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Posted on 05/27/2012 7:20:05 AM PDT by marktwain
I guess it's that time of year again. It seems every spring I get stopped by the Portland PD.
I got video this time
I also wrote an email to the police chief:
Chief Sauschuck,
On 26MAY2012 at about 17:15 I was stopped by Officer J McDonald. I recorded a video of the stop for my protection. You can view the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfdEbe7e9GE
Officer McDonald claimed to have received calls that I was walking around with a holstered firearm. This is a legal activity in Maine. He stopped me, put on gloves, and removed my weapon from me. I told him I do not consent to any searches or seizures. He unloaded my firearm and before ejecting the round from the chamber, he pointed my loaded firearm at my legs. This is unacceptable behavior.
There are many things that need to be taken into account here. Terry v Ohio requires three criteria to be met in order to disarm an individual. The officer must have a suspicion that the individual is armed. The officer must have a suspicion that the individual is dangerous. Thirdly, the officer must have a reasonable suspicion that the individual has committed or is about to commit a crime. Officer McDonald admitted in this video that the only reason he stopped me was for the legal carrying of my firearm and that he did not have any reason to suspect me of crime. Therefore, the seizure of my firearm was not allowed under Terry.
Secondly, having no suspicion of crime, why was I not free to go? Delaware v Prouse says that an officer cannot detain someone without reasonable suspicion of crime. McDonald had none. This is a sign of poor training and I want to bring it to your attention so that it can be easily remedied. All of your officers should know that they must have a suspicion of an actual crime before making a detainment.
Thirdly, Officer McDonald demanded my ID and would not return my firearm to me when I requested to end the encounter. Maine law in Title 17A Sec 15-A only requires someone to provide their name and DOB if the officer is issuing a summons to the individual. The officer said he needed to see my ID to ensure that I was not a felon. When asked if he had any reason to believe I was a felon, he said he did not. Again, he is making demands and detaining me without suspicion of any criminal activity. Terry requires more than a mere hunch to initiate a detainment. Hiibel v Nevada and Brown v Texas both require reasonable suspicion of crime before demanding an ID.
Officer McDonald admitted that the only reason why he stopped me was because of my legally carried firearm. I would like to point you to US v DeBerry from the 7th Circuit. In that ruling a federal judge said that a the presence of a firearm where legal to possess cannot by itself be reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
I believe that a lot of progress has been made under your direction to restore proper and legal police work in your city. I strongly believe that through proper training incidents such as this can be avoided. My suggestion to officers responding to a legally armed man in the future is this: Attempt to initiate a consensual encounter. If the individual does not consent to a police encounter, then observe that individual until such time that the officer develops a reasonable suspicion that crime is afoot. Only then should a detainment be made.
If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to call. I am not a litigious person, but I do not appreciate violations of my rights.
Signed, XXXXXXXXXX Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Clearly, the stop was meant to have a chilling effect on the exercize of the Constitutional right to bear arms.
Please note that I am not writer of the letter.
If what the letter writer states is true, he should sue the police if he hasn’t already.
The dude knew his rights and stood by them peacefully.
If the police in his area are anything like the police in my area, he’s in for some harrassment soon due to his speaking up.
If we email Chief Sauschuck, with a link to the video, we can reinforce the message.
Chief Sauschuck:
I recently viewed a video which shows Officer J. McDonald illegally
stopping a citizen who was legally exercising his right to bear arms.
It appears that the purpose of the stop was to create a chilling
effect against the exercise of that right.
I believe that better training can prevent the commission of such
illegal and unconstitutional activity by Portland P.D. officers in the
future.
Here is the link to the video:
Makes one wonder what the OWS is saying when they are against Corporate culture legal protections. I think they want total anarchy followed by arbitrary violent dictats without consequences.
... and basically we are letting these interfering proto-terrorists Ayers-Satan children get free park housing when they should be going to the gallows, “adults” acting worse than spoiled children. Just great.
.... and it is no wonder the foolish government is enamored by these “activists”, letting them crap on their own cop cars in obvious self hate and depression.
Wow, the proud to wear the NYPD uniform after 911 have been infiltrated by the Mayor Bloomberg communist bull crap.
True. This young man is awesome. I hope all of the NRA members appreciate the fact that this brave American is doing more to secure your rights than 10,000 “lifetime” cardcarrying members will ever do. This is what you HAVE to do to secure your rights. According to the Supreme Court you must be a “beligerent claimant” in ALL matters when your rights are challenged, or you cannot reclaim those rights at a later date in a court of law. In other words, free countrys are not for pussys, they are for real men.
Amen brother.
My guess is that the LEOs involved will enter some dubious NCICs codes against his name so that the next time he applies to renew the license, it will be rejected. LEOs don’t like to be confronted peacefully with the laws as they are (not how they imagine), especially where there is no overt physical resistance - they ‘hate’ that. It takes away their ability to claim they were afraid for their lives.
bttt
He's just a kid, so there is no reason to brate him for his idealism, but what he said was
"Keep up doing what you're doing"
I would bet he makes the TSA no fly list....
And a lot more.
Yeah, they are coming for us with their entitlement one way or another. Being proactive like this is savings ahead. And where corrupt cities cannot be taught and self dignify, then they can be submitted. THat’s the essence of the Constitution and the need to stop this corrupt “uniform worship” pay for it arrogance, when we know we pay for it, but not like this, sheesh.
This cop and many like him, are assholes and shouldn’t be allowed to carry a gun or suck off the taxpayer for their license to bully.
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