August 17, 2009 12:22

Bob Dylan picked up by police in New Jersey

Officers failed to recognise iconic musician

Photo Gallery: Bob Dylan
Photo: Pa Photos

Bob Dylan was escorted by police in New Jersey last month after officers failed to recognise him, it has emerged.

Dylan was walking in the pouring rain in Long Branch when locals became suspicious of his behaviour and called the police. 24-year-old police officer Kristie Buble answered the call, and was told that an "eccentric-looking old man" was standing in a residents' yard.

"It was pouring rain outside, and I was right around the corner so I responded," Buble told ABC News.

"I asked him what his name was and he said "Bob Dylan"," she said. "Now, I've seen pictures of Bob Dylan from a long time ago and he didn't look like Bob Dylan to me at all. He was wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head."

Buble added that she then asked Dylan for identification. Upon learning that he had none, she decided to take him back to what he said was his hotel in a bid to have someone identify him.

"'OK Bob, why don't you get in the car and we'll drive to the hotel and go verify this?'" Buble said she told Dylan. "I pulled into the parking lot," she continued, "And sure enough there were these enormous tour buses, and I thought, 'Whoa'."

Buble admitted that her sergeant also failed to recognise Dylan.

"I got out of my car and said, 'Sarg, this guy says he's Bob Dylan'," she explained. "He opened the car door, looked in, and said, 'That's not Bob Dylan.' So we go over to the tour bus and knock on the door and some guy answers and I say, 'Are you missing someone?'"

When Dylan's entourage showed her his passport, the officer said she sheepishly bid him farewell.

Dylan was in Long Branch to play a gig at New Jersey's First Energy Park on July 23.

In May, Dylan went unrecognised on a tour to John Lennon's childhood home in Woolton, Liverpool. He also made a pilgrimage to Neil Young's childhood home in Winnipeg, Canada last November.