Man who was wearing banana costume during illegal Philadelphia car meetups arrested, police say
A man who was wearing a banana costume during the illegal car meetups in Philadelphia last month was arrested in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday morning, according to police.
Philadelphia Police arrested 18-year-old Shane Thomas on Wednesday after officers filtered into a Plymouth Township neighborhood before 8 a.m. and surrounded a house.
Officers were heavily armed and had search and arrest warrants with them. They left the house with Thomas in custody. Once officers took Thomas out of the home in handcuffs, the 18-year-old unleashed a tirade of expletives and other graphic language.
Police claim Thomas was part of an illegal car meetup on Sept. 21 in Philadelphia's Spring Garden section. It was one of 11 incidents late that Saturday night.
Thomas is accused of jumping on police vehicles while wearing a banana costume.
Investigators also claim Thomas tossed a large traffic cone through the window of a police vehicle as well as lobbed an "explosive" device at the tire of another police vehicle.
Since Sept. 21, the Philadelphia Police Department has said it will hold those participating in the car meetups responsible.
Detectives have scrolled through hundreds of videos posted to social media, looking to make IDs.
Investigators say despite Thomas' efforts to delete his social media, a friend tagged him in a high school graduation photo using his Instagram account. Police say they were able to backtrack and positively identify him as the man in the banana suit.
Police also recovered a yellow banana suit from Thomas' home.
"The man was dressed in a banana costume, so this stuck out when the social media people were doing that," Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum said. "And through the investigation, they were able to identify that he had been tagged in several other social media posts in the past, including one of a high school graduation up in here Plymouth Township. Through that investigation, we were able to identify him."
Thomas is going to face charges of aggravated assault on police, criminal conspiracy, risking a catastrophe and riot, all felonies.
There have been about half a dozen arrests. Police say they're actively working on making more arrests connected to the car meetup.
