Fight with computer brings SWAT team

Daily Camera ^ | January 9, 2003 | Mary Butler

[tarawa]

Fight with computer brings SWAT team
No charges filed after misunderstanding cleared up

By Mary Butler, Camera Staff Writer
January 9, 2003

A 32-year-old Boulder man who had opened his apartment's patio door to enjoy Wednesday's unusually warm weather was later overheard screaming threats and seen waving what appeared to be a handgun, prompting a maintenance worker to call police.

Officers, as a precaution, evacuated the man's apartment building and called SWAT officers to assist in defusing the situation.

It turned out that the man was simply upset at his computer — which he had called a "bitch" he "wanted to kill," police said — and the gun was a plastic pellet gun, not the .45-caliber automatic handgun it was made to resemble.

"It was alarming and concerning and expensive for us, but the man's conduct didn't warrant any criminal charges," Deputy Police Chief Dave Hayes said.

Three people were evacuated from the man's eight-unit building, at 3350 Bridger Trail in the Remington Post condominium complex at the intersection of 30th Street and Iris Avenue.

The 3 p.m. incident was resolved by about 4:30 p.m. The man, whose name wasn't released because he wasn't arrested on suspicion of any crime, was cooperative once police contacted him. Police did not confiscate the pellet gun, but with the man's permission, they took another firearm from his home "for safekeeping."

"He was very surprised, embarrassed and apologetic," Hayes said.

Hundreds of people driving near the housing complex — which is adjacent to banks, a grocery store and the Alterra retirement community — were detoured as police officers directed traffic to keep residents of the complex from going home. Many people watched from sidewalks to find out why SWAT officers were carrying large rifles around the housing complex.

[AdamSelene235]

bump

[lorrainer]

We'll probably be seeing him on one of those lame Apple "Switch" commercials.

Why did they take his other gun for safekeeping?

[Paulus Invictus]

Had to have been a Dell! Or an HP Or a Compaq.

[justshe]

There is only one way to TERMINATE me!

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[Bonaparte]

The man missed an opportunity of a lifetime. Could've answered the door and said, "Officer, I did it. I shot the b*tch. Bucked me once to often."

[Poohbah]

A Zenith Z248 that he was trying to run Windoze XP on :o)

[supercat]

Police did not confiscate the pellet gun, but with the man's permission, they took another firearm from his home "for safekeeping."

At least it didn't say the police "recovered" another firearm from the property [which would be the normal newspeak term].

[coloradan]

Police did not confiscate the pellet gun, but with the man's permission, they took another firearm from his home "for safekeeping."

Apparently all it takes these days to be disarmed by the kind Men in Blue is pointing a rubber pellet gun at a contankerous computer. Well, at least in the Socialist Utopia of Boulder, CO (only 85,983 more things to be banned before utopia is finally realized).

[Bonaparte]

A Dell? I love my Dell. Most trouble free computer I've ever owned.

[Ches]

The police took his gun for safe keeping?

[mhking]

"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

If you want on or off this list, please let me know!

[Hawkeye's Girl]

Hostage down!

[TightSqueeze]

What I really want to know is did they close the friggin' airport?

[gundog]

Maybe this is why Dell supports gun control.

[Ches]

Yeah, we had a kid in my hometown who was blown away for brandishing a butter knife by the local SWAT team (like a town of 6000 really needs a SWAT team). Of course the official report was that he was drug crazed and attacked them. Apparently these big JBTs with all their equipment can't handle a teenager with a butter knife in any other way.

Give them the tools and they're going to use them.

[humblegunner]

Hey, every time I get fragged on QuakeIII I do the same thing!
Freakin' computers!

[x1stcav]

I lived outside of Boulder for about 8 years and this is pretty much a typical over-reaction on the part of the 'Public Safety' apparatus there. A real earth-mother keep-everybody-very-safe-culture.

The county government had a real expropriator mentality.
The city government was simply unbelievable with the mayor in the mid-90's bemoaning the fact that Boulder was becoming too gentrified and what was really needed were more homeless.

The Latimer county line was 2 miles up the road and how I wished I could've moved it.

[Prodigal Son]

Well, it's good to know the SWAT team is on the job and relieved the man of his property for "safekeeping". /sarcasm

[ancient_geezer]

The Latimer county line was 2 miles up the road and how I wished I could've moved it.

"Latimer" County? Easy there wetback, this is Larimer County and we don't want none of them thar Boulder refugees mov'n in up here.

Them Kalifornia ones is bad enough ;0|

Boulder Border Patrol is gitt'n down right tight nowdays.

[AdA$tra]

A Dell? I love my Dell. Most trouble free computer I've ever owned.

We have our AS/400 hotsite in Boulder. No way we could bring up our system there without our trusty Dell laptops. I am also the Dell guy at our office. Kind of like being the Maytag repairman.

[A CA Guy]

This whole thing calls for a lawsuit against the computer manufacturer who's fault it was for creating this piece of bitchy equipment that could so ruin a life and threaten limb by way of SWAT!
There also needs to be a lawsuit against the manufacturer of that pellet gun as well.
Maybe demand reparations while at it.

I'm sure that makes sense to some lawyer somewhere!

[shezza]

Yeah, and they're going to keep it so safe that he'll never see it again.

[Karsus]

Is it you first computer? :->

[x1stcav]

My sense of geography is better, obviously, than my typing.

Yeah, I remember you people being pretty sensitive about 'furriners' moving into the state. I got there in '91 and, when asked what part of the country I was from, I learned very quickly to tell them I had been 'transferred' by my company from California. That seemed all right to most people inasmuch as it seemed I didn't have a choice in the matter. Enjoyed my time there.

Better get ready for the next wave of arrivals as Davis and the demonrat's trashing of Kalifornia will create a new exodus.

[Larry Lucido]

Why did they take his other gun for safekeeping?

So he wouldn't get mad and try to shoot it with his pellet gun? Those pellets could permanently scratch the finish!

[demosthenes the elder]

speak no evil of Dell, or my big black Dell workstation will frag you!

[unixfox]

they took another firearm from his home "for safekeeping."

As if he couldn't just ...GASP... go buy another one?

[Bonaparte]

"Maybe this is why Dell supports gun control."

HCI and Dell have both refuted that claim, which was originally made by a paranoid gunsmith and then repeated uncritically on the radio and internet. Believe it if you want to, but nobody has ever shown that Dell supports gun control.

[Bonaparte]

"Is it you first computer? "

My first store-bought computer. Building them is just way too much hassle these days and Dell does a great job for a very reasonable price.

[ContentiousObjector]

That is nothing, back in 1984 when we were replacing our RadioShack TRS-80 PC's with IBM and Macintosh systems, the old TRS's were taken out to the chairmans ranch and we shot them up with shotguns, drove over them, dragged them behind horses and finally set them on fire.

Damn, were lucky that didn't turn into Waco

[roadcat]

"speak no evil of Dell, or my big black Dell workstation will frag you!"

Among the many machines I support at my job, are about 150 Dell workstations. I also am directly responsible for a couple dozen Dell servers. They have problems, just like the Compaq, IBM, and HP servers I support. Just had to replace a failed hard drive on a 4 month old Dell server the other day. Dell tech support is okay, if you're willing to pay for gold or platinum support which we have on our critical machines. Otherwise, it may take hours to get a response from them.

Our least trustworthy servers? Uh, IBM. Dell workstations are better than our Compaq workstations. Point is, they're all machines that can screw you when you least expect it.

[FLdeputy]

”Of course the official report was that he was drug crazed and attacked them. Apparently these big JBTs with all their equipment can't handle a teenager with a butter knife in any other way.”

I’d love to know what you do for a living, besides playing quarterback on Monday.

[Paulus Invictus]

OK, I'm ready! Will the Dell from Hell stay up long enough? My Bro's new Dell stays up at least once a day, but for shorter and shorter times. Tech help isn't, so he is off-line most of the time.

[stuartcr]

Windows XP Home

[Wombat101]

I like the way police won't release the guy's name because he hasn't done anything wrong, yet the newspaper had no problem publicizing his address. Is it just me or is this wrong?

[Liberal Classic]

Police did not confiscate the pellet gun, but with the man's permission, they took another firearm from his home "for safekeeping."

No crime, no charge, no arrest, but a confiscation?

[Wolfie]

No crime, no charge, no arrest, but a confiscation?

More like: No crime, no charge, no arrest, IF a confiscation.

[Aracelis]

Heh...been there.

[Liberal Classic]

More like: No crime, no charge, no arrest, IF a confiscation.

Ah, yes. I see exactly what you mean. If he hadn't have surrendered his weapon, downtown with him. Will he ever get it back?

[FreeTally]

And whats this "with his permission" stuff? Maybe the guy is some real wuss and the cops convinced him he may harm himself in another fit of computer rage if he had a real gun.

[Lion's Cub]

I like the way police won't release the guy's name because he hasn't done anything wrong, yet the newspaper had no problem publicizing his address. Is it just me or is this wrong?

It depends on how the apartments are identified. If that is his actual address (and only his), then it's wrong. If that is the address of the complex, then no one knows which apartment is his. (We know there are at least eight--and most likely at least 8 more, since he's described as living in a "wing").

If that address actually identifies his apartment, it would also be an invitation for burglary, since they've already announced that he is unarmed :)

(On the bright side, if that is the case, maybe he can sue the paper for enough money to buy a new gun to replace the one he'll never see again :)

[Ches]

I must be a lot older than you. I can remember when every podunk little village DIDN'T have SWAT teams and didn't call them in on every domestic situation like they do now. When I was young and in high school I witnessed my high school literature teacher take a switchblade out of the hand of a local punk at a school dance. No SWAT team necessary. I am well aware there are some really bad people out there and the SWAT teams should be reserved for them. I am very concerned that particularly when a small town invests in SWAT equipment and training, those who did so have to justify the investment by using it as often as possible, whether required or not.

Your response makes my argument. It is dripping with the resentment of responsible citizens merely expressing an opinion. Good job deputy!

What I do for a living is really none of your business but I'll tell you anyway. I am NOT a Monday morning quarterback; I do this seven days a week IN ADDITION to running my own business! Which brings up another subject - overtaxation to support unnecessary SWAT teams in every little town.

I do not think for a moment that being a cop is easy, nor do I disrespect the vast majority of LEOs. I suspect the same percentage of good guys and bad guys are in law enforcement as in the general public.

[xm177e2]

I built my own, and it's based on an Asus P4S8X (piece of sh-t). I should've just bought a Dell, I haven't had problems with those. F$#%ing Asus. Don't let anyone trash-talk you because you bought a premade Dell instead of building your own.

[xm177e2]

And whats this "with his permission" stuff?

Maybe he thought he'd be more likely to avoid charges and would be able to get his gun back in a little while.

[Bonaparte]

"...Don't let anyone trash-talk you..."

LOL, believe me, I won't. I wasn't planning to buy a ready-made Dell until a year ago, when I started building a computer for a friend who is new to PCs. I thought it would be just as easy and money-saving as it's always been before. Oh, man, did I find out how wrong that was! I got it done for him, but my hair is now white and I'm shopping around for a nursing home to check into, LOLOL! Dell does an incredibly good job for the money and their packages offer sufficient flexibility in power/price/features options. The one I selected needed serious cooling, so I expected it to be loud. I was amazed to discover that it was whisper quiet. No regrets!

[xm177e2]

Mine still won't work... grrrrr

[demosthenes the elder]

Darth Dell sez "I find your lack of faith... disturbing."

[demosthenes the elder]

my Dell is MY Dell - I shelled out $5000 smackers cold cash on the barrelhead for this custom monster. The architecture is there for a second (parallel) processor on top of the 2GHz Intel Zeon it now has, I have four bays open for additional harddrives on top of the two 76GB scuzzies I already have, it can be expanded to 8GB RDRAM from the current 1Gig, and its graphics card and supplemental systems are soooo nice (god, I love having a color laserjet afer these past few years stuck with an inkjet).
I do a LOT of 3D mechanical design and CG stuff, so I needed the huge stainless steel cojones this rig sports. I wanted the redundancy because of how my old Gateway AND IBM died, and I wanted the expandability so I can stay competitive for a few years instead of going obsolete in a microsecond.

[Timesink]

We'll probably be seeing him on one of those lame Apple "Switch" commercials.

The Apple Switch ad they didn't want you to see.