Tuesday afternoon, Consalvi's mother and stepfather stood on their front porch on an otherwise sunny and peaceful afternoon, patiently taking questions from reporters about Consalvi's mystifying behavior, which ended with charges of defiant trespass, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.

"I'm publicly apologizing for my son," said a chagrined Amy Zeigler, who kept Steve inside and away from reporters even as her son's claim to fame soared. His story went viral; by Tuesday evening, 350,000 people had viewed videos of the Tasering on YouTube. On Philly.com alone, the stories and videos earned the site nearly 673,000 page views as of early Tuesday night. On Facebook, a new page was dubbed "Steve Consalvi Is a Hero."