Man's Dance Moves Lead to His Arrest

This New Berlin man may want to invest in dance lessons if his moves are causing gas station clerks to call the police and have him arrested.

Joseph J. Byrne, 22, was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Monday with one count of bail jumping and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia after a Waukesha gas station clerk called the police on him for dancing by a gas pump.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 months in prison and $10,500 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

At 8:21 a.m. Saturday, an assistant manager at Kwik Trip, 924 Fleetfoot Drive, called the Waukesha Police Department after Byrne pulled up on a motorcycle, parked by a gas pump and began to dance and jump around.

As an officer arrived at the scene, Bryne looked at the squad, ignored it and walked inside the gas station and into the bathroom. A few minutes later, Byrne walked outside again, just in time to see a second squad car arrived at the station.

Byrne immediately turned around, walked back into the gas station and into the bathroom. An officer followed him into the bathroom and heard someone humming and the toilet flush before Byrne emerged from a stall. Byrne was mumbling as if to explain himself and his eyes were very dilated.

The officer approached Byrne, who said he wasn't under the influence of drugs, but had used heroin within the past 24 hours. The officer searched him and found the bottom of a soda can, which was fashioned into a cooker to prepare heroin. The rest of the can was found in the garbage in the bathroom.

Byrne is currently being held in Waukesha County Jail on $500 bond while awaiting trial.