Guy gets Illegally Disarmed and Arrested

[nagato2]

just want to get your opinions on the vid

[video=youtube_share;A8r4MK3R4PI]http://youtu.be/A8r4MK3R4PI[/video]

this was written by the father who was attacked.

Spoiler

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. As I always do when we go on these hikes and walks, I took my trusty rifle with me as there are coyotes, wild hogs, and cougars in our area. In Texas, it is legal to openly carry a rifle or shotgun as long as you do so in a manner that isn't calculated to cause alarm. In other words, you can't walk around waving your rifle at people. I always carry my rifle slung across my chest dangling, not holding it in my hands.

At about the 5 mile mark of our hike, a voice behind us asked us to stop and the officer motioned for us to approach him. He got out of his car and met us a few feet later. He asked us what we were doing and I explained that we were hiking for my son's merit badge. He then asked me what I'm doing with the rifle, to which I responded in a calm manner, "Does it matter, officer? Am I breaking the law?"

At that point, the officer grabbed my rifle without warning or indication. He didn't ask for my rifle and he didn't suggest he would take it from me. He simply grabbed it. This startled me and I instantly pulled back - the rifle was attached to me - and I asked what he thought he was doing because he's not taking my rifle. He then pulled his service pistol on me and told me to take my hands off the weapon and move to his car, which I complied with. He then slammed me into the hood of his car and I remembered I had a camera on me (one of the requirements of the hiking merit badge is to document your hikes). This video is the rest of that encounter. Up to this point, I am not told why I am being stopped, why he tried to disarm me, or even that I'm under arrest.

We did not set out that Saturday morning to "make a point" or cause problems. Our goal was to complete a 10-mile hike and return home without incident. My son chose a route that away from populated areas but near our home.

The arresting officer is Officer Steve Ermis and the supervisor is Sergeant Minnicks of the Temple Police Department.

If you agree this was a gross act of exceeded authority, please help me fight these charges:

You must be registered for see links

...

 

[i OblivioN i]

We are in the End of Days.
This world, is coming to an......End.

 

[CurseSealofEarth]

We are in the End of Days.
This world, is coming to an......End.

Good. I'm glad it's happening.

 

[GwemBaba]

<div class="bbWrapper">If it's no against the law then he's clearly in the wrong.<br /> <br /> It's good you can state your case thanks to the camera.</div>

 

[Fair Warning]

seemed set up... and how were there going to be coyotes and wolves on a country road?

Besides what the police said sounded right. They got a call, and the man didnt stop when asked to stop. Thats pretty shady if you ask me

 

[nagato2]

We are in the End of Days.
This world, is coming to an......End.

lol that is funny honey cocaine

 

[GenKiDama]

Some idiot In a position of power what's new.

 

[nagato2]

seemed set up... and how were there going to be coyotes and wolves on a country road?

Besides what the police said sounded right. They got a call, and the man didnt stop when asked to stop. Thats pretty shady if you ask me

its surrounded by country, dude plus it is a ten mile hike so who knows what the end of that trail looks like.

 

[foxyladyland]

this sure is kinda exciting isn't it :hooray: just kidding
people should just do what I say then everybody goes to jail
just kidding.........again.Lol

I think it is very scary to drive and shoot, but that is what gta is for XD
the law is the law , but lives are more important....

 

[Fair Warning]

I hate it when police officers come into the force thinking they are gonna get a drug bust or mass arrest.

But then nothing happens so they end up sticking up anyone that seems threatening

 

[Aim64C]

seemed set up... and how were there going to be coyotes and wolves on a country road?

I occasionally see Coyotes (we don't have many wolves here) running around in the suburban residential areas of Missouri. Can't speak for Texas - but they are possible.

Besides what the police said sounded right. They got a call, and the man didnt stop when asked to stop. Thats pretty shady if you ask me

Honestly, I think this was a case of two people getting spun up beyond reason.

The officer was a little too 'keyed up' and did not want to see another case of Sandy Hook or another random shooting. Which likely weighed in his reaction to try and seize the weapon (somewhat understandable - but a technical overstepping of his bounds).

The guy, here, is clearly being more confrontational than necessary - which is only serving to spin the officer up even more (which works the guy up further and convinces him to turn this into a sort of police brutality case).

Honestly, though - if I were the guy in the video, I would have simply explained to the officer my intent with the weapon. The "does it matter?" was what put the officer from 'alertly curious' to 'imminent alertness' - that was a confrontation. I'm under no legal requirement to disclose my intent... but I can't blame the officer for getting keyed up when he's sent to make sure I'm not going to do anything wrong and then, basically, tell him to piss off.

Though if he'd have drawn down on me, I'd have laughed. If he was close enough to make a grab at my rifle (shame on me) - he's short-handing himself on reaction time. I can have influence on his hand or slide before he has time to react (and if I have the slide - I can prevent him from firing). After illustrating how to disarm someone and how bad of an idea it was to rely upon a firearm at such close intervals - I'd return his firearm to him, and tell him to have a nice day.

 

[The Necromancer]

I occasionally see Coyotes (we don't have many wolves here) running around in the suburban residential areas of Missouri. Can't speak for Texas - but they are possible.



Honestly, I think this was a case of two people getting spun up beyond reason.

The officer was a little too 'keyed up' and did not want to see another case of Sandy Hook or another random shooting. Which likely weighed in his reaction to try and seize the weapon (somewhat understandable - but a technical overstepping of his bounds).

The guy, here, is clearly being more confrontational than necessary - which is only serving to spin the officer up even more (which works the guy up further and convinces him to turn this into a sort of police brutality case).

Honestly, though - if I were the guy in the video, I would have simply explained to the officer my intent with the weapon. The "does it matter?" was what put the officer from 'alertly curious' to 'imminent alertness' - that was a confrontation. I'm under no legal requirement to disclose my intent... but I can't blame the officer for getting keyed up when he's sent to make sure I'm not going to do anything wrong and then, basically, tell him to piss off.

Though if he'd have drawn down on me, I'd have laughed. If he was close enough to make a grab at my rifle (shame on me) - he's short-handing himself on reaction time. I can have influence on his hand or slide before he has time to react (and if I have the slide - I can prevent him from firing). After illustrating how to disarm someone and how bad of an idea it was to rely upon a firearm at such close intervals - I'd return his firearm to him, and tell him to have a nice day.

I agreed with you until you tried to make yourself look good by bragging about disarming an armed officer. I'm sure you would. I'm sure you would.

 

[Pervy Wrath]

There's a lot of stupid police officers in the world. This guy was just unfortunate that he ran into not one, but two of them.

 

[Aim64C]

I agreed with you until you tried to make yourself look good by bragging about disarming an armed officer. I'm sure you would. I'm sure you would.

Realistically - it wouldn't be necessary.

But everyone has the inherent right to self-defense. As a person in the armed service - I've seen my fair share of poor judgment calls made by people wearing a uniform that ends up turning out -very- bad for someone subject to the authority of that uniform.

The reason that officer acted that way is because he did not have confidence in his own capability to wield the weapon he had. A more confident officer would have not been nearly as quick to grab or draw - because he knows his capabilities and what he can handle.

From the officer's perspective - I'd have seen a guy with a firearm with a chip on his shoulder. Whatever - I'm there, and his initial remark of "it doesn't matter" is no reason for me to go for the firearm. If we're close enough to be having a normal-volume conversation - I can be on top of him before he is able to raise his rifle.

 

[Blunt]

The government WILL try to disarm us, so they can carry out what is needed to be done to better the living chances of the planet Earth. The Earth was only meant to sustain some 500 million to 1 billion people, we have far exceeded that population and now it is time for Mr. Rothschild's dogs to be unchained, get ready.

 

[cptenn94]

seemed set up... and how were there going to be coyotes and wolves on a country road?

Besides what the police said sounded right. They got a call, and the man didnt stop when asked to stop. Thats pretty shady if you ask me

So did you pay attention at all? ALL through out that video you can both hear and see it is a WINDY day, and the police officer who asked him to stop admitted to NOT useing the loud speaker. So with this and the fact that it is windy means that it is VERY VERY LIKELY that the guy did not hear him the first time. And the officer and the guy are both in agreement that he did stop and come over(the guy claimed he did it as soon as he noticed)(which again is very likely due to windy day, and the officer NOT useing the loud speaker.

This hardly seems set up at all.

The guy behaved exactly as a pissed off guy who is being mishandled would. Yet even though he was VERY ticked off, he STILL was very cooperative physically, and only verbally protested(as a LAW ABIDING citizen would)
He told the officer where his sidearm was even though he did not consent to the confiscation.



And lastly to answer you question"how are there going to be coyotes on a country road?
Well i dont know where you live, but clearly you havent had much experiance with coyotes. I live here in tennessee, and they are everywhere. It doesnt matter whether you live in a highly populated area or if you go to rural areas. You will see one if you look for it. I live by a creek, in a small wooded area, and every other night you can hear them "howl". Meanwhile where i live is surrounded by a lot of developed area. I have had friends who live in appartment complexs, have their pets be attacked by coyotes.

And the thing is coyotes arent very native to where i live. Go back 200-1000 years, and you would find wolves liveing here not coyotes.

Coyotes are natural to the midwest(aka TEXAS area).

And btw, coyotes are not scared of humans. If they are hungry enough, unless you are with a group of people, they may attack.

ALSO feral pigs ARE A HUGE HUGE HUGE problem in texas. They can grow to be quite big, and are very aggressive. In fact, there are people who are paid to go a hunt them, because they are aggressive and have been known to cause injuries, they breed like mad, and they devastate crops.


And im not sure about cougars in texas, but i know that when hungry they will attack people. Go and google "cougar attacks" and you will find a large list people who have been attacked.




So in short, this guy did nothing illegal, and was very cooperative, and was mistreated and mishandled. He carried a rifle, because it is an effective way to ensure that he and his son stayed safe. Sure the chances that something serious might happen may be slim, but as scouts say "be prepared". The father would much rather carry his gun so if something happened, he could protect his son, than just not bring it and if something did attack them, be helpless.


The man did nothing wrong. He got arrested and humiliated just because he CARRIED A GUN. He didnt shoot it, aim it , behave aggressively, or anything at all to signify he did ANYTHING wrong.


Im sorry for this rant, but it really gets on my nerves.....just less than 30 years ago(maybe much less) this man couldve done the same thing, and nobody wouldve batted an eye.

 

[S A G E]

Why bring a gun in public or in the road in the first place?
Guns should be left at home so it doesn't endanger the public.

 

[Aim64C]

Why bring a gun in public or in the road in the first place?
Guns should be left at home so it doesn't endanger the public.

... the firearm endangers the public?

You mean the person with the firearm endangers the public... and only if they behave destructively/irresponsibly with the firearm.

This is the same mentality that says: "You should keep your firearm in a local government-provided safe so that it doesn't ever become a hazard - you can use it when hunting and then put it back for safe keeping."

... If you read that and thought: "That's a good idea!" - then you and I sit across an ideological divide that will be difficult to bridge under one legal system.