SWAT Raid Deployed Over Parody Twitter

The mayor of Peoria, Illinois hated a parody Twitter account of himself so much that he deployed a SWAT team to stop it—which, according to an Illinois judge’s ruling, is perfectly OK. Four fully-armed officers nurse into Jon Daniel’s home in April, believing him to be the source of @peoriamayor, a parody account that portrayed the mayor as alcohol, sex- and drug-addicted. In the process, Daniel’s housemate Jacob Elliot’s bedroom was searched as well, where officers found a bag of marijuana and pot-smoking paraphernalia. Elliott now faces charges of felony marijuana possession. A judge ruled that the police were entitled to the raid under the town’s “false personation” law which prohibits impersonation of public officials. Daniel was never charged, as the law only applies to in-person impersonations, not online ones.