TMZ has gotten all up in the grid of this year’s Comic-Con, checking out police reports during the con and finding a variety of misdeeds:
According to the report … one person was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, 5 got citations, and 12 other incidents triggered ongoing criminal investigations … and we’re told all were related to activity in and around Comic-Con.
There were three cases of assault with a deadly weapon, several thefts and some driving citations, including driving over the median. And some vandalism.
Honestly…..not very much considering there were about 200,000 people in the environs of downtown San Diego. Clearly TMZ was hoping to find some sordid, juicy crime wave, but Comic-Con is for fun, and given the amount of alcohol and other mood altering substances that flow at the con – and the long, hot lines – what this report suggests to me is that it’s a fairly orderly bunch. Security and the safety of attendees is literally the biggest concern for the show organizers, and San Diego city officials also come out in huge numbers to maintain order.
And they are always tinkering with things. A new regulation by the San Diego Coastal Commission meant that overnight Hall H campers couldn’t line up on the walkway by the bay. (This was mentioned in the Talkback panel.) Thus the classic sight of people sleeping (or more likely, trying to sleep) in makeshift camps along the marina was missing this year…and I guess gone forever.
Of course, with that many people coming to one place, the circle of life will come into play. There have been births at Comic-Con – and over the years, several deaths. In my many decades of attendance I have personally witnessed a couple of street fights, and incidents of pro on pro scuffles have provided lively BarCon fodder as well (no names).
Perhaps the most celebrated violent incident at SDCC was the Hall H Stabbing of 2010. Stabbing sounds bad enough but this somehow was the kind of thing that could only happen at Comic-Con: someone poked someone else near the eye with a pen over a seat for the Marvel screening. A contemporary report:
Hall H was set to feature the stars of upcoming movies Paul and Cowboys & Aliens next, followed by a Marvel Studios panel on Captain America and Thor, which one attendee may have wanted to see a little too much. On the scene, Sergeant Gary Mondesir of the San Diego Police Department told CBR: “Basically, inside Hall H during Comic-Con, prior to one of the showings, two evils got into a dispute. “One male attacked the other male, stabbing him on the side of his eye with a pen.”
The pen stabber was stopped before he could do any more damage. He reportedly became angry when he told the victim to leave his seat and the victim wanted to stay for the next panel. There is no word on if the pen was just a Bic or one of those really fancy ones with a boat that goes back and forth as you tilt it.
This was in the early days of Hall H seat insecurity, and doubtless the novelty of the experience drew more media interest – and staying for the next panel is now a hallowed Hall H right.
The sex trafficking headline did make the rounds though. I went to my local açai bowl place this weekend and my açai guy noticed that he hadn’t seen me for a while. “Oh I was at Comic-Con,” I said.
“I heard there were…..arrests over trafficking!” I have exclaimed, as I have sliced up a banana. Not the reaction I normally get when I mention Comic-Con to folks.
“Oh there were I guess but there was a lot of other stuff,” I replied.
“Yes, I heard Robert Downey Jr. is Doctor Doom!”
Now THAT’S more like it!
Does Comic-Con have a sordid underbelly? Anywhere there are thousands of people, some of them will be wrong-doers, and of course, you should be vigilant, especially where valuable Funko Pops are concerned. But overall, based on this blotter report, the San Diego police seemed to have matters well in hand.
