Chicago police arrested a man who wore a “Joker” mask and torched a police car during a violent protest over the weekend, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
What happened:
- Video footage showed Timothy O’Donnell open a Chicago police squad car’s gas tank and throw in an object covered in flames, according to a criminal complaint. The car exploded into flames.
- A photo in the complaint shows the man — who wore a “Joker” mask during the attack on the car — walk away. There are other photos that show him near a lamp post as the car burned.
- O’Donnell wore a mask similar to ones seen in the recent “Joker” film. The mask resembles the ones worn by protesters in that film.
- The complaint said: “Law enforcement recovered a ‘Joker’ mask from a bedroom.”
- “O’Donnell admitted that he was the person wearing the ‘joker’ mask in the photos.”
- O’Donnell faces one count of arson, which can have a maximum sentence of 20 years, according to federal prosecutors.
Another Joker appears
- There’s a viral TikTok video that shows a protester wearing the same outfit as Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck does in “Joker.” The video has the hashtag #Minneapolis, which suggests the protester was filmed in that city.
The video has more than 1 million views and 11,000 comments.
Problems with “Joker”
“Joker” was one of the more controversial films of 2019. At the time of its release, experts told me they were worried that the story’s subject matter — about a mentally ill man who becomes a symbol of protests and destruction — could inspire real violence.
“Once you start getting into the head of, you know, the sociopath, the anti-social person, the revolutionary, that’s when we suddenly think that this image of violence can be inspiring to the wrong kind of people,” said Kendall Phillips, a pop culture professor at Syracuse University.