Assuming Michael Anthony Beltran doesn't have three hands, he's received a little help from authorities to make sure his mugshot came out right.
Beltran was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of driving with a suspended or revoked license, a misdemeanor, and booked into the Maricopa County Jail, records show.
We surmise he didn't want to have his picture taken.
And, it looks like cops figured that an ear twist, knuckles under the chin, and possibly a tug of hair at the back of his head was required for the photo shoot.
The three hands in the picture, none of which appear to be Beltran's, are all wearing blue gloves. We won't go as far as to say Beltran's being abused. The suspect's smiling in the accompanying profile shot, so -- if that one was taken after the first -- it appears the forced picture-taking session didn't ruin his day completely.
Lisa Allen, spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, tells us that suspects are typically still in the custody of the arresting agency's officers during the mugshot process, and that jail deputies aren't issued such gloves.
"I have no idea why there are three hands in the pictures," Allen says after we asked her to take a look at the MCSO website picture.
Because the hands didn't appear to be those of deputies, Allen wasn't able to answer whether the ear-twist that appears to have been used to help get the shot is a technique taught to officers for that purpose.
However, when a person is booked into jail, "we have to get you to do a full frontal" face picture, she says, adding that by simply looking at this picture, she's "not necessarily sure that's happening."
