By: Ashleigh Meyer

A small, Star Wars-themed pizza joint in Alberta tried to have a little fun and drum up more business during a difficult time by asking one of their employees to stand in front of the store on Star Wars Day (“May the 4th Be with You”) dressed as a Storm Trooper. All went well for about an hour, until the police showed up and forced the costumed pizza peddler onto the pavement and cuffed her for having a “weapon.”

A video shared to social media shows at least three squad cars and about five officers pulled over in front of Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina, pointing guns and screaming demands at the employee. She has already dropped her plastic toy blaster (the alleged dangerous weapon), as police can be heard screaming, “Get on the ground!” from positions of cover behind squad car doors, with their weapons drawn.

The Storm Trooper complies as best she can in her clunky plastic suit, but dropping to her knees is not sufficient for these diligent officers of the law. As someone in the background tries to explain that the gun is a toy, three officers approach her at gun point, force her to lie all the way down on her stomach, and pin her to the ground as they cuff her.

As the officer hoists the now apprehended foot soldier of the Galactic Empire up from the parking lot, he straightens his badge and says, “I’m not a hero, really. This was just another day on the job.”

Okay I made that last part up, but seriously. Has everyone completely lost their minds? This is not the Onion. Some Canadian kill-joy actually called the police because what one can only assume was a young, enthusiastic pizza joint employee dressed in a plastic costume, complete with space blaster, stood out front of a Star Wars-themed restaurant on Star Wars Day. And the police had her at gun point and cuffed her on the pavement! AFTER she dropped her toy gun!

Brad Whalen, the owner of the restaurant, told a reporter from Reason.com that the employee cut her face on the plastic helmet when police pushed her into the concrete. Whalen, who expressed that he has “little faith” in any in-house investigation the police plan to conduct, has called upon the Alberta Serious Incident Response team to launch their own investigation into the situation.

The employee was ultimately released and not charged with any crime. One thing is for sure: Emperor Palpatine will not be happy when he hears about this.

Ashleigh Meyer is a professional writer and Conservative political journalist from rural Virginia.