By Canadian Press

The Naked Cowboy arrested while performing at Bike Week

Mar 8, 2021 | 11:48 AM

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A Times Square performer known as the Naked Cowboy was arrested on a misdemeanour charge of resisting arrest without violence and cited for panhandling while working a gig at Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Court records show Robert Burck, 51, who is widely known for wearing only white briefs, boots and a cowboy hat while playing a brightly colored guitar, was arrested Saturday while performing at the annual event on Florida’s Atlantic coast. Burck is a regular at Bike Week.

The panhandling citation was given after officers saw people tucking dollar bills into Burck’s guitar after taking photographs. Burck then refused to follow directions from a police officer and pulled away from her, according to an arrest report.

When the Daytona Beach police officer redirected Burck against a patrol car, the headstock of his guitar broke, according to the arrest report. The headstock is the part of the guitar at the end that houses the pegs used for tuning the instrument.

“The defendant began taking photographs with multiple bystanders, while bystanders placed United States currency inside the guitar’s centre sound hole in the area of Main St/S Fern Ln, which was approximately 10 feet away from the front door of a commercially zoned property at 810 Main St.,” arresting officers wrote in a report. “The defendant’s actions violate Daytona Beach City Ordinance 66-1 (Panhandling),” an arresting officer wrote in a report.

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He was released from jail Sunday morning following a first appearance hearing, Volusia County court records show. An attorney for Burck, of Woodside, New York, was not listed on court records.

Video on Burck’s Facebook page, The Naked Cowboy, showed him performing and taking pictures with fans Saturday morning. A video posted to YouTube shows a police officer attempting to get a handcuffed Burck, whose guitar was still hanging from a strap around his neck, into a patrol car.

The Associated Press