Question for the Police officers or lawyers.

Is this as bad as it seems? I didn't see where the guy did anything wrong. Do any of you see where he was resisting? Now the charges have been changed from resisting to some class B misdemeanor but still, this seems scary or very frustrating at the least.

http://youtu.be/A8r4MK3R4PI

Disclaimer: I'm not a police basher in any way but this one doesn't appear to be one bad cop, it seems to be a good representation of the ignorance of several of them.

 

"On March 16, 2013, my son and I were hiking along country roads among pastures and fields with my 15-year old son to help him earn his hiking merit badge. I always enjoy these father/son hikes because it gives me time alone with my son."

I'm sure plenty of people like to go on casual hikes with their kids when they're working towards merit badges. Not sure how many of them feel the need to strap an AR across their chest while doing so though.

 

Understood, but Burb, is it illegal to carry a rifle on a sling in that sector? If not, then why did they need to physically remove his firearm, if he was not breaking a law?
If he would have had a 22 squirrel rifle slung on him, would that have been justification for the physical bullying and harassment?

 

I'm not from there so I don't know the legality - where I'm from you'd be on the deck getting a pat down if you were wandering around strapped with an AR like that.

But here's the thing - we don't know the circumstances that preceded this video. We know the poster's opinion, but frankly after hearing him whine it sounded like he was looking for a confrontation.

Did someone call the police reporting two suspicious males walking around, one armed with an AR? We don't know. Also, is it commonplace for people to walk along those roads armed like that? If it isn't, I can understand the concern by the LEO. But again, we don't know.

What we do know is this guy's on a hike with his kid while strapped with an AR to protect against 'Coyotes' and whatnot. Perhaps a better way of going about that would've been to carry a lesser-obvious firearm so as not to draw such attention...

Unless he was looking for it. Which I think he was, based on the rehearsed rhetoric being spouted and the ready-to-record video.

 

I can tell you if this dude was so concerned with coyotes or whatever, his concealed carry would have been just fine. I would bet this dude is a fobit who has the need to strut around with a friggen assault rifle when he's home on leave after all the madness that has happened lately. Whether or not he was literally breaking the law, he should have used common sense. I wonder what his unit commander thought of this video?

 

what's a "fobit" ??

I don't know that term.

 

He may have been "looking for it", but some people do these days, for precisely the reasons you outlined.
"Sure, you're not breaking any laws, and you're within your rights, but if we run into you not breaking the law, you're going to find yourself face down on the ground with guns pointed at you, handcuffed, possibly tasered and probably tossed in a squad car and hauled down to the police station, not because you're breaking any law, but because we don't like what you're doing and we're the ones with the guns".

Some people think that kind of stuff shouldn't happen and that, the more it's allowed to happen without protest, the worse it will get.
And that certainly seems to be the direction things are going.

 

It is legal where he was at and it's actually legal in many states. What does it matter that it was an AR?

If he was looking for a confrontation, don't you suspect that he would have been filming from the very beginning? Checking on his update, the police have been and continue to refuse to provide his lawyer with a copy of their dash cam video. And where did you see him resisting like the original charge?

You're okay with a cop telling you that he doesn't care what the law is? You say he's whining; you wouldn't be in that situation? The police claim that someone called and said he looked suspicious and that is it. There was no specific action preceding the cops arrival. The cop couldn't tell him of any thing that he was doing or provide any reason for taking the actions that he did.

This guy was in the middle of the country walking with his son. I've done this numerous times over the years just likes thousands of others in the south. Just because it was an AR doesn't matter. I can see where some of the less informed public would be concerned because of the media, but for police officers?

It appears that the only people that broke any laws were the cops and this doesn't concern you?

 

^^ Have to agree with most of this. Unless he did something before the video started the resisting charge is a pretty big stretch. Its ashame nowadays someone walking around with a rifle, minding his own business can be detained by the police when they havent done anything illegal. Cop could have just approached the guy and talked to him first, if the guy was gonna shoot the cop with the ar he would have done it as soon as he rolled up. Sucks the cops have to deal with so many other douche bags they cant afford to give anyone the benifit of the doubt.

 

I find it pretty difficult to be on the side of the cops for this one. Officer Double Chin was acting like a thug.

 

No Gun needed. Just be a young black male in NYC (Brooklyn, Bronx preferred) and the cops do the same thing under the NYC "Stop and Frisk" policy.

 

From a profiling standpoint, I'm guessing the percentage of fathers and sons walking down a country road with a rifle and the intent to commit a crime is about zero. As teenagers, my friends and I carried loaded .22 rifles everywhere we went, including the school parking lot. Neither we, the public, or the police ever considered it to be an issue. Guns are just part of life in a rural community.

 

I need to introduce you to my in-laws.

 

Unfortunately I believe, as I think most do, that the the sh*tty cops get way more attention from the media and citizens then do the ones who are actually professional and considerate of the citizens they interact with. So, here's a fantastic example of a police officer approaching citizens open carrying, and how IMHO it should go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N30TagPCNE4

 

Why does it not surprise me that you tried to take this somewhere else?

This guy was not in violation of a single law yet he went to jail. Care to explain your comparison?

 

That was nice to see and for the most part I agree with you. However, I am surprised at how much videos there is showing that there are quite a few bad apples in departments all over.

Look, I have several friends that are Police Officers, Detectives, etc. I've had encounters with "bad apples" myself over the years with something as small as a simple traffic stop. After talking with my buddies about the incidents, I was informed of several in the department that routinely try to start shit just because they get off on it. I know of several that with their personality should NEVER be given a badge because they hide behind it and actually think they rule the land. It's just like anything else, you have some good and you have some bad. I would hope that most have a level head and have took the time to understand the laws that they are supposed to enforce. ( I remember having a conversation with an officer that we hired for security as some event's we held, we were discussing how I had just got my cc permit and informed, actually insisted that I had to keep the gun in an open area in my car so it could be seen...WRONG) In those cases, it was up to me to keep the level head and I don't think that should be the case.

Don't you think the encounter in the video that I posted could have went much better if the cops that stopped the guy had a different approach and actually give a damn about the law.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't have questioned the guy, by all means, I would certainly hope they would. But, when they took the approach that they did, they could have easily turned that into a much different situation, one that they could have come out on the loosing end. IMO

 

The part where he discusses 'public alarm'?

This is what flamed03r1 doesn't seem to be understanding. You can tout all the laws and rights you'd like, and even be 100% correct about them...but if your actions are distressing to the public, or there's a perception of potentially threatening activity occurring, the police are going to get involved. Simple as that.

 

I have had a spirited debate with a LEO over the laws surrounding concealed carry too, and in the end he admitted he was mistaken (reluctantly) it was also about firearms in vehicles. I too agree that the video you posted shows a complete "holier than thou" attitude which is total BS, and had the officers not acted like all knowing above the law, impenetrable asshats it would have been a different story. I also agree with another post earlier in the thread that unfortunately we live in a day in age where you have to "whine" when shit isn't right, in order to prevent it from spinning wildly out of control (big brother will eat up all of our rights if allowed). Examples like the one you posted are one of the motivating factors for me to enter law enforcement, to try and influence those around me to drop the "I'm a cop, I'm right and you're wrong regardless" mentality.