Posted on 04/24/2012 12:01:21 PM PDT by marktwain
Troy High senior Sean Michael Combs, 18, was arrested Friday in downtown Birmingham after he was found carrying a loaded M1 Garand rifle.
It was a warm Friday night in April, and Troy High School senior Sean Michael Combs was enthusiastic about the rifle he received a month earlier as a gift for his 18th birthday, so he decided to carry it with him when he headed to downtown Birmingham with a friend.
Combs' choice to carry the M1 Garand slung over his shoulder resulted in his arrest by Birmingham Police – an experience his close friend Lia Grabowski calls "terrifying."
Grabowski spoke up on Combs' behalf Monday, saying her friend "was in his legal right" when he was arrested.
Grabowski, 17, also a senior at Troy High, said she was with Combs at the time of his arrest Friday and witnessed Combs' exchange with police.
“We were just walking down to Birmingham," Grabowski said. "We weren’t doing anything. There were groups of kids walking around.
"He’s a huge supporter of open carry and the right to bear arms, and he thought he could legally carry. He wasn’t going to use it on anyone. Obviously, he could have defended himself, but he wasn’t looking for a fight.”
Grabowski said she and Combs were approached by a few teenagers who asked if his rifle was real, though "nobody was afraid, and everyone was kind of curious."
Then, the pair was stopped by a police officer, who asked to see Combs' driver's license, Grabowski said. Combs declined, and moments later, two more officers arrived and arrested Combs as he reached to produce his identification, according to Grabowski.
"He was in his legal right," Grabowski said. "He refused to give him his ID, but not rudely."
Grabowski said she does not agree with the actions of the Birmingham Police officers, adding that the experience was "terrifying."
Combs is a four-year member of the Troy High School cross country team, serving as one of its captains this past season. He was also on the track team for three years and ran indoor track for two years.
"I can kind of understand the fact that he’s an 18-year-old, and he doesn’t really look 18, but he was completely within his legal right and they did not have a right to arrest him. ... They had what they asked for, and they arrested him anyway."
"We understand long gun open carry to be lawful" in the state of Michigan, said Phillip Hofmeister, president of Michigan Open Carry, Inc., though he added that the group does not advocate open carry of long guns. Also, according to the group's website, "under no legal obligation are you required to talk to a police officer or produce identification of any kind if you are not being detained."
Combs declined to comment Monday without his attorney present. He is scheduled to be arraigned May 2 on charges of disturbing the peace, brandishing a weapon and obstructing an investigation.
Birmingham Police could not be reached for comment Monday evening.
Stupid cops are going to cost the city lots of money.
Officers are reminded that the Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. Carrying a non-concealed firearm is generally legal. Officers may engage in a consensual encounter with a person carrying a non-concealed pistol; however, in order to stop a citizen, officers are required to have reasonable suspicion that crime is afoot. For example, officers may not stop a person on the mere possibility the person may be carrying an unregistered pistol. Officers must possess facts rising to the level of reasonable suspicion to believe the person is carrying an unregistered pistol.
Officers are also reminded there is no general duty for a citizen to identify himself or herself to a police officer unless the citizen is being
” They have him if he refused to show ID, I think.”
This may vary by state, but I’m pretty sure you don’t have to show the police your id if they have no probable cause or “reasonable suspicion” to stop you. They might pretend as if you not showing them id or allowing them to search whatever they feel like searching constitutes PC in itself, but it doesn’t. We are only obliged to follow lawful orders.
Prudence demands that you play nice, since what’s lawful and what’s abuse of power gets fuzzy on the mean streets when the poop’s flying. But you don’t have to, strictly speaking. The cops’ tendency to treat everything like it’s an emergency when it suits them to do so, and to interpret every action by the public as a threat to the peace—which apparently they think is solely their duty to keep, and which can’t possibly be threatened by them—must be resisted if we’re to live in a country where you’re not in violation of the law whenever authority figures feel like you are.
The idea that you have to play along with whatever the police say is a myth, and something they rely on to extend their authority and thereby make their jobs easier. We are under no obligation to make the cops’ jobs easier.
When I was a Marine Lieutenant in the late '70s, I bought an M-1 from a Gunner's Mate on the USS Dubuque on the way to a training exercise in California. I didn't have anyplace to store it at 29 Palms, so I decided to carry it by bus to my in-laws' house near L.A.. The problem was that even though I was in uniform, I didn't have a case for it, so I had to carry it in the open at sling arms. I also had an ammo box to carry, so I was really feeling conspicuous.
When I got to the L.A. bus station, I stood in a corner waiting for the next bus to take me to the San Fernando Valley and tried to stay out of the way. All of a sudden, a commotion broke out and the crowd opened up to give room to a fight between an LAPD officer and a taller, wiry African-American man. They were rolling around on the floor punching each other and I didn't see any sign of the officer's partner. I could also see two other men edging towards the two fighting, apparently getting ready to help the first guy fight the officer. The man on the ground with the officer tried to get the officer's pistol, so I stepped forward, opened the bolt on my M-1, and popped open the ammo can to pull out a clip.
Everything stopped at once: the men on the floor stopped punching, the two men approaching stopped where they were and everything went quiet. The cop on the floor started moving again and quickly cuffed the man he had been struggling with and his partner showed up and arrested to two other men. I returned the clip to the ammo box and closed the bolt of my rifle and the first cop - the one that had been fighting - came up to me and asked if I really was going to shoot. I told him that if that guy had gotten the pistol, I would have.
He looked at me for a second and then said "can I help you carry your rifle to your bus?". I was happy to let him carry it...
Good story.
I thought the punchline of your story was going to be that the cop arrested you.
Yeah, the jack-booted thugs have always been big dog-shooters. A pox on them. We have our rights.
Birmingham now is a little bigger than Statesboro then.
I was pretty sure that I was going to be in trouble but that cop knew I was on his side. I didn't know whether to hit that bad guy with the rifle or to shoot - .30-06 has way too much power for firing in a public area - but I knew that time had run out. It probably helped that I was wearing my "Charlie" uniform with ribbons.
Semper Fi
18 USC § 241 - Conspiracy against rights
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
***********************************
750.157a Conspiracy to commit offense or legal act in illegal manner; penalty.
Sec. 157a.
Any person who conspires together with 1 or more persons to commit an offense prohibited by law, or to commit a legal act in an illegal manner is guilty of the crime of conspiracy punishable as provided herein:
(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) if commission of the offense prohibited by law is punishable by imprisonment for 1 year or more, the person convicted under this section shall be punished by a penalty equal to that which could be imposed if he had been convicted of committing the crime he conspired to commit and in the discretion of the court an additional penalty of a fine of $10,000.00 may be imposed.
(b) Any person convicted of conspiring to violate any provision of this act relative to illegal gambling or wagering or any other acts or ordinances relative to illegal gambling or wagering shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years or by a fine of not more than $10,000.00, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(c) If commission of the offense prohibited by law is punishable by imprisonment for less than 1 year, except as provided in paragraph (b), the person convicted under this section shall be imprisoned for not more than 1 year nor fined more than $1,000.00, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(d) Any person convicted of conspiring to commit a legal act in an illegal manner shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years or by a fine of not more than $10,000.00, or both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.
Great job Lt.
“Disturbing the Peace. The most over-used and abused charge.”
In Jax FL a big favorite with HS and the JSO is “resisting arrest without violence”. I have personally witnessed it used in three instances, in each instance for refusing to consent to a search where JSO had no warrant.
I live aboard a sailboat, and when JSO thinks a marina has too many liveaboards, they begin hammering on boats and asking if they will consent to voluntary searches and safety inspections. They roust everybody out of their boats early in the AM and go through their boats and belongings, and do it every week until some of the liveaboards leave.
I asked for a search warrant one time, and refused to consent to a voluntary search, and was immediately arrested. They’ve done the same with everyone in marinas in this area.
When I tell this to people in more expensive marinas in JAX whete the luveaboard ratio is similar, but the marinas are palatial and charge twice as much as much as thos part of towm, they shake their heads in disbelief, and say this has never happened in their area once.
The judge was sympathetic, could not elimimate the fine, but converted it to a lien I would not have to pay...he said this practice is standard among the cops here...as he put it “I was guilty of saying ‘no’ to the JSO”.
The attitude and motivation of about a third of the police I have encountered here and elsewhere over the last 10 years ranges from deplorable to maniacal. When I encounter a particularly solid dignified cop, it often seems he’s trying to ride herd on the rest. Such a one dissuaded the arresting officers from taking me to lockup barefoot and shirtless in my swimming trunks, convincing them to only write me a citation.
Since then I have submitted to half a dozen such warrantless inspections/searches, and managed to be absent the other times they visit us.
Homeland security visits us regularly, its my feeling they are the ones who decide when there are too many liveaboards here, because we get the JSO immediately fter one of their “friendly visits”, if at all. Customs, too, occaisonally.
Surrender your constitutional rights and life will be much easier for you..seems to be the message.
PS...some of the liveaboards here have lots of guns...that doesn’t bother them. Two guys at different times were busted with small amounts of weed...the officers wrote them each a ticket and wished them good day. But insist on a search warrant, and you will immediately find yourself in handcuffs, with a night in jail with thieves and murderers if it suits the mood of the arresting officer.
And people wonder why I’m preparing to expatriate.
It also makes too much noise. I fired one (M1 Garand) in the Army in the days when they didn't have (or allow because I tried) ear protection. Significant loss of upper-range hearing in left ear, the one that I couldn't protect by pressing it against the stock.
This is great! These were teens insisting on their Constitutional rights. There’s hope after all.
>there was no investigation until the cops obstructed this man’s freedom as a citizen to walk down a public street with a legal firearm.
Meaning it’s a 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendment case already.
Let’s see how many liberals decry that “show me your papers” law.
Yep. Now we’d be Swat-Teamed.
And for the record, that’s when I think we lost this country: When the term Swat-Team became a verb.
Why didn't this cop ask for a pilots license and a cosmetology permit while he was at it?
This just goes to show that the police really are not interested in defending the Constitution, they are actually enemies of it.
He has every right to carry his rifle as he did..........why he chose to have it loaded is beyond me.
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