But at te time AD hit the deck and went for his weapon all he knew was that there was a laser dot on his chest.
Yes, the office was a complete dick and should be disciplined if not fired. But if AD had shot him (or someone who really just had a laser pointer) then there would be a dead person, a person with lots of guilt and remorse, and we’d miss an interesting poster because he was in jail.
Fantome, brandishing a fake weapon can indeed be a crime. I believe in CA that if you rob a bank with a realistic toy gun and the teller believed it was real, then it’s still armed robbery.
Will try to find a cite, or ask my husband for the code…
I know that.
But were you drinking?
Hostile Dialect, your first post I found neither rambling nor paranoid. You have experienced some of the same officer I have met. However to say this is world wide oversteps your personal experience I believe. I have traveled in 51 different countries and usually the only police type officials I meet are customs/immigration types. However many experiences in other countries mimic my experiences in the US.
Airman Doors, maybe instead of blind defense of the police you should sit and listen. Watch closely and put yourself in the place of the citizen not in the place of the police. Go to places where police hang out and quietly sit in the corner and listen to what is said. Go to a parties at police residences and sit and listen. Do this with an open mind. Remember the founding fathers of this country did not trust government therefore the constitutional restrictions on government. The police are part of government and following in the steps of the authors and signatories of the constitution are not to be trusted. IE. They should be kept on a short leash.
Shakes, you should learn to spell or at least check your post. Misspellings indicate either slovenly thinking or too lazy to check your spelling or just plain stupidity.
Sure: I was presenting a disclaimer. And that’s why I linked to the Findlaw article. I am slightly leary of presentations by commercial sites though.
I’m agnostic on this. If it mattered, I’d want to look at the case law.
FWIW, here’s a media presentation from PA that backs you up. A cop brandished a weapon at another cop in jest, and a judge ruled that it was not assault.
http://www.southphillyreview.com/view_article.php?id=995 Of course, having a cop point a weapon at another cop is different from an off-duty officer pointing a weapon at a stranger.
I’ll leave it to others to give Officer Aviles a well-deserved pitting for his April 2002 behavior.
Agreed somewhat, I’m posting at work and have many distractions. Not a great excuse, I know, I should be paying attention to my work, but there you have it.
No idea where* I picked it up *quizot, I’ve just always known it was a racial insult.
And again I want to state, IMHO, and just based on me reading Airman’s previous post’s, I do not believe it was a racial insult.
I do think he is justified to be pissed at the dumbass cop for painting him with a laser, and I also think he should report the idiot.
Are the enemy fighting in Iraq in the habit of using lasers for targeting? I don’t know, but if not, then the reaction is overboard until it was confirmed that the ‘weapon’ was, in fact, a weapon. In this case it was, but it is far more likely that the laser was of the pointer variety.
The cop should be fired for such a violation. This wasn’t a harmless prank. Weapons of any sort are not toys and if AD had blown his fool head off I’d have not criticized him for it (assuming he saw more than just the laser dot on his chest). I’d be more likely to say, “Good shooting, Tex. Thanks for cleaning up the gene pool”. But AD reacted before he had determined there was an actual threat. He isn’t in Iraq anymore. He should seriously think about his initial reaction, drinking, and carrying a loaded gun. Frankly, I’m all for the right to carry firearms, but there should be a zero tolerance attitude with regards to alcohol.
That’s the point, that is exactly why the cop was so stupid! He doesn’t know anything about the random strangers he is pointing a weapon at, (they could be in the military/veterans, agents of the law undercover etc.) and he is very lucky he didn’t justifiably get shot for his trouble.
He didn’t reach for his gun, he hit the deck. Re-read.
It wasn’t a laser pointer! It was a weapon. A taser is a weapon, and that is what was pointed at him. They aren’t non-lethal, they are “less” lethal. The idiot cop POINTED A WEAPON AT SOMEONE FOR A JOKE! Re-read the OP, NOT the comments.
Even hitting the deck is a hysterical overreaction to somebody pointing a light at you.
It’s kind of irresponsible to carry a gun while you’re drinking, by the way.
No.
New Hanover County sheriff’s chief deputy Ed McMahon.
Did he also say HIGH-OH?
Sorry, y’all. just consider it a bit of comic relief, okay?
Q
I’m 100% concinced that Doors meant nothing racial by it but I have only visited Canada a few times. It is not a Canadian thing. I only know the term as a racial slur. Rather than Canadian I think it is a bit outdated. It is more of a Viet Nam era slur.
Belushi uses it at the end of 1942 as he’s kicking the conn tower on the Japanese sub.
Yes, it is. It’s explainable by his military service, where they train you to react that way without thinking about it first in order to save your life in combat. It’s an almost Pavlovian response that a discharge to civilian life doesn’t erase. And besides, it’s harmless. Airman Doors didn’t draw his weapon or make any kind of violent action. Sure, it’s an overreaction in an American bar to assume that a red dot is a weapon, not a laser pointer. I’m not sure, but I don’t think Airman Doors has spent all of his recent past in America, and that may not be a hysterical reaction in some overseas bars.
Airman Doors, keep us posted.