The Man with the Black Balloon
by Derek Page
News Assistant
A man with a black balloon caused quite a stir outside the Perry Library this past Tuesday, Jan. 7.
The man, identified as Benny LeBon, stood atop the cement bench outside of the Einstein’s Express with a chair from the outdoor patio and a guitar, shouting “One million dollars,” to do whatever he yelled out next.
Lebon wasn’t making obscene or distasteful requests, rather a series of mindless proposals one would do to win one million dollars. There was, of course, no one million dollars, except for, as junior Alex Jones described “a one million dollar bill, like one you might find in a religious lit drop. Like the one million dollar bill on the front and religious quotes on the back. He had torn off a corner and handed it to me briefly.”
At approximately 1:40 p.m., four Old Dominion University police officers approached LeBon and requested he step down from the concrete block. LeBon refused to even acknowledge police, until he brought one officer in on the charade.
“One million dollars!” said Lebon, “to shake my hand!” The officer accepted the gesture and LeBon continued the spectacle.
“One million dollars to talk to this man right here, right now,” said LeBon loudly, extending his arm toward another officer. “This man just won one million dollars! Congratulations.” The officer denied LeBon’s outreached hand.
After several failed attempts to coax LeBon to step down, an officer tried to physically yield him. LeBon tore his arm from the officer’s grip, but the other officers joined in to bring LeBon down.
LeBon struggled ardently with the officers, and then wrapped himself around the light pole. “One million dollars to save me!”
LeBon was handcuffed and taken to a squad car while officers dealt with an unruly spectator who expressed his disapproval by shouting the famous title of rap group NWA’s “[expletive] the police.”
A video of the incident, titled “One Million Dollar Protest Police Abuse at Old Dominion University” has popped up all over Facebook and has kept students wondering who the mysterious man with the black balloon is and what his motives were.
Some speculate the innocuous requests were symbolic of how our country gives absurd amounts of money to people who complete insipid tasks on television. Others simply thought LeBon was on drugs or had simply lost his mind.
Devon Mizelle, a senior at ODU, said, “He doesn’t come off as ‘loco’ to me. His structure and delivery [of his speech] indicate instead that this is something planned. Maybe he just wanted to shake things up and see what happened.”
Much of the argument circulating regarded whether or not the police’s actions constitute police brutality.
“I just didn’t understand why this guy didn’t just come right out with an explanation for the whole thing. Maybe he didn’t have one; which is explanation enough not to get arrested. Instead, he didn’t cooperate with the police. The police were in the right on this one,” said Jones.
This may not have been the first incident police have dealt with from LeBon. Jones said he overheard an officer call in, “I think I’ve found the young man involved in the incident from this morning.”
Assistant vice president for marketing and communications Jennifer Mullen Collins said, “Police were called for service and there was an individual in need of assistance.”
Jones said that upon first approaching LeBon, the first officer to arrive asked him, “Would you like to see a doctor?” However, LeBon simply “wouldn’t break character.”
Jones then mentioned, “You can’t see it on the video, but on his left arm was some sort of dried red liquid. I don’t think it was blood, it would have just been red ink, but it was in the shape of an upside ‘V’ on his left wrist.”
A friend of LeBon’s, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she visited him and asked him about saying something in the paper and LeBon said, “Yeah, I planned it all.” The source inquired as to if it was a stunt, but apparently LeBon wasn’t making much sense.
The source also mentioned LeBon called a week prior, sounding distraught, and became concerned when first seeing the video.
Not much else is known about LeBon other than he graduated from Norfolk Public School’s Granby High School in 2008, attended the Governors School for the Arts, and is currently attending Old Dominion University.
Screen Shot youtube.com
