INVENTIVE

Man Dressed as a Tree Arrested for Blocking Traffic

For standing in the middle of the road to impact “people’s natural choreography.”

Police in Maine say they’ve arrested a man dressed as a tree who refused to move from a busy intersection in central Portland on Monday. After ignoring police warnings to get out of traffic, the man was arrested and charged with obstructing the public way. Video of the bizarre incident showed police struggling to contain their laughter as they attempted to find the man’s identification amid branches of pine tree. Police later identified the man as 30-year-old Asher Woodworth of Portland, who they say wanted to see how he could influence “people’s natural choreography.” A friend of the man later said that he had been trying to study the city’s traffic patterns, and apparently dressed as a tree to be more discreet in doing so. Police confiscated the tree outfit and gave it to the city’s Public Works.