Darth Vader attacks Jedi knights

On March 25, Arwel Hughes, 27, of Holyhead, UK, assaulted two members of the Jedi faith church who were holding mock lightsaber duels in a garden. Hughes, wearing a black plastic garbage bag and screaming "Darth Vader," jumped a fence and hit Barney Jones and Michael Jones in the head and leg, respectively. The incident was captured on video. Hughes was fined and given a suspended jail sentence. From the BBC News:

Hughes told police he had no memory of the incident as he was drunk.

District Judge Andrew Straw said the publicity his case had received was perhaps a good thing, and a "wake up call" to deal with his alcohol problem.

Link to article and video (Thanks, Carlo Longino!)

Previously on BB:
• UK Church of the Jedi Link
• Jedi Bootcamp on BBtv Link

• [benofben]

  I have to concur with toxonix. It’s pretty pathetic that guys who practice beating each other with sticks in their spare time can’t fend off one guy trying it for the first time.

  …makes me miss my middle school amtgard days, beating up overfed middleaged sorcerers…

• [scottfree]

  There are fun drunks, and drunks who just think they’re fun. Many of the latter start out as the former and go over to the dark side.

  I lived near there, in Bangor, for a while. I wish I knew some Star Wars nerds while I was there. It would’ve made everything less boring.

• [Duke Countu]

  What a bunch of Namby Pambys. I can’t believe that these Jedi knights in training would go to the police and complain! What has Britain become? Is this the country that stood alone against the Hun?

  “Ow, that kind of hurt a bit.” How pathetic. I am surprised we didn’t catch this on CCTV seeing as the Brits have about 10 billion cameras videoing everything. No doubt everyone text each other saying how “gutted” they were.

  Christ, next time you land in Blighty check all common sense at the Terminal 5 and make sure you don’t offend anyone, or else you will end up in front of the courts. You may even get an ASBO!

  Bloody shame.

• [alisong76]

  #16: I’d LOL.

• [Jack]

  Isn’t there a problem with Star Trek folks jumping into renaissance faire battles pretended they “went back in time” and harassing folks in period garb?

  Seriously.

  PS: Nobody wins in a Jedi church duel.

• [Jack Caesar]

  I’m all for someone founding ‘The Church of Vader’s Drunken Prophet’ – Not me obviously, I don’t get involved in that religion stuff. But I’d cheer enthusiastically from the spiritual sidelines.

• [Santa’s Knee]

  @#6: Best. Home Movies. Episode. EVAR.

• [Blue]

  Darth Vader would totally do that.

• [romulusnr]

  I’d like to think he got a suspended sentence in consideration of just how poetically awesome his actions were.

• [toxonix]

  I bet those jedi worshippers felt pretty stupid when they failed to bravely fend off a single crutch-weilding drunkard.
  For those of you who want also to be Jedi knights: don’t ever forget that there is nothing rehearsed or choreographed about a REAL light saber battle. All that fancy spinning and twirling about is going to do you no good when it comes to the crunch.

• [CD]

  Holyhead, Wales is the sister city of Brockton Mass,

• [geekazoid]

  Clearly Darth Drunkard’s intentions were playful and the assault charge was over the top.

  What he observed is a group of young males engaged in physical play. He got a humorous inspiration (it was kinda funny, despite the flawed delivery) and grabbed the first props he could, charging in like an excited puppy with a big goofy smile on his face.

  Yes he crossed the line, but mostly because he was both ignorant of the rules of play in that setting as well as being impaired. From what I can see in the video, his body language was all about play not aggression.

  This is the kind of thing that is resolved with a handshake and an apology, and a warning or fine from the local constable. A criminal record and internet notoriety seems pretty harsh.

  I think that this particular Jedi nerd-cluster is on the Dark Side – the assault charges are frivolous.

  At least our crutch-wielding galactic criminal learned something – ease off on the sauce. And perhaps that his Star Wars lightsaber / Jackie Chan Drunken Master fusion style needs a little more work.

• [Antinous]

  Having grown up in Massachusetts, that makes perfect sense.

• [simplehuman]

  Would this be a hate crime? If the attack was motivated by the religion of the victims, it would seem to be, at least by US standards.

  You know your Darth Vader costume is FAIL when you have to yell “Darth Vader, Darth Vader!”

• [Rickmccl]

  I think this was excellent and will hopefully serve as a “Wake-up” call to the so-called church of the jedi.

• [Santa’s Knee]

  They have him on a hologram… killing younglings!

• [blitz]

  Why, with all their resources and innovation, must the BBC use that crummy flash movie widget? All I ask is for a little preloading. Just a little.

• [billydeville]

  I would have cut his legs and arm off, only leaving one sweet robotic one. I found this more exciting and better preformed than any of the first (last, what an oxymoron) three films.

• [minamisan]

  I read about this in the news when it happened and it sounded pretty funny. Now that i’ve seen the full lameness of the incident in that video, though, I’m wondering how it managed to make the news all over the world.

• [Santa’s Knee]

  More like “Darth Chav”…

• [Jack]

  Was his blood midichlorian level above the legal limit?

• [Cupcake]

  I think it would be hilarious if a similar incident took place in a Christian context. A drunkard wearing red silk panties on his head and yelling “Satan! Satan!” running through a quiet Sunday mass, upsetting a container of holy water and knocking the priest on the back of the head with a wildly swinging censer.