Cop illegally stops law student carrying gun and gets hammered with knowledge

The bolded part was where he was contrary to doing his job. He was a complete douche for trying to bull**** his way through the process. He did the right thing calling in the supervisor. Cops should know the damn laws they enforce. This isn't a trade where you learn on the job; you carry a weapon and can kill someone at any second.

 

That is what he was doing, but it doesn't distort the facts. In the same vein that bait cars are used, which is the opposite form of trolling.

Not sure why so many people are so upset about the kid. He was calm, composed and intelligent. Whether he was baiting or not, his actions pointed out the lunacy of police officers not even understanding what they can and can't legally do. Which isn't surprising, but is frightening.

As are people walking down streets with guns. But this is American and those are the laws we have. If the public as a whole doesn't like those laws, there are measures to change them.

I think we need more of this.

 

The guy was a douche bag trying to spark a confrontation -- cop handled the situation appropriately.

 

The cop did not handle it appropriately. He tried to lie/bull****/cajole his way into an unlawful search and seizure.

Who cares if the kid was cocky? He wasn't breaking ANY laws and was in fact dropping law on the ignorant cop.

 

I thought the cop was remarkably civil. From start to finish. Especially if he was responding to a complaint.

He asked for the guys i.d. -- which I guess the guy doesn't have to provide, then lowered it to asking his first name. There was no indication he was going to detain, cuff or threaten the guy in any way. I'd rather he respond to a reasonable complaint this way .... go talk to the guy politely and see who he is. He did take the bait a bit in justifying the i.d. check -- but he backed off pretty quick. (and I think...depending on the nature of the complaint he was responding to he may have had some public safety rational for approaching the guy -- though, admittedly, I don't have a half dozen court cases and a handycam to back that up).

Kid was a douche from the start. And escalated the douchery throughout.

He wasn't harassed. If he doesn't want people to talk to him, he should stay indoors. Stare in the mirror. Play with his guns. YOU TALKIN' TO ME???? WHO THE F DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO? YOU TALKIN' TO ME???

 

I just don't think that cop was out looking for trouble like some cops seem to like to do. Here, it looked like the kid was scaring people and hoping to get the cops called on him to record the situation. That's douchey. This cop is not great, hell, I'll even grant that he's not good. But man, I used to work in Baltimore and see cops beat people for taking pictures. This cop was much more mature than many of the asses that work in law enforcement. Hopefully, he'll be less ignorant now. But that law is wack. Texas > Maine when it comes to gun laws.

And some could argue that I'm holding cops to a low standard. That's a fair point. I think too many cops are idiots and asses just like too many people are...only difference is cops have badges and guns.

 

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The officer was wrong and certainly misinformed, but he handled the situation well compared to what many officers would have done. Unfortunately the officer was put in a bad spot; confront the douchebag and back down immediately when reminded of his rights, or stand up to his obvious attempts at being confrontational. It is not good to have every douchebag running around illegally open carry but claim his rights not to be harassed. Lucky the vast majority of people are mature enough not to do this.

Everyone I know who carries does it very discretely and doesn't want everyone knowing they are carrying.

 

You guys are really missing the point. It's not about attitudes, it's about the law. Who cares if this cop was more polite than most? It doesn't matter if law student was a prick. Cop was wrong, kid was right. Cops should always enforce the law and not bend it to get their way.

Don't be fooled by nice cops. That's obedience conditioning that we've all dealt with. They aren't the authority. They're police. They are beholden to the law just as every other citizen.

 

I agree with you, but I think it does matter whether or not people are dicks. It doesn't make the cop right nor does it make the kid wrong. It just means that in addition to the law lessons, what I took from the video was that the kid is a dick and the cop was a nice guy.

Video #2 is a clear example of the same ignorance by police, but the cop there was a complete douche bag and dick. Legally, the cops from both videos were wrong. I'd just rather deal with the cop from video #1 10/10 times than deal with the cop from video #2. The #2 cop makes me want to hate cops, because he's a mean fatty who tried to be a bully. I hate those types of cops.

 

I provide services for Judges,Lawyers, Cops, Constables,Sherriff Offices and the likes.

Judges tell me this very thing on a weekly basis. Justices and the Courts HATE when cops try to over-step their boundaries of the law and present a greater authority than Peace Officers think they have.

Do not be intimidated by cops.

 

Clutchfans:
Where people hate cops for being douchebags.
Also where people hate cops for being cops.

I'm all for flaming the hell out of the cop if he was both wrong and a psychotic dick about it. However, this is genuine misinformation and genuine concern. As an officer he has a duty to confront danger and dangerous situations. Common sense would say, hey that idiot is waving around a loaded gun and passer-byes have tipped me off about it. That HAS to be a violation, right?

That logic is wrong, but it's reasonable. On the flip side of things that kid is a tool for waving around a gun in public and frightening others. Concealed carry people. It may be legal but what he did OBVIOUSLY was not for his own safety but rather to become a YouTube celebrity overnight.

 

I don't like the kid because he was obviously doing this for person reasons/gain, not a public service. I thought the police handled it very well for being baited. Again, I still believe the officer had the legal right to stop him if the initial call reported the kid had the actual gun out of holster. I have no idea how that call came in, but to me it seems the police backed off once the kid started spouting law cases.

 

Where in any part of the video was the kid accused of recklessly waving around a gun? Am I missing something here? If a report was called in the guy was waving around a gun, cops would of been there code 1-10 involving Lights/Sirens. Obviously that wasn't the case here, and the guy had a pistol on his hip holstered, which the cop racked the pistol( Which could of been mis-racked since it was a holstered gun causing the gun to chamber a round and producing a potential problem concerning misfire/ bodily injury resulting in a serious lawsuit against tax payer money).

The cop was totally totally totally in the wrong and it was handled so badly and could of gotten out of hand.

I don't know about other states but here in Texas you can legally defend yourself if it is a unlawful arrest. Situations can turn ugly from bad aggressive policing.

 

There was no mention of the guy waving the gun around.

 

Cop said he was responding to a complaint. Kid was ready with the camera and the case references. I think it's more likely than not this was provoked by the kid. Which doesn't mean cop had a legal right to demand id, or kid was in the wrong....but it does bring some doubt that the kid was simply walking about with a holstered gun...

I suppose we.....need more info. Isn't that the meme? For all we know, it wasn't even a cop. Perhaps it was Mitt Romney's son out pranking???

 

My bad. I had thought the guy was walking around with a loaded gun in his hand or something.

 

So what if he was? Thats not against the law.

Thats the point.

 

What is wrong is wrong. Now that that's said, let's get down to the details, which make the spice of life. In the scheme of all wrong acts done for all time, this is very low on the totem pole. In the scheme of all wrong acts done by cops for all time, this is very low on the totem pole. To go even further. In the scheme of all wrong things that cops have done to someone found holding a gun, this is low on the totem pole. To go even further than that, in the scheme of all wrong things that cops have done to people found holding a gun and acting in this manner, this is low on the totem pole.

Cops make mistakes, they don't know the law perfectly (what is man if not fallible), even judges and attorneys get the law wrong. So if you want to me to get riled up, I just can't. There are larger problem issues that are pervasive in our criminal justice system than this type of situation, each person has a finite amount of caring in their system, sorry.

 

Not quite. Most states allow open-carry, but those same states don't allow brandishing (or some variant like "disorderly conduct" or "threatening behavior"). It all pretty much comes down to whether you engaged in behavior to make someone feel threatened.

If the gun was out of the holster and someone felt threatened enough to call the police, then I believe the officer would've had probable cause to suspect a crime had occurred.