How Call Of Duty Landed This Fugitive Back In Prison

Sometimes, the urge to play a new video game can become overwhelming. The last thing you want is to feel like you're the only one of your friends not playing through the latest and greatest titles. A man in Birmingham, England, recently followed the call of Call of Duty right to prison.

According to a report from the West Midlands Police, an escaped prisoner was found out in public, breaking mandatory COVID-19 lockdowns. When asked why he was out and about, 36-year-old Clint Butler replied, "I've come to get the new Call of Duty because I can't sit around in lockdown."

The encounter quickly became violent. Butler attacked the officers after they began to question Butler and the friend who accompanied him on his shopping trip. Following a brief altercation in which Butler "kicked one officer in the groin," Butler was "restrained by officers using incapacitant spray" and placed in custody. This is when the police discovered that he had given them a false name. 

In reality, Clint Butler was serving a 17-year sentence for armed robbery and had recently escaped from prison. Butler apparently became very bored while hiding out from police, which is why he decided to step out to snag Call of Duty (he presumably wanted to check out Black Ops – Cold War's new maps). Following this run-in with the police, just under two additional years have been added onto Butler's sentence: 13 months for the prison break and 6 months for attacking the officers. 

In a statement to the public, West Midlands Police Superintendent Nick Rowe commended the officers on a job well done. Rowe said, "The situation escalated really quickly, but both PCs put their training to good effect[.]" Rowe also put in a jab at the astounding reason why Butler was caught, adding, "Quite why he decided to risk being returned to prison by making the idiotic decision to come into town during lockdown with a friend to buy a video game will remain a bit of a mystery."

This is not the first time that someone has been arrested for breaking quarantine to get a head start on gaming. In March 2020, shortly after mandatory lockdowns were enacted in Italy, a man was caught sneaking outside to play Pokemon Go. Although this gamer had the airtight defense of "I have to hunt the Pokemon," he ended up being arrested. Of course, unlike the fellow buying the new Call of Duty, this aspiring Pokemon Trainer was not an escaped prisoner.