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Some guy went out jogging in Martinsburg, WV in military-looking camouflage clothing, with a rifle slung across his chest. Cops came down on him, busted him, threw him in jail, and got arrest warrants for him. He's still in jail now, facing $50,000 bail.
The kicker?
It was a toy gun. Complete with bright orange plastic tip on the barrel. It shoots little plastic pellets about as harmful as ping-pong balls... only smaller and lighter.
Yet the cops still treated him like the next movie-theater shooter... and they are STILL treating him that way. They searched his apartment, saying they were looking for explosives... even after finding out that the gun was fake. (No explosives were found.)
Oh, and he was "near a school".
Get a map of any normal residential area sometime, and try to find any location that is not "near a school".
The military-style clothing had ceramic plates in some pockets, so (according to the article) they have charged him with "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor".
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't ALL persons "prohibited from committing a violent crime"?
If Martinsburg, WV has a law against "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor", doesn't this mean simply that everyone is forbidden to wear body armor? Ever?
Frankly, this sounds to me like the cops completely blew it - they went off half-cocked and arrested a guy, only to find he wasn't doing anything wrong at all. And rather than letting him go with a sheepish apology, they started scrambling to find something - ANYTHING - they could pretend he was doing "wrong". There are now five (count them, FIVE) different law enforcement agencies involved in the "case". They have even charged him with TERRORISM, because jogging with a toy gun might have scared somebody somewhere! Somebody more ignorant than cops are normally expected to be, I gather... other than the cops in Martinsburg, WV.
In fact, I have to wonder if this guy did it, simply for the purpose of provoking the local cops into freaking out and acting like complete jackasses.
He succeeded.
Not only did the cops swallow it hook, line, and sinker, so completely that now they can't let it go... but even the newspaper article writer fell for it too. In the article he keeps referring to the toy gun as an "AR-15 training rifle". He never once refers to the actual brand (Airsoft), nor does he ever mention that it was a toy, used in various games, firing small plastic pellets weighing 1/100 of an ounce or less - about as much as a medium-sized snowflake.
Body armor-wearing man apprehended near Martinsburg schools Monday morning
August 20, 2012
By Edward Marshall - staff writer (emarshall@journal-news.net) , The Journal
MARTINSBURG - A man wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15 training rifle, two knives and several unloaded magazines was arrested today after he was seen running in the area of Bulldog Boulevard, police said.
Officers responded to the scene and located the man, later identified as 23-year-old William Everett Alemar, of South Raleigh Street, near the intersection of Silver Lane and Raleigh Street. When Patrolman M. Jones, Patrolman C.M. Richmond and Patrolman First Class E. Herb encountered the individual, he was dressed in full military desert camouflage and a ballistic vest and with what appeared to be an assault rifle across his chest, police said.
All three officers engaged Alemar at gunpoint and ordered him to his knees to be taken into custody.
(snip)
"It's heavy and it looks completely just like an AR-15 other than that red tip on it," Swartwood said.
(Full text of the article can be read at the above URL)
Some guy went out jogging in Martinsburg, WV in military-looking camouflage clothing, with a rifle slung across his chest. Cops came down on him, busted him, threw him in jail, and got arrest warrants for him. He's still in jail now, facing $50,000 bail.
The kicker?
It was a toy gun. Complete with bright orange plastic tip on the barrel. It shoots little plastic pellets about as harmful as ping-pong balls... only smaller and lighter.
Yet the cops still treated him like the next movie-theater shooter... and they are STILL treating him that way. They searched his apartment, saying they were looking for explosives... even after finding out that the gun was fake. (No explosives were found.)
Oh, and he was "near a school".
Get a map of any normal residential area sometime, and try to find any location that is not "near a school".
The military-style clothing had ceramic plates in some pockets, so (according to the article) they have charged him with "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor".
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't ALL persons "prohibited from committing a violent crime"?
If Martinsburg, WV has a law against "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor", doesn't this mean simply that everyone is forbidden to wear body armor? Ever?
Frankly, this sounds to me like the cops completely blew it - they went off half-cocked and arrested a guy, only to find he wasn't doing anything wrong at all. And rather than letting him go with a sheepish apology, they started scrambling to find something - ANYTHING - they could pretend he was doing "wrong". There are now five (count them, FIVE) different law enforcement agencies involved in the "case". They have even charged him with TERRORISM, because jogging with a toy gun might have scared somebody somewhere! Somebody more ignorant than cops are normally expected to be, I gather... other than the cops in Martinsburg, WV.
In fact, I have to wonder if this guy did it, simply for the purpose of provoking the local cops into freaking out and acting like complete jackasses.
He succeeded.
Not only did the cops swallow it hook, line, and sinker, so completely that now they can't let it go... but even the newspaper article writer fell for it too. In the article he keeps referring to the toy gun as an "AR-15 training rifle". He never once refers to the actual brand (Airsoft), nor does he ever mention that it was a toy, used in various games, firing small plastic pellets weighing 1/100 of an ounce or less - about as much as a medium-sized snowflake.
Body armor-wearing man apprehended near Martinsburg schools Monday morning
August 20, 2012
By Edward Marshall - staff writer (emarshall@journal-news.net) , The Journal
MARTINSBURG - A man wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15 training rifle, two knives and several unloaded magazines was arrested today after he was seen running in the area of Bulldog Boulevard, police said.
Officers responded to the scene and located the man, later identified as 23-year-old William Everett Alemar, of South Raleigh Street, near the intersection of Silver Lane and Raleigh Street. When Patrolman M. Jones, Patrolman C.M. Richmond and Patrolman First Class E. Herb encountered the individual, he was dressed in full military desert camouflage and a ballistic vest and with what appeared to be an assault rifle across his chest, police said.
All three officers engaged Alemar at gunpoint and ordered him to his knees to be taken into custody.
(snip)
"It's heavy and it looks completely just like an AR-15 other than that red tip on it," Swartwood said.
(Full text of the article can be read at the above URL)
I tend to agree that the cops may have overreacted. However, I need to bring up a couple of points. If the cops had not done anything when they see something like this and the guy actually was nuts and was planning to do something, I venture to guess that maybe you would now say how come the cops did not do anything about it. Dammed and if you and dammed if you don't.
The second point is what was the intent of the guy for doing such thing. With recent events in mind, who in his right mind would do such thing? Sure he has the freedom to dress as he wants and carry a toy gun but in the end he attracted unnneeded atention from the law and they had to see what was going it for the sake of the community. He ensured the law gravitated towards him when there was no need for this to happen. He wasted taxpayer money and resources by getting the police involved. To some degree he deserves what he got, not that I agree with the cops if they go further then they were supposed to. Why attract an unneeded problem? Stupid. Take care.
Any injured party, whose person or property was damaged?
Any proof of his consent to not carry toys, dress up, and / or jog?
Was it really failure to get permission from his sovereign master?
Sounds like the guy was asking to be picked up. I wouldn't sling a marijuana looking plant over my shoulder and go running and stopping to hand role some cigarettes.
Like all privilege, you use it responsibly. Carrying your gun open deer hunting, from the car to the gun range whatever, cool. Trying to scare people by dressing up like a mass shooter and getting a toy gun, stupid.
Some guy went out jogging in Martinsburg, WV in military-looking camouflage clothing, with a rifle slung across his chest. Cops came down on him, busted him, threw him in jail, and got arrest warrants for him. He's still in jail now, facing $50,000 bail.
The kicker?
It was a toy gun. Complete with bright orange plastic tip on the barrel. It shoots little plastic pellets about as harmful as ping-pong balls... only smaller and lighter.
Yet the cops still treated him like the next movie-theater shooter... and they are STILL treating him that way. They searched his apartment, saying they were looking for explosives... even after finding out that the gun was fake. (No explosives were found.)
Oh, and he was "near a school".
Get a map of any normal residential area sometime, and try to find any location that is not "near a school".
The military-style clothing had ceramic plates in some pockets, so (according to the article) they have charged him with "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor".
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't ALL persons "prohibited from committing a violent crime"?
If Martinsburg, WV has a law against "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor", doesn't this mean simply that everyone is forbidden to wear body armor? Ever?
Frankly, this sounds to me like the cops completely blew it - they went off half-cocked and arrested a guy, only to find he wasn't doing anything wrong at all. And rather than letting him go with a sheepish apology, they started scrambling to find something - ANYTHING - they could pretend he was doing "wrong". There are now five (count them, FIVE) different law enforcement agencies involved in the "case". They have even charged him with TERRORISM, because jogging with a toy gun might have scared somebody somewhere! Somebody more ignorant than cops are normally expected to be, I gather... other than the cops in Martinsburg, WV.
In fact, I have to wonder if this guy did it, simply for the purpose of provoking the local cops into freaking out and acting like complete jackasses.
He succeeded.
Not only did the cops swallow it hook, line, and sinker, so completely that now they can't let it go... but even the newspaper article writer fell for it too. In the article he keeps referring to the toy gun as an "AR-15 training rifle". He never once refers to the actual brand (Airsoft), nor does he ever mention that it was a toy, used in various games, firing small plastic pellets weighing 1/100 of an ounce or less - about as much as a medium-sized snowflake.
Body armor-wearing man apprehended near Martinsburg schools Monday morning
August 20, 2012
By Edward Marshall - staff writer (emarshall@journal-news.net) , The Journal
MARTINSBURG - A man wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15 training rifle, two knives and several unloaded magazines was arrested today after he was seen running in the area of Bulldog Boulevard, police said.
Officers responded to the scene and located the man, later identified as 23-year-old William Everett Alemar, of South Raleigh Street, near the intersection of Silver Lane and Raleigh Street. When Patrolman M. Jones, Patrolman C.M. Richmond and Patrolman First Class E. Herb encountered the individual, he was dressed in full military desert camouflage and a ballistic vest and with what appeared to be an assault rifle across his chest, police said.
All three officers engaged Alemar at gunpoint and ordered him to his knees to be taken into custody.
(snip)
"It's heavy and it looks completely just like an AR-15 other than that red tip on it," Swartwood said.
(Full text of the article can be read at the above URL)
Nuts, Maybe he can sue. Shows poor training and judgement. NM the toys, he didn't do anything.
The problem is they spend a lot on these toys for officers and you get these aggressive individuals looking for an outlet. They will jump all over people for nothing. They just can't wait, any excuse.
.
Like all privilege, you use it responsibly. Carrying your gun open deer hunting, from the car to the gun range whatever, cool. Trying to scare people by dressing up like a mass shooter and getting a toy gun, stupid.
Nothing in that story indicates that he was "trying to scare" anyone.
I tend to agree that the cops may have overreacted. However, I need to bring up a couple of points. If the cops had not done anything when they see something like this and the guy actually was nuts and was planning to do something, I venture to guess that maybe you would now say how come the cops did not do anything about it. Dammed and if you and dammed if you don't.
The second point is what was the intent of the guy for doing such thing. With recent events in mind, who in his right mind would do such thing? Sure he has the freedom to dress as he wants and carry a toy gun but in the end he attracted unnneeded atention from the law and they had to see what was going it for the sake of the community. He ensured the law gravitated towards him when there was no need for this to happen. He wasted taxpayer money and resources by getting the police involved. To some degree he deserves what he got, not that I agree with the cops if they go further then they were supposed to. Why attract an unneeded problem? Stupid. Take care.
I agree with everything you said above except, he IS nuts.
I don't think that he called the police on himself.
The red tip indicates that it is a toy. If the cops don't understand this - than they are too stupid to continue in their present line of employment.
Huh? Did you read the whole message and get the the context around it? Take care.
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