Ex-Call of Duty Developer Subject to Police Raid by Mistake

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Robotoki, the studio run by ex-Call of Duty creative strategist Robert Bowling, was the subject of a police raid last night. "The LAPD just stormed @robotoki with guns drawn and detained me as they cleared the building," Bowling wrote on Twitter. He blamed a life-sized statue of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 character Ghost, who holds a rifle and overlooks the street from an open window in Robotoki's office.

"Once they realized I wasn't a hostage, [we] spent the next 30 [minutes] talking about games and playing with our giant NES controller," Bowling later said. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but how did this happen?

In an interview with Polygon, Bowling explained that the police raid was a result of an employee pressing the building's panic button, triggering a 911 response. The button was installed the previous day. "One of our designers, who shall not be shamed, pressed it on his way out," he said, "because apparently when boys find buttons that they are unsure of, their first instinct is to push it."

The staff went home for the day shortly after the button was pressed, "leaving their lonely studio head to receive the assault of their actions," Bowling said.

He continued, "I was in my office when [the police] arrived and saw them coming up our stairs, guns drawn. They yelled for me to put my hands up and walk towards them slowly, then took me into custody and out of the studio until they cleared the rest of the rooms and floors."

The officers soon realized Bowling was not, in fact, the hostage of a video game statue.

Copwatermark__1_

Posted:
Related Forum: Call of Duty Forum

Source: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/05/31/ex-call-of-duty-developer-subject-to-police-raid-by-mistake

Comments

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LWRPosted:

He last 6 words sum it up haha

TaigaAisakaPosted:

imgur Well this is just avoidable, why would you have your MW2 cutout at an angle making it look like you're hostage? Kind of silly if you ask me...


Game developers for you. Especially when it's something they worked on. The panic button that was pressed was the main cause of it though, if that was never pressed I'm sure it would have gone on like every other day.

TaigaAisakaPosted:

slapshot101 I am sure these mistakes happen everyday? I mean how could you get something like this wrong, did they just take a tip from a random stranger and then move in on the house, without gathering any information at all?


Someone inside pressed a panic button which alerted the police there so they probably thought Robert Bowling pressed it and then seeing the statute made it seem like a hostage situation was going on.

0101010101010101Posted:

I bet this cops felt so stupid!

imgurPosted:

Well this is just avoidable, why would you have your MW2 cutout at an angle making it look like you're hostage? Kind of silly if you ask me...

slapshot101Posted:

I am sure these mistakes happen everyday? I mean how could you get something like this wrong, did they just take a tip from a random stranger and then move in on the house, without gathering any information at all?

TaigaAisakaPosted:

BDB
ShadowBoltDashie
SwagDaddyYolo lol I would freak out if the police raided my house


I would have some fun with them ;3 Like I would humor the situation for as long as I can go with out getting arrested. Robert Bowling probably handled it pretty good and the police were probably in and out.


How would you humor it? Get an airsoft gun and threaten them? :p


No I mean like humor the actual raid it's self. There was a panic button that was pressed that alerted the police to arrive. I would press it again while showing them what happened that way another unit gets notified ;D

TaigaAisakaPosted:

BDB
ShadowBoltDashie
BDB
Wii_U I Would Run And Scream


Same here, I would hide in my basement haha :) Poor guy.


You guys would be shot or tasered if you tried to ran xD


What would you do then? :D


Well I wouldn't run away and make myself look guilty of something.

MentalistPosted:

ShadowBoltDashie
SwagDaddyYolo lol I would freak out if the police raided my house


I would have some fun with them ;3 Like I would humor the situation for as long as I can go with out getting arrested. Robert Bowling probably handled it pretty good and the police were probably in and out.


How would you humor it? Get an airsoft gun and threaten them? :p

MentalistPosted:

ShadowBoltDashie
BDB
Wii_U I Would Run And Scream


Same here, I would hide in my basement haha :) Poor guy.


You guys would be shot or tasered if you tried to ran xD


What would you do then? :D