Taylor Dayne fan arrested for disrupting mall

Categorized | Crime

Taylor Dayne fan arrested for disrupting mall

Published on February 9, 2009 ⋅ Written by Andrew Koch ⋅ Email this article ⋅ Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Mallgoer nearly had a heart attack

Wacahoota, FL -- An area man listening to a Taylor Dayne song on his iPod while walking through a busy mall has been arrested by police for disrupting business and causing a spike in hypertension in elderly mallgoers.

Dale Connor, 27, is facing one count of disorderly conduct felony charge and being held in custody at the Alachua County Sheriff's Office pending $5,000 bail.

In a statement released to local news organizations, Chief Deputy David Huckstep said Connor was taken in after authorities at the Wacahoota Shoppers' Paradise mall reported his "strange and disruptive behavior" while taking a brisk stroll through the mall premises.

"We were told that Mr. Connor was behaving as if he was the only person in the mall, like he's in some kind of dream world," said Huckstep. "It scared people."

Witnesses reported seeing him mouthing some words and "acting really affectionately toward a United States Postal Service mailbox."

One elderly male mallgoer said he nearly had a heart attack when Connor stopped right in front of him, looked him in the eye seductively, and screamed "I wanna hear your body talk to mine."

"I was dumbfounded," said Fernley Bowman, 75. "I thought the crazy son of a bitch was done' gone kiss me or something."

During police interrogation, an apologetic Connor said he was just carried away while listening to Taylor Dayne's "Prove Your Love," a song that was a Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hit in 1988.

"I just got really into it. I got lost in the song. I started imagining I was Taylor Dayne and I was filming the video for the song," said Connor. "I'm really sorry I freaked people out. I didn't mean to."

Huckstep said that since nobody died or was hurt during Connor's "fantasy stroll," they might be able to reduce the disorderly conduct felony charge to a citation.

"We'll see how the judge feels about Taylor Dayne," said Huckstep.