# A police officer pointed a gun at me today **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712 "2004-06-22T22:24:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/41 "2006-02-06T18:19:02Z")
What’s a BOLO? Besides a string tie that some westerners wear, that is. ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/42 "2006-02-06T18:24:00Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > What’s a BOLO? Besides a string tie that some westerners wear, that is. BOLO = Be On the LookOut ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/43 "2006-02-06T18:33:00Z")
WAG here… **BOLO** = **B** e **O** n the **L** ook **O** ut. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/44 "2006-02-06T19:53:46Z")
[This story](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012602136.html) seems relevant. (Washington Post link, probably requires registration, but free, supposedly expires on February 10 if I have the math right). > [@The Washington Post](#): > > Salvatore J. Culosi Jr., a Fairfax County optometrist suspected of being a sports bookie, was accidentally shot by Fairfax County police, officials say. > > \ > > [The senior] Culosi can’t believe that the SWAT team’s sudden descent on his son, apparently causing one officer to accidentally fire a .45-caliber handgun once into his son’s chest, is standard procedure for Fairfax County police conducting a search. > > “We are outraged that current police protocol would ever allow something like this to happen,” Culosi, 63, said last night. “The fact is that there was zero basis whatsoever for the officers involved to have any weapons drawn in this situation.” > > Culosi added: “Sal was alone and unarmed. He was compliant with police instructions. He made no threatening movements or gestures. There was no risk of harm to anyone. Anyone, that is, except Sal.” > > A Fairfax police detective had been making sports bets with Culosi for three months, court records show, and on Tuesday night police planned to arrest Culosi and search his townhouse on Cavalier Landing Court. But Fairfax Police Chief David M. Rohrer said a 17-year police veteran with long experience in the tactical unit accidentally fired his gun, killing Culosi. > > The officer was not named, and police could not say why his gun went off. Pointing guns at people does indeed seem hazardous. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/45 "2006-02-06T21:03:38Z")
> [@katie1341](#): > > ``` > I was so upset I was practically hyperventilating, and I had to sit and collect myself before drving back to the office. I am seriously thinking about filing a complaint against him with the police department- I think that if you're going to wave your gun around, you should have more information than "white vehicle". > > ``` Katie, that is highly insulting to police officers. They do not wave their guns around. If he unholstered on you, he had a reason. And it is a very real possibility that all the information that was available at that time was “white vehicle”. There might have just been an armed robbery and all the victim could tell them was that the bad buy left in a white car. Far better for him to have unholstered and later apologized to you, than to not have unholstered and not have you apologize to him later for shooting him. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/46 "2006-02-06T22:31:25Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Katie, that is highly insulting to police officers. They do not wave their guns around. If he unholstered on you, he had a reason. Obviously, he didn’t. > [@](#): > > Far better for him to have unholstered and later apologized to you, than to not have unholstered and not have you apologize to him later for shooting him. Which he didn’t. The officer in question did, it seems, proceed to destroy evidence to cover his ass. So he knows he’s wrong. And a judge agrees. ---
**Author:** ![Taran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Taran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taran)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/47 "2006-02-06T22:53:02Z")
> [@](#): > > There might have just been an armed robbery and all the victim could tell them was that the bad buy left in a white car. There wasn’t, though. There was a guy driving on a suspended lisence (if the OP is to believed). Surely that warrants a more measured response? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/48 "2006-02-06T23:44:46Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > Which he didn’t. The officer in question did, it seems, proceed to destroy evidence to cover his ass. So he knows he’s wrong. And a judge agrees. And just exactly how did you come up with that little pearl? If there were an Olympic event about broadjumping to irrational conclusions, you would have just set a new world record. ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/49 "2006-02-07T00:14:36Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > If there were an Olympic event about broadjumping to irrational conclusions, you would have just set a new world record. **Humpy** , you’re an idiot, an unpleasant jerk, and what’s more, you just can’t recognize irony. [This is interesting. Saddam really did have WMDs!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=356612&highlight=clothahump) ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/50 "2006-02-07T00:15:57Z")
I thought we were in the Pit. I withdraw my insults. ---
**Author:** ![katie1341](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/91b2a8/32.png) [@katie1341](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katie1341)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/51 "2006-02-07T00:19:57Z")
The defense attorney in me hastens to add that there is no evidence whatsoever that he purposely destroyed or hid the tape. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the quotes around “lost”. Stuff gets lost. Stuff goes missing. However, I, and others, felt that the timing was suspect. ``` I really haven't given this whole thing any thought since it happened, until now. I don't know if the guy is even still a cop, or where he is. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/52 "2006-02-07T01:28:23Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Katie, that is highly insulting to police officers. They do not wave their guns around. You’re saying that no police officer has, anywhere, any time, used his or her gun inappropriately? Police officers are human. They make mistakes and they over- or under-react to situations sometimes, just like the rest of us do. From what the OP said, it sounds like this officer overreacted in this situation. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/53 "2006-02-07T02:05:54Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > > [@Originally Posted by The Washington Post](#): > > > > The officer was not named, and police could not say why his gun went off. There’s no real question to as how the gun “went off” or why the suspect was shot. The gun went off because the officer in question violated rules #1, #2, and #3 of basic firearms safety. > [@Sailboat](#): > > Pointing guns at people does indeed seem hazardous. Indeed. Pointing a firearm at a living being is an act to be reserved for only the most extreme situation, where the person handling the gun is acting in defense of self, other undefended parties, or to prevent a major violent/destructive felony. While I don’t intend to paint all peace officers with the same brush–as a collection of people they span the range from calm and collected to excitable and overzealous–the sad fact is that very few are required to have what I would consider sufficient training and ongoing drills to develop and maintain proficiency with a firearm under highly stressful situations, as attested to by the number of shootings in which dozens of rounds are fired with most completely missing the target and posing a danger to other officers and bystanders. Being a police officer is a very stressful and sometimes unrecognized job, but unwarntedly pointing a lethal weapon at an obviously unarmed person–an act that, were a private citizen to do so would result in conviction for assault and justification for self-defense–does nothing to enhance the officer’s safety or well-being. The solution isn’t to castigate all peace officers, but rather to insist upon more intenstive training and higher standards. As for the OP–and assuming that it played out in some reasonable fascimile to what the poster describes–the officer should be disciplined at the very least for handling a routine stop in a bungled manner which could have escallated a nominal exchange into a lethal conflict. If he sincerely felt the OP to be a threat to public safety to the point of having to “break leather”, the appropriate thing to do, as any trained officer is aware, is to call in for backup and maintain a defensive posture behind cover rather than engage an otherwise unthreatening suspect alone. This guy sounds like a greater danger to himself and his fellow officers than any benefit he could provide to the public at large. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/54 "2006-02-07T07:48:05Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > …And for the record, sorry you got all scared and stuff but he was only doing his job… Waving his gun around to pull over someone he though was driving with a suspended license? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712/55 "2006-02-07T14:25:24Z")
Closed at the request of the OP. **Cajun Man** for the SDMB [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-police-officer-pointed-a-gun-at-me-today/251712.md?page=2)