‘It's Outrageous': Man Faces Felony Charge for Dressing as Clown And Driving Around Fall River, Massachusetts

A Massachusetts man faces a felony charge for a joy ride he and a friend went on wearing clown masks.

"Our intention wasn't to hurt nobody or scare nobody," Ryan Coleman told necn.

Thursday night, the calls started coming in to the Fall River Police Department.

"It's just outrageous that it was brought to that level," Coleman explained. "The police were telling me that people were saying we had guns waving out the window. At first it was a machete, now we have a hatchet. It's just ridiculous, it doesn't need need to get to this level."

Coleman admits he and his friend wore the clown masks and drove around the city, but says despite what witnesses told police, they weren't armed.

Another motorist sent the Fall River Reporter a picture of the pair as they were stopped next to each other at a traffic light.

A mother walking out of a laundromat on William S. Canning Boulevard told police the men frightened her 3-year-old son.

However, Coleman says it wasn't intentional and most people they saw seemed amused.

He was arrested Thursday night and arraigned Friday morning on charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace while armed.

"If you're afraid of something, then I'm sorry, and if you want to charge me with disturbing the peace because wearing the mask is considered harassment, fine, I'll pay the fine," he said. "But don't charge me with a felony and put me away for that."

Coleman claims there were knives in the vehicle - but they were his friends chef knives & they were in a box in the back.

The police report backs that up but says one was found in the driver's side door.

Coleman's arrest comes after several days of clown sightings here in southeastern Massachusetts and across the country.

"This whole clown thing, I thought it was just a hoax at first, it was all over the place. This is too much to be serious," he said. 'Well, obviously it is."

The other man in the car who was also wearing a mask was not arrested, but will be summonsed to court.

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