Posted on 10/17/2008 5:26:08 PM PDT by marktwain
A national law enforcement advocacy organization is urging a South Dakota prosecutor to dismiss weapons charges against four law enforcement officers, including a Seattle detective who shot a Hells Angels biker in self-defense during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
The four officers and a firefighter pleaded not guilty Tuesday to carrying a concealed weapon without a permit after the Aug. 9 shooting at the Loud American Roadhouse. All five men, who belong to the Iron Pigs motorcycle club, appeared in a Meade County, S.D., Circuit Court.
The Virginia-based Law Enforcement Alliance of America is focused on the case out of concern that prosecutors aren't following a federal law it helped pass in 2004. The Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act of 2004 allows off-duty officers to carry a concealed firearm anywhere in the U.S., barring some exceptions.
"The reason why we passed this law was so that off-duty police officers would know with certainty what would be legal conduct," said Ted Deeds, a spokesman for the organization, which often takes stands against gun control measures. "In this case, they followed the law."
Charges were filed against Seattle detective Ron Smith, 43; Seattle officer Dennis McCoy, 58; Scott Lazalde, 38, of Bellingham; James Rector, 44, of Ferndale; and Erik Pingel, 35, of Aurora, Colo. Lazalde and Rector are U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents. Pingel is a U.S. Department of Defense firefighter and would presumably not be covered by the law.
The law, however, doesn't supersede state laws permitting private entities to prohibit concealed firearms on their property or local or state restrictions on firearms in any government "installation, building, base, or park." South Dakota state law prohibits carrying a gun into a bar.
"The LEOSA contains certain exceptions under which the law enforcement officer is not protected," Meade County State's Attorney Jesse Sondreal said Tuesday. "We feel that South Dakota's prohibition against carrying concealed weapons in bars is tantamount to one of those exceptions."
The Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act does not protect officers who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or have been removed from duty, or haven't met their agency's standards for qualifying with the weapon. Officers also must carry their police identification.
Deeds said he has corresponded with Sondreal about the case and pointed to Web sites for Sturgis police and the South Dakota Secretary of State's Office, which include links to the federal law.
Smith, the off-duty detective, initially faced two felony charges of assault and perjury. On Monday, Sondreal dismissed the assault charge, saying a cumulative review of the evidence showed that he was "defending himself from a violent premeditated attack, and he responded in a manner which was neither excessive nor unreasonable." Smith, who remains on administrative leave, was cleared of a perjury charge a week earlier. The charge stemmed from a mix-up over which gun Smith was carrying.
The wounded biker, Joseph McGuire, 33, of Imperial Beach, Calif., is charged with aggravated assault. The Hells Angels started the fight, Sondreal said. Witnesses told the Seattle P-I that the Hells Angels took umbrage the officers wearing their club's patches into the bar.
The Sturgis case is only the third nationwide in which out-of-state police officers were charged with carrying concealed weapons. Two other cases were filed in New York City against a Pennsylvania constable and a U.S. Coast Guard member. In both cases, the law was used as a defense and the judge tossed out the case, Deeds said.
"My hope would be that before this thing becomes any more a travesty of justice, that the prosecutor would drop the charges," Deeds said.
The officers' next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 29 at 8:30 a.m. Their attorney could not be reached for comment.
That's the reason the Second Amendment was passed too, only for all citizens.
The holder of a permit may carry a concealed pistol anywhere in South Dakota except in any licensed on-sale malt beverage or alcoholic beverage establishment that derives over one-half of its total income from the sale of malt or alcoholic beverages. Nothing in this section prevents law enforcement officers, security guards employed on the premises, and other public officials with the written permission of the sheriff from carrying concealed weapons in the performance of their duties
“Witnesses told the Seattle P-I that the Hells Angels took umbrage the officers wearing their club’s patches into the bar.”
I don’t know the details of, or the right and wrong of the case, but I do know that the Angel’s authority over rockers and patches should be crushed.
Is the prosecutor a very nasty anti-gun guy, or pro Hells Angels, or anything else anyone has a good indication of?
I think that the qualifying phrase in the statute is "in the performance of their duties." Without having any knowledge of the facts of the case or the reasoning of the prosecutor, I suspect that the state's argument will be that out of state, off-duty cops going into a bar to drink and have fun during Sturgis Week does not encompass their official, sanctioned duties. And, the prosecutor will probably argue that lawful permit holders have an obligation to know and observe the handgun laws of the jurisdiction in which they're carrying.
Extremely easy, quick and inexpensive for law abiding South Dakota residents to obtain a CWP and the restrictions on where permit holders can carry are nil; courthouses, schools, and certain bars. That's it, nothing tricky or difficult to interpret.
My concern is that a conviction on a handgun charge in Sturgis could result in the officers losing their jobs in Seattle.
that being said, I can just imagine a 'slop py' "Iron Pig" gettin lippy with some HAs in their hangout and staring the trouble...
lucky somebody didnt get hurt...
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