Star Trek's William Shatner Happy That Police Takedown Of Stormtrooper Cosplayer Is Being Looked Into

The Star Wars fandom recently got a rude awakening, when a fan / employee dressed as an Imperial Stormtrooper had guns drawn on her by police. The incident took place at Coco Vanilla Galactic Cantina in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, on May the 4th (aka Star Wars Day) and has since gone viral. Well, Star Trek / Canadian icon William Shatner got wind of the story, and was not scared to voice his support of the fan, and disdain for the cops, on Twitter: "Rifles drawn for a plastic toy Cosplayer? Didn't comply right away? Are you blind Chief? Watch the video to see how quickly she complied. This cannot be covered up."

Since the story about cops vs. Stormtrooper encounter has gone viral, there's been conflicting calls for the police to be investigated over the incident, or the girl in question to be blamed for carrying a toy blaster as part of her costume. But Shatner was standing for any of the latter:

🙄 Oh please! Did you see the gun? Also when she’s on her knees and the officer has his rifle ready to shoot; he is a mere few feet from the gun. If he couldn’t see it was a toy he should retire, yet they continued and slammed her to the ground and bloodied her nose. https://t.co/ZkB0Ubnipq pic.twitter.com/ePhxCJTGQn

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) May 6, 2020

Well, now comes an update that a police oversight committee in Alberta, Canada, will be looking into the issue. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team issued the following statement to CBC News:

"ASIRT's role in a review is to provide an objective, independent, critical examination and assessment of an investigation to confirm that it was properly conducted using best practices and ensure all appropriate investigative steps were taken," Lethbridge police said, according to the CBC. "Once the review is complete, the file is returned to the home agency with any recommendations that ASIRT may have made. Those recommendations could relate to specific steps that could or should be pursued in the investigation or broader practice or policy recommendations."

This news now has Shatner doing a victory lap on social media: "Looks like they will actually look into it!"

Mass shootings and other instances of violence have turned cosplay into a potentially more dangerous hobby over the last few years, as society continues to try and find a balance between fears and freedoms. It's the kind of conumdrum the world needs James T. Kirk to help solve!