Little-Acorn
Well-Known Member
Some guy went out jogging in Martinsburg, WV in military-looking camouflage clothing, with a rifle slung across his chest. Cops came down on him, busted him, threw him in jail, and got arrest warrants for him. He's still in jail now, facing $50,000 bail.
The kicker?
It was a toy gun. Complete with bright orange plastic tip on the barrel. It shoots little plastic pellets about as harmful as ping-pong balls... only smaller and lighter.
Yet the cops still treated him like the next movie-theater shooter... and they are STILL treating him that way. They searched his apartment, saying they were looking for explosives... even after finding out that the gun was fake. (No explosives were found.)
Oh, and he was "near a school".
Get a map of any normal residential area sometime, and try to find any location that is not "near a school".
The military-style clothing had ceramic plates in some pockets, so (according to the article) they have charged him with "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor".
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't ALL persons "prohibited from committing a violent crime"?
If Martinsburg, WV has a law against "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor", doesn't this mean simply that everyone is forbidden to wear body armor? Ever?
Frankly, this sounds to me like the cops completely blew it - they went off half-cocked and arrested a guy, only to find he wasn't doing anything wrong at all. And rather than letting him go with a sheepish apology, they started scrambling to find something - ANYTHING - they could pretend he was doing "wrong". There are now five (count them, FIVE) different law enforcement agencies involved in the "case". They have even charged him with TERRORISM, because jogging with a toy gun might have scared somebody somewhere! Somebody more ignorant than cops are normally expected to be, I gather... other than the cops in Martinsburg, WV.
In fact, I have to wonder if this guy did it, simply for the purpose of provoking the local cops into freaking out and acting like complete jackasses.
He succeeded.
Not only did the cops swallow it hook, line, and sinker, so completely that now they can't let it go... but even the newspaper article writer fell for it too. In the article he keeps referring to the toy gun as an "AR-15 training rifle". He never once refers to the actual brand (Airsoft), nor does he ever mention that it was a toy, used in various games, firing small plastic pellets weighing 1/100 of an ounce or less - about as much as a medium-sized snowflake.
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http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/583351.html
Body armor-wearing man apprehended near Martinsburg schools Monday morning
August 20, 2012
By Edward Marshall - staff writer (emarshall@journal-news.net) , The Journal
MARTINSBURG - A man wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15 training rifle, two knives and several unloaded magazines was arrested today after he was seen running in the area of Bulldog Boulevard, police said.
At about 7:17 a.m., the Martinsburg Police Department received several calls in regards to an individual running and carrying a rifle near the area of Bulldog Boulevard and Raleigh Street in Martinsburg.
"One of our primary concerns was that he was sighted in the general proximity or area of the high school on Bulldog Boulevard and we also believe that's what generated a lot of calls," Detective Lt. G.B. Swartwood said.
Article Photos
Officers responded to the scene and located the man, later identified as 23-year-old William Everett Alemar, of South Raleigh Street, near the intersection of Silver Lane and Raleigh Street. When Patrolman M. Jones, Patrolman C.M. Richmond and Patrolman First Class E. Herb encountered the individual, he was dressed in full military desert camouflage and a ballistic vest and with what appeared to be an assault rifle across his chest, police said.
All three officers engaged Alemar at gunpoint and ordered him to his knees to be taken into custody.
"The subject was then ordered to lie prone on the ground and the officers secured his weapon an AR-15(M-4) training rifle. The suspect also had two knives and several unloaded magazines, (and) his ballistic vest also contained ceramic panels to make it more bullet resistant," a police news release said.
Swartwood said the A-R 15 training rifle Alemar was found with fires small pellet projectiles and is used for training purposes, but looks exactly like a real AR-15.
"It's heavy and it looks completely just like an AR-15 other than that red tip on it," Swartwood said.
Alemar was handcuffed and brought to the Martinsburg Police Department. He said he was out running and jogging with his gear on, police said.
All of his accouterments and camouflage were photographed upon his person and seized as potential evidence.
After consulting with the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Alemar was charged with "committing a terroristic act under 61-6-24 subsection (b) and subsection (d) of the West Virginia State Code," police said.
"With him being in that proximity, in that area of the school, we believed that he was causing a significant threat with his actions and his gestures by his own choosing," Swartwood said.
A terrorist act is defined under state code as an act that is likely to result in serious bodily injury or damage to property or the environment; intended to intimidate or coerce the civilian population; influence the policy of a branch or level of government by intimidation or coercion; affect the conduct of a branch or level of government by intimidation or coercion; or retaliate against a branch or level of government for a policy or conduct of the government.
The kicker?
It was a toy gun. Complete with bright orange plastic tip on the barrel. It shoots little plastic pellets about as harmful as ping-pong balls... only smaller and lighter.
Yet the cops still treated him like the next movie-theater shooter... and they are STILL treating him that way. They searched his apartment, saying they were looking for explosives... even after finding out that the gun was fake. (No explosives were found.)
Oh, and he was "near a school".
Get a map of any normal residential area sometime, and try to find any location that is not "near a school".
The military-style clothing had ceramic plates in some pockets, so (according to the article) they have charged him with "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor".
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't ALL persons "prohibited from committing a violent crime"?
If Martinsburg, WV has a law against "being a person prohibited from committing a violent crime while wearing body armor", doesn't this mean simply that everyone is forbidden to wear body armor? Ever?
Frankly, this sounds to me like the cops completely blew it - they went off half-cocked and arrested a guy, only to find he wasn't doing anything wrong at all. And rather than letting him go with a sheepish apology, they started scrambling to find something - ANYTHING - they could pretend he was doing "wrong". There are now five (count them, FIVE) different law enforcement agencies involved in the "case". They have even charged him with TERRORISM, because jogging with a toy gun might have scared somebody somewhere! Somebody more ignorant than cops are normally expected to be, I gather... other than the cops in Martinsburg, WV.
In fact, I have to wonder if this guy did it, simply for the purpose of provoking the local cops into freaking out and acting like complete jackasses.
He succeeded.
Not only did the cops swallow it hook, line, and sinker, so completely that now they can't let it go... but even the newspaper article writer fell for it too. In the article he keeps referring to the toy gun as an "AR-15 training rifle". He never once refers to the actual brand (Airsoft), nor does he ever mention that it was a toy, used in various games, firing small plastic pellets weighing 1/100 of an ounce or less - about as much as a medium-sized snowflake.
------------------------------------------------
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/583351.html
Body armor-wearing man apprehended near Martinsburg schools Monday morning
August 20, 2012
By Edward Marshall - staff writer (emarshall@journal-news.net) , The Journal
MARTINSBURG - A man wearing body armor and armed with an AR-15 training rifle, two knives and several unloaded magazines was arrested today after he was seen running in the area of Bulldog Boulevard, police said.
At about 7:17 a.m., the Martinsburg Police Department received several calls in regards to an individual running and carrying a rifle near the area of Bulldog Boulevard and Raleigh Street in Martinsburg.
"One of our primary concerns was that he was sighted in the general proximity or area of the high school on Bulldog Boulevard and we also believe that's what generated a lot of calls," Detective Lt. G.B. Swartwood said.
Article Photos
Officers responded to the scene and located the man, later identified as 23-year-old William Everett Alemar, of South Raleigh Street, near the intersection of Silver Lane and Raleigh Street. When Patrolman M. Jones, Patrolman C.M. Richmond and Patrolman First Class E. Herb encountered the individual, he was dressed in full military desert camouflage and a ballistic vest and with what appeared to be an assault rifle across his chest, police said.
All three officers engaged Alemar at gunpoint and ordered him to his knees to be taken into custody.
"The subject was then ordered to lie prone on the ground and the officers secured his weapon an AR-15(M-4) training rifle. The suspect also had two knives and several unloaded magazines, (and) his ballistic vest also contained ceramic panels to make it more bullet resistant," a police news release said.
Swartwood said the A-R 15 training rifle Alemar was found with fires small pellet projectiles and is used for training purposes, but looks exactly like a real AR-15.
"It's heavy and it looks completely just like an AR-15 other than that red tip on it," Swartwood said.
Alemar was handcuffed and brought to the Martinsburg Police Department. He said he was out running and jogging with his gear on, police said.
All of his accouterments and camouflage were photographed upon his person and seized as potential evidence.
After consulting with the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Alemar was charged with "committing a terroristic act under 61-6-24 subsection (b) and subsection (d) of the West Virginia State Code," police said.
"With him being in that proximity, in that area of the school, we believed that he was causing a significant threat with his actions and his gestures by his own choosing," Swartwood said.
A terrorist act is defined under state code as an act that is likely to result in serious bodily injury or damage to property or the environment; intended to intimidate or coerce the civilian population; influence the policy of a branch or level of government by intimidation or coercion; affect the conduct of a branch or level of government by intimidation or coercion; or retaliate against a branch or level of government for a policy or conduct of the government.
