A chaos unfolded last month at a local Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Tallahassee when a mascot was handcuffed in front of the children and their parents. After a bodycam video of the incident was released recently, more people have joined the conversation. When the chaos first unfolded, the customers at Chuck E. Cheese were extremely startled.
Bodycam footage released by the Tallahassee Police Department showed that two cops entered the establishment looking for a man suspected of credit card fraud. One officer is seen saying, “We’re gonna detain the mouse…I want you to grab him.”
The other officer then asks, “Want me to cuff him in front of the kids?” The first officer then quickly responded, “Yeah.” The mascot has been identified as Jermel Jarreau Jones, 41. He was seen wearing a green and purple mouse costume with red sneakers. When he was interacting with a few kids, one officer approached him and said, “Come with me, Chuck E.” He grabbed his arm, while others suggested to him to “not cross a scene” inside the restaurant. “Chuck E., you’re being detained. Stop resisting…Let your hands go,” the cop said.
The man complied with the instructions and put his arms behind his back. However, many present at the scene didn’t like how he was arrested in front of the children. A woman tried to shield her children, while another kid yelled, “Oh no!.” Some children also ran away. A distraught woman said addressing the officer, “You could let that man walk out the door.” “It’s a criminal, What would you like to know?” the cop responded.
A Chuck E. Cheese mascot has been arrested while on the job
The Tallahassee Police Department arrested the employee for credit card fraud pic.twitter.com/efEyncwFji
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) July 24, 2025
“I would like y’all to walk him out the door instead of traumatizing all these children. … Would y’all put Mickey Mouse in handcuffs?” the woman pleaded. Despite the requests, the police escorted Jones like that to a patrol car outside. His costume was then removed. The officers frisked him before reading his rights.
Jones denied ever committing the crime he has been accused of. “I work here. I was just doing my job,” he said. “I didn’t do nothing. I’m just entertaining kids for a living.” Following the unpleasant incident, one officer is seen saying, “The parents are not happy with me — us — for detaining Chuck E. Cheese.” Another didn’t seem to care as he replied, “Too bad.”
According to USA Today, a woman named Michelle Allen called the cops on July 23, claiming that she had evidence suggesting Jones is the one who stole her credit card. She obtained security footage from a local grocery store after noticing unauthorized transactions with her card.
