One typical business day in Memphis, Tennessee, was made rather extraordinary for people on the road after a group of five young men started busting out their moves in the middle of traffic. And it’s not just any dance move, but the bold and provocative twerking that caused a traffic jam and got the five men arrested on the spot.
The incident happened at a stoplight intersection at South Second Street and Union Avenue in Memphis. According to police reports, a 2016 Chevy Malibu brazenly stopped at a green light, and five men immediately came out. Four of them started twerking around the car while one man climbed up on the hood and also danced, blocking the downtown intersection with their antics.
The five men were quickly arrested and charged with obstructing a highway or passageway and were transported to jail right away to ensure that the offense wouldn’t happen again. Unsurprisingly, the perpetrators were rather young: Rashaun Bryant, 22; Jordan Smith, 19; MeKell Sanders, 18; Mandre’Co Mays, 18; and Desmond Subbery, 18, courtesy of WREG News.
Among them, Jordan Smith had a previous warrant for vandalism, but all have otherwise clean criminal records prior. Now, however, each one of them had to pay their own individual bonds, with Smith’s having the highest one at $2,100. They have since been released after paying, though all five were still required to appear in court on Wednesday.
It’s not clear what their motives were or whether they were under the influence of alcohol during the incident (likely not or there would’ve been additional charges).
Twerking in Traffic is More Common Than You Think
While it might appear as a rare incident, twerking in traffic and causing congestion at stoplights by dancing is a rather occasional occurrence. In fact, there seems to be one perpetrator every year from all over the US in places like Florida and Texas— now Tennessee has joined in on the twerking craze.
Outside of the US, Grammy-nominated singer and rapper Ice Spice also posted her own act of twerking in the middle of a busy road in Paris– right in front of the Eiffel Tower.
It’s worth noting that Ice Spice’s twerking was posted a day later after the Memphis incident and that the five Tennessee men’s act preceded Ice Spice (so it’s not like she’s to blame for starting the trend). It wouldn’t be surprising, however, to see more twerking in traffic acts to follow, with some people appearing to be more welcoming to the criminal act, at least under the guise of their Reddit accounts:
“MEN AT TWERK,” as summed up by Redditor u/nrith
“Free them,” suggested by Redditor u/Muted-Requirement-53
“The heroes we need,” according to Redditor u/braumbles
