom she had identified as the man using her card at a local grocery store in security footage she had reviewed at the store.
Allen said the last time she had used her debit card was on June 28, when she attended her child’s birthday party at the pizza and entertainment joint, where Jones worked. After the party, she noticed that $105 worth of fraudulent charges on her card from businesses she had never patronized — a smoke shop, a grocery store, and Whataburger.
Police initially identified Jones as the suspected employee who was checking stamps at the front door, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. But when they returned to make an arrest, they were advised by another employee that he was now dressed and performing as Chuck E. Cheese.
“They walked over with the intention of just walking outside to put handcuffs on him outside of public view,” Tallahassee police spokesperson Alicia Hill told the Democrat. “But when they approached him, he immediately tenses up and resists, and so at this point they make the decision to put him in handcuffs, keeping in mind the safety of not only the customers, but the suspect, as well as the officers themselves,” she said.
Many of the hundreds of thousands of people who have watched the arrest videos complain that the officers were insensitive to the children who witnessed the arrest of the man, some noting that it was for a non-violent, relatively low-dollar-value offense.
“Not Charles Entertainment Cheese! The cops ain’t ish for arresting him in front of the kids,” commented one YouTube viewer. “They could have waited. Just heartless.”
“Congratulations, officers! You just created a core trauma memory for every kid who witnessed that,” wrote another. “Do your egos feel better now? More inflated, perhaps? You could have had the manager call him to the back.”
“A wise officer would have figured out how to get him out of the costume first,” commented a woman on TikTok.
The Tallahassee police department doesn’t have a specific policy on when arrests are appropriate in public, Hill said, adding that the agency relies on “officer discretion” based on the safety of others and ensuring a suspect can’t destroy evidence.
The officers found the stolen credit card in his possession, she added.
“It is unfortunate that the person who is subject of this investigation and who we had probable cause on happened to be in a suit and in costume,” she said.
Jones was charged with three felonies, including theft of a credit card, criminal use of personal identification information and fraudulent use of a credit card more than two times within six months, according to Leon County court records, reported USA Today.
He was booked at Leon County Jail, but he has already been released on bond, the Democrat reported, noting that the felonies Jones was charged with are not his only criminal charges in Leon County. Since 2004, he’s been charged with petit theft (low-value theft), possession of marijuana and cocaine, trespassing and indecent exposure in public, according to court documents.
“I am quite frankly shocked that a man with this many theft, drug and an indecent exposure arrests was hired by (Chuck E. Cheese) and allowed to be around young children on regular basis,” Allen’s lawyer, Paul Aloise, said in an email statement to USA Today. “While I certainly hate what happened to my client, Ms. Allen, I am truly grateful no children were harmed by Mr. Jones.”
“We are aware of an incident involving a part-time employee arrested at our Tallahassee location on Wednesday, July 23,” a Chuck E. Cheese representative initially told USA Today in an email statement. “We have taken the appropriate action concerning the subject employee.”
This week, the company spokesperson emailed Atlanta Black Star, “Following the incident, Chuck E. Cheese worked with the local Police Department and the families who were present to ensure everyone’s well-being and to restore a sense of fun. With those steps complete, we consider the matter closed. Chuck E. Cheese values its partnership with local law enforcement and appreciates their continued service to our communities.”
