5 Years in Prison for Releasing Balloons?!

(You're all under arrest!)

While large corporations and the uber rich spend their days dumping toxic waste in to rivers and building homes that use more electricity than entire neighborhoods, us regular people can be arrested and jailed for the simple environmental crime of releasing balloons in to the air.  According to Information Liberation:

When Anthony Brasfield released a dozen heart-shaped balloons into the sky over Dania Beach, Fla., for his sweetheart, all he wanted was to create the perfect atmosphere of romance. What he created instead was a court date.

According to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, Brasfield's act of love was witnessed by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper. What he saw was not an act of love but a felony.

The 40-year-old Brasfield was with his girlfriend, Shaquina Baxter, in the parking lot of a Motel 6 on Dania Beach Boulevard when he released the 12 shiny, red and silver mylar balloons into the sky and watched them float away in the Sunday morning breeze.

They go on to say:

... The trooper saw nothing more than probable cause for a crime against the environment. Apparently, lawmakers in the Sunshine State think it's appropriate to treat what should have been, at most, simple littering (to which courts would have issued a fine, maybe?), into a major crime against Mother Nature. As if Florida jails weren't full enough.

And:

As you might imagine, the law is rarely used. According to the Sun-Sentinel, just 21 arrests were made under the environmental statute between 2008 and 2012.

What is amazing, however, is the severity of the crime - it is a third-degree felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison. Just as one example, in other parts of the country, people who intentionally or actively work to harm the environment get about the same jail time.

I know I say this alot, but I'll put money on the fact that if this was some white guy releasing balloons from his back yard this arrest would not have been made.  Because it was a black guy at a motel, no mercy!  Throw the book at him!  Wait a second, don't throw it while outdoors though, that would be considered a felony littering charge.