A man in Concord, North Carolina, was arrested Tuesday on charges of failing to return a 14-year overdue VHS rental, according to an arrest report.
James Meyers, 37, was driving his 10-year-old daughter to school when he was pulled over for a broken taillight Tuesday morning at around 7:30 a.m.
The officer asked Meyers for his ID and walked back to his car behind him, Meyers told BuzzFeed News.
The officer returned about 30 minutes later and asked Meyers to come around to the back side of the car.
"I don't know how to tell you this, but you have a warrant out for your arrest for not returning a VHS tape to J&J Video," Meyers recalled the officer saying. "A tape called Freddy Got Fingered?"
"I started looking around like I'm being punked or on candid camera," said Meyers, who is a well-known DJ in the area under Mad Influence. "I didn't know if it was a prank or what was going on at first. I thought this must be a really elaborate prank."
But the arrest warrant was genuine. Meyers was handcuffed and arrested later that afternoon for failing to return the movie he rented in November 2001 to J&J Video, which has since closed.
Tom Green, the star in the 2001 film about a cartoonist returning home to live with his parents, learned about Meyers' bizarre debacle and said, "I am struggling to believe it is real."
I just saw this and I am struggling to believe it is real. https://t.co/GrTXoUj29X
Green called the distraught single father shortly after he returned home from his court appearance.
Meyers picked up the phone and heard a voice say, "Daddy would you like some sausage?"
"I died," said Meyers, who recognized the phrase from one of the movie's most well-known scenes. "I laughed so hard I couldn't compose myself."
Green apologized for the wild charges and offered to help in any way he can.
The actor, who first came to fame in 1994 on The Tom Green Show, told the New York Daily News he would cover the $200 fine "just for the principle of the thing."
Meyers is still shocked by the charges. He admits he saw the movie, but can't recall how. He vaguely remembers the video store, but says he didn't receive any calls from the store about returning the tape.
Meyeres said he's been through the court system before to gain custody of his daughter and has been pulled over for speeding. But none of those encounters with the law ever resulted in any action related to the arrest warrant.
"When I reflect on everything, the money being spent to make these officers do all that is a waste," he said. "I lost six friends to heroin and one was a mother of eight kids. They have half their day tied up with this, but there is heroin on the streets. I couldn't wrap my head around it."
Meyers is due back in court on April 27.