A 42-year-old Bloomington man was arrested after he reportedly took a man’s phone and flung it into a pond. Police said he approached the man making robot noises.
Shawn Smith was arrested Monday evening at East 20th and North Lincoln streets, Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Dana Cole said. He was charged with robbery, criminal mischief and resisting law enforcement.
A man reported to police that Smith approached him at 19th and Walnut streets making robot noises. He told police he tried to talk to him, but Smith continued to make the noise.
Police confirmed that Smith is human and not, in fact, a robot.
Smith took the man’s black Galaxy S9 and threw it into a pond before running off, Cole said. Police found someone matching Smith's description, but he ran as soon as he saw the officers.
After Smith was arrested, he told police he wasn’t running from them, he was chasing his dog. Cole said the man who reported Smith identified him to police.
A woman who approached police told officers Smith had been smoking spice, a drug made of herbs and manmade chemicals sometimes called synthetic marijuana.
“He was not in his right mind,” she told police.
Smith said he had been in an apartment where people were smoking spice, but hadn’t smoked any.
