An Omaha man’s stunt to make himself a “you tube star” backfired. 24-year-old David DeWayne Mitchell was cited by Omaha police and banned from a convenience store. That's because Mitchell posed as an escapee from prison and reportedly harassed customers.
"Social experiments could definitely be risky because you really don't know who's in the area, and it's always hard to decipher if this is a good situation to do it or not," Mitchell told WOWT 6 News. "My goal was to pretty much get some type of reaction, see how people react at the time."
Officers were called to the Kum and Go near 132nd and Fort around 2:30 Saturday afternoon. Mitchell was clad in an orange jumpsuit, with handcuffs in the front of the store and told store patrons he was an escaped prisoner.
The orange jumpsuit had the words “Inmate “ on the front and “State Penitentiary” on the back. Mitchell told police that he was “a you tube star” and was filming a “stunt.”
The police report indicated that Mitchell was “acting as if he has a gun” and “laying on the ground with his legs spread” allegedly surrendering to an unarmed customer. The unarmed customer was Randy Moncrief told WOWT 6 that he too acted like he was armed to protect his eight year old son who was inside the store.
"It was pretty scary especially with Deputy Mark Burbridge over in Council Bluffs getting killed by a convict. He seemed like he was desperate," Moncrief told WOWT 6. "At that point, it's survival mode."
Moncrief said he told Mitchell to get on the ground, which he did before police arrived. The store did have surveillance cameras and that evidence was turned over to police. Mitchell was banned and barred from the store and cited for disturbing the peace.
(Photo: WOWT 6)