Love hurts: Man arrested for releasing helium balloon with his girlfriend

[The Straight Story]

Anthony Brasfield saw romance when he released a dozen heart-shaped balloons into the sky over Dania Beach with his sweetie. A Florida Highway Patrol trooper saw a felony.

Brasfield, 40, and his girlfriend, Shaquina Baxter, were in the parking lot of the Motel 6 on Dania Beach Boulevard when he released the shiny red and silver mylar balloons and watched them float away Sunday morning.

Also watching the romantic gesture: an FHP trooper, who instead noted probable cause for an environmental crime.

Brasfield was charged with polluting to harm humans, animals, plants, etc. under the Florida Air and Water Pollution Control Act.

http://touch.sun-sentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-74532061/

[Blue_Tires]

1. the arrest is a little overboard...just fine him and be done with it

[The Straight Story]

2. If it had been a rich white guy maybe they only would have done that (nt)

[rawtribe]

3. Good...

http://balloonsblow.org


You will probably watch the balloon until it floats out of sight. But many may not realize that what goes up must come down. And come down they do, as litter on our planet.

The balloon will continue to climb in elevation until the atmospheric pressure will cause most to pop and some to slowly deflate and float down to Earth; but all will then descend to Earth where some will fall on land while most will fall in the vast ocean. This is where the balloon is clearly considered litter. After landing, the balloon (with or without ribbons) become a ticking time bomb. The balloon can have devastating impacts on wildlife and the environment. Balloons take years to break down. This gives plenty of time for wildlife to encounter this seemingly harmless, killer.

[bpj62]

4. Disney

Do you know how many balloons kids and parents accidentally lose at Disney every day. You could probably fix the deficit in Florida with all the fines you would collect. i understand the premise of the law, but i think a warning or a fine at most would have sufficed.

[Scuba]

5. Was there a fine for taking her to Motel 6 also?

He should have skipped the balloons and gotten a better room.

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. LMAO!! No shit!

I mean, hells bells. Go for the damned Comfort Suites AT LEAST!

[Texasgal]

6. I assumed by now that most people

know not to release balloons in to the sky.

What a dumbass.

[Xipe Totec]

8. See post #7

[Xipe Totec]

7. Officer! Arrest those scientists!

( Stoneman Douglas High School, Courtesy )
Members of the Stoneman Douglas High School Astronomy Club prepare a weather balloon last weekend with cameras with the goal of reaching 100k feet to shoot the black edge of space.


And these!

And definitely, definitely, these!

[Texasgal]

10. Weather balloons as opposed to

happy birthday balloons?

Really?

[Xipe Totec]

12. What's the difference?

Same materials, same effect.

[Texasgal]

13. except that when we say it's okay

for everyone to drop a balloon for any reason there will be much more trash.

[Xipe Totec]

14. Laws apply to everyone - no exceptions

Selective enforcement is discrimination and a valid reason to throw out a case against anyone.

[Texasgal]

15. If Florida doesn't arrest the

"scientists" the onus is on them.

The law is there for a reason.

[Luminous Animal]

17. How do you know that they didn't get a permit?

[TlalocW]

9. I know a little about this

The problem with Mylar balloons is that they conduct electricity so if they get tangled up in phone wires, etc. you can have a problem.

Latex balloons, on the other hand, will float to a certain height before shredding into confetti sized flakes to fall back to Earth. They'll biodegrade at about the same rate as an oak leaf. I've provided helium balloons for balloon releases for people wanting to do it in memory of a loved one. You normally put seeds in one so when the balloon does burst, the seeds fall and hopefully find purchase on the Earth.

TlalocW

[Journeyman]

11. A nice touch with the seeds. I'll remember that . . .

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Balloons fall into the ocean and are eaten by turtles and fish.

In the 1980s marine animals stranded on beaches were found to be starving with stomachs full of plastics. Biologists found these whales, turtles, and other animals were eating balloons, bags, and other plastic debris, washed from land to the ocean, mistaking the plastics for food. Helium filled balloons have been found hundreds of miles from their release sites, sometimes drifting over water or near water on the wind. The National Park Service responded to this threat to marine life with legislation prohibiting helium filled balloons in parks to prevent injury and death to marine animals. Please leave balloons at home, inside, where they can not escape to become deadly.

http://www.nps.gov/anac/planyourvisit/balloons-and-hot-coals-and-the-earth.htm

Sounds like the trooper knows the law.

https://www.google.com/search?q=turtles+eat+balloons

[A HERETIC I AM]

20. Might want to have a chat with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.....

Because in another couple months, they're going to do this again;





Just like they have been doing for decades.

[unblock]

18. for a moment i thought the poor girlfriend was floating away....!