The Heroes We Didn’t Know We Needed: Cops Guard Ice Cream Shelves In Wake of Licking Trend
Social media trends and challenges have become a staple in our current culture. Viral videos of lip sync battles or Baby Shark dancing are certainly harmless.
But are likes and shares really worth facing possible felony charges? The young woman who licked a carton of Blue Bell ice cream at a Lufkin, Texas, Walmart seems to think so.
What kinda psychopathic behavior is this?! pic.twitter.com/T8AIdGpmuS
— Optimus Primal (@BlindDensetsu) June 29, 2019
To give her the benefit of the doubt, she probably didn’t realize what she was doing was actually illegal. Maybe she imagined it was a harmless prank.
Never mind the fact that her prank is disgusting. Forget about the bad example she’s set for our children. But it was all in good fun, right?
No. Just no. Not only has her despicable and inconsiderate crime generated a gag-worthy copycat trend across social media, but she could have faced 20 years in prison — if she were an adult, according to NBC News. Since she was discovered to be a minor, the juvenile justice system will determine her fate.
Of course, the positive side is that this trend has brought out the good, clean humor in our communities as well. Some have come forward with jokes of their own, like this Twitter user who posted a photo of cutting off the top portion of an ice cream carton.
When you need ice-cream, but can’t trust nothing these days ?? #BlueBellLicker #repost pic.twitter.com/7x5s1pscMD
— Victoire?? (@vicsweetz) July 5, 2019
Then there’s a “copycat” young man who tweeted a video of himself licking a carton of ice cream. But when the camera zooms out you see he’s in his own kitchen at home.
This is still pretty gross and his parents probably won’t be too pleased, but at least he’s not committing a felony.
Got ‘em #lufkinlicker #bluebelllicker #bluebell pic.twitter.com/Diw7wTr4oc
— Ryan Aston (@ryanaston) July 6, 2019
Tweets like these are worth a few good laughs, but law enforcement is taking the trend very seriously as was seen in another Texas town recently.
A photo of two officers posing in the ice cream aisle “guarding” the Blue Bell of an H-E-B grocery store in the Dallas-Fort Worth area was posted by Keller Public Safety on Facebook.
“The only Blue Bell Ice Cream being licked here in Keller this holiday weekend will be the kind you’ve already purchased,” the post reads. “Cpl. Clark and Officer Bryans are seeing to that. #NotOnOurWatch”
Bellaire Police Officer’s Association also shared the photo, writing, “Ain’t nobody licking our Blue Bell!” on their page. These men are the heroes we didn’t know we needed.
KEYE-TV reported that Blue Bell has released a statement in response to the viral licking.
“The safety of our ice cream is our highest priority, and we work hard to maintain the highest level of confidence of our customers,” the statement read.
“We view the tampering of our products very seriously,” the company went on. “Our role is to work with the local retailers, and we encourage people to alert their local law enforcement if they are aware of someone tampering with any food item in the grocery store.”
Liftable, a section of The Western Journal, reached out to Bellaire Police Officer’s Association for comment but has not yet received a response. We will update this article if and when we do.
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