‘Crip Walk’ is trouble for teen

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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - It’s called the “Crip Walk.”  The jerky dance resembles a sideways, funky, tiptoed version of Michael Jackson’s “moonwalk” or, as it’s been called, a “hopscotch on crack.”

But a 16-year-old Baltimore City boy learned Wednesday that the “Crip Walk” isn’t the most fun way to entertain his friends, when a police officer arrested him for doing the dance, charging him with disorderly conduct.

At about 3 p.m. Wednesday, a Baltimore City police officer responded to the corner of Moravia Road and Sinclair Lane in northeast Baltimore to confront a panhandler at a bus stop, according to a police report.

When Officer Rafael Feliciano began to talk with the panhandling suspect, a 16-year-old male called out to the officer, threw up “gang signs” and began a “gang dance, called the Crip Walk,” the officer wrote.

Feliciano continued talking to the panhandling suspect, while the teen — about 30 feet away — kept dancing, “causing a crowd of people at the bus stop to stop, laugh and to encourage him to show off and continue his act,” according to the officer’s report.

Click here to view a "Crip Walk" video. Warning, inappropriate language

Once the officer finished interviewing the panhandling suspect, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound dancing teen began to walk away. But the officer didn’t let him get far. He arrested the boy, charging him with disorderly conduct.

At the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center, an assistant state’s attorney dismissed the charges against the teen, saying dancing the “Crip Walk” is not technically a crime.

“Prosecutors declined to charge this case because there was no crime committed,” said Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman Joe Sviatko.

The teen has no criminal record, court records show.

Police spokesman Officer Troy Harris said police are taught to look for signs of gang activity and gather intelligence but aren’t supposed to make an arrest unless a crime is committed.

“Disorderly conduct can come from any number of things, such as creating a large crowd,” he said.

The “Crip Walk” has been banned from at least one California school, because its origins are sometimes traced back to the street gang that carries the same name.

The dance is also sometimes called the “C-Walk” or “Clown Walk” and has been performed by various music artists, including rapper Snoop Dogg.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

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