Posted on 11/16/2012 7:37:48 AM PST by marktwain
PHILADELPHIA police officers are supposed to be educated about civilian gun laws - especially since an expletive-laden altercation with a licensed gun owner ended up on YouTube last year and led to a $25,000 court settlement.
For the record: It's perfectly legal to openly carry a handgun in the city - with a valid permit. Everywhere else in the state, a permit is needed only if the gun is concealed.
But apparently not everyone in the Police Department got the memo.
A new YouTube video shows two Philly cops antagonizing a man who was legally carrying a .40-caliber Glock on his hip as he headed to a Manayunk barbershop last week.
One officer wrongly tells Joshua Rodriguez, 22, that his ammunition is illegal. Another officer later tells the barber that Rodriguez has a gun.
"You have all these laws, man. You go to law school? You're not supposed to have 13 bullets of hollow points in your gun right now," an officer says. The bullets are, in fact, legal.
He asks Rodriguez a series of questions and later says, "Shut your mouth" and "Don't call me 'officer.' " The other cop, who repeatedly tells Rodriguez that his gun should be concealed, says, "I should've pulled my gun out on you, technically."
"I don't want to argue," an exasperated Rodriguez says. "I want to get a haircut."
The officer tells him he's free to go - then walks into the barbershop and revives the debate. "You want this guy in here with his gun open?" the cop asks the barber. "This guy here, right here."
Capt. Francis Healy, a police lawyer and special adviser to Commissioner Charles Ramsey, said officers should be "respectful and courteous, and also be safe" in such situations. He said the first officer might have misstated the law about the ammo, and the other might have been "a little overzealous" in the barbershop.
The department increased training on open-carry stops after a February 2011 incident involving Mark Fiorino, a Montgomery County I.T. worker with a firearms permit who was harassed and handcuffed for carrying a gun in Northeast Philly.
A sergeant told Fiorino he was breaking the law and held him at gunpoint on his knees, threatening to shoot him. The city paid Fiorino $25,000 to settle a lawsuit.
"They're demonizing people," Fiorino saidof the new video. "In a lot of cases, it's a bully with a badge."
Healy said that openly carrying a gun is dangerous - someone could grab it - but that most open-carry advocates are law-abiding.
He tells cops to consider thinking of it this way: "If something would go wrong on the street and you were getting your butt kicked, I would venture to guess it'd be one of these individuals that would come to help you.
"Make a friend," he said. "You might need them one day."
“Capt. Francis Healy, a police lawyer and special adviser to Commissioner Charles Ramsey, said officers should be “respectful and courteous, and also be safe” in such situations. He said the first officer might have misstated the law about the ammo, and the other might have been “a little overzealous” in the barbershop. “
I suggest the dear Captain look up “Harrassment”.
The guy is lucky, if he was walking his dog it may have been shot dead.
This Healy individual seems to be much less stupid than one would assume.
The cops just do what the administration tells them to do or lets them do.
Leftist administrations want to take guns from honest, law-abiding citizens and deliberately leave them in the hands of criminals.
“Healy said that openly carrying a gun is dangerous - someone could grab it”
Then why do cops carry openly?
Looks like it to me:
PA Constitution, Art I, Section 21.
The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.
Well, anyone can sue for just about anything. But your question is valid. I lean to 55% non lawsuit eligible. If there is one good thing though, it is that it was captured on video. It can be distributed to thousands of people, and used in future cases of harassment to show a pattern of misconduct by the officers regarding people exercising their right to carry.
The bike cop in the yellow jacket shouldn’t be a cop. He is too much of a hothead. It would be great if the police would actually learn the laws they are supposed to enforce.
Had it been me, it would have cost the city a lot more than $25,000.
If that was me, I would push for $1 M.....and these officers need to be fired.
If you can protect yourself, they can’t control you.
The cops were suppressing his protected rights. That has been used by the left for many years to enact social change through the courts
Doesn’t the police academy teach recruits that the guy carrying openly is usually on their side?
bttt
It depends on the academy. There are 16 academies in Pennsylvania. Apparently, Philadelphia has their own. They probably teach things differently than the rest of the State.
Not bloody likely. That train departed years ago.
Racist LEOs.
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