The video was taped by then-freshman reporter Chris Reason at Seven News.[7] Reason's reporting said that the man was arrested in a case of mistaken identity ("the police thought they'd caught Queensland's most wanted"). Other later sources said he was a dine and dasher, or an international criminal, while officer Dean Biron who attended the scene recalled he was wanted on 19 counts of fraud and receiving stolen goods worth $70,000.[4] The man gave his name as Cecil George Edwards, but he had also been identified by aliases including Johann Kelmut Karlson and Cecil Gerry Edwards.[7][9] The clip remained obscure until a raw video version was uploaded to the internet in January 2009 and became an immediate viral video.[1] The raw footage was missing Reason's voice-over explaining who the man was, or what the incident was about, and internet speculation attempted to resolve the mystery.[10]
The mystery of the man's identity continued until 2020, when Australian punk band The Chats published a music video titled "Dine 'N Dash" that re-created the viral video with an older man acting the part of the arrestee.[21][5] The actor then identified himself in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald as "Cecil George Edwards", the man in the viral video; he was now going by the name of "Jack K". Asked why he made such a show during the arrest, he said he wanted to appear crazy so he might be placed into an asylum where it would be easier to escape. It was also revealed he had an artistic career making paintings, including some of the arrest.[7] That same year, a man only identified as "Mr Democracy Manifest" was interviewed in a video regarding the incident for Sportsbet.[22] In 2021, Seven News covered the story of the arrest, interviewing both Chris Reason and the man arrested in the original video, who only gave his name as Jack. When asked for his surname, he jokingly replied "it depends which one you want".[9]
The video in fact depicts Jack Peter Karlson[23] (born Cecil George Edwards; 1942 – 7 August 2024)[24] being arrested for paying for a Chinese meal with a purportedly stolen credit card. He was being followed by an American Express investigator who identified him as a credit card fraudster and called the police.[3] The incident took place at the China Sea Restaurant on 11 Duncan Street, Fortitude Valley. The restaurant has since relocated to Milton.[25]
Karlson began a lifelong career of petty crime in 1956 as a ward of Blackheath Presbyterian Boys' Home in the Brisbane suburb of Oxley, where he was apparently subjected to physical and sexual abuse.[24] He was in prison for much of the first half of his life and frequently escaped. In prison, he met Jim McNeil and encouraged him to write plays about his prison experience, which became famous throughout Australia. They remained friends until McNeil's death in 1982.[26]
The Radio National programme Earshot broadcast an hour-long biographical documentary on the incident in January 2022.[27] In June 2022, academic Dean Biron, who was one of the arresting officers accused in the "Get your hands off my penis" part of the video, wrote an article about the incident. Biron gave his version of events, such as why the police were making the arrest, stating that, contrary to other reports made, it was not considered a major case. Biron said that after the arrest, the man—who had used the Edwards alias—was held in police custody and then released on bail overnight, and disappeared until his "15 minutes of fame" in 2020, "somehow scrubbed clean of that pesky past".[4]
In 2023, true crime author Mark Dapin published a biography of Karlson titled Carnage: A Succulent Chinese Meal, Mr. Rent-a-Kill and the Australian Manson Murders. He interviewed Karlson and followed leads to other crimes and criminals.[24][28][29]
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/jack-karlson-succulent-chinese-meal-man-dies-at-82-1235969180/
