Another Anti-Gun Overreaction

| January 29, 2013

Seems a young man in Ohio was recently arrested for a photo posted on Facebook.

The photo showed him holding his 1-year-old daughter and a “scary” gun at the same time.

Allegedly, the baby’s grandmother got wind of the photo and alerted authorities.  The local police came and arrested the guy – for child endangerment.

This appears to be the photo.  Note  that the “scary” gun is (1) not pointed at the child, (2) is pointed away from both child and father, and (3) there’s no finger on the trigger.  Frankly, I don’t see any evidence of  “endangerment” in the photo.  Stupidity, poor judgement, perhaps – but not endangerment.

It gets even better.  It turns out the gun in question was a freaking BB-gun.

Yes, that’s right:  the cops actually went to a guy’s house and arrested him over a picture of him holding his child and a toy at the same time.  Why?  Because that “toy” looked like one of those “scary” guns.  I wonder if they’d have arrested him if it had been a plastic sword or a hammer?  Both of those can be lethal to a small child.

I don’t fault the cops for checking into this once it was reported.  And yeah – the guy should have probably put the BB pistol down for the picture.

But an arrest for “child endangerment”?  Give me a freaking break.  A quick interview and a look at the “scary gun” involved – plus a dose of common sense – was what was called for here.  Not an arrest for what was obviously a non-crime.

Normally, we talk about “stupid criminal tricks”.  Well, maybe we should file this one under “stupid cop tricks.”

I wonder if any conservative lawyers in Ohio might have time for a bit of pro bono work.  Based on the photo and other facts reported so far, IMO it’s at least possible there might be a wrongful arrest suit in there somewhere.

 

Correction:  the original version of this story indicated that the ex-wife was the individual who alerted authorities.  In fact, it appears she showed the picture to her mother – the baby’s grandmother – who is the one who actually alerted local authorities.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Gun Grabbing Fascists, Guns

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A Proud Infidel

It looks like the local PD in that town has nothing to do other than cater to vengeful exes!

Twist

“ex-wife” says it all.

2/17 Air Cav

He’s an idiot. That baby IS a baby. Grandma probably had other reasons for taking the action she did. We don’t know what other factors were involved here. It’s like getting pulled over by a cop. If you have a clean record, didn’t commit some egregious traffic offense (e.g., blowing by a a stopped school bus), and you don’t act like a jerk, you usually get a wraning. Add the other factors, and you will get a different result.

Sgt Awesome

He has dark skin, has a gun, and appears to be wearing some kind of a man-dress. Is that a copy of the Koran underneath his bed there??

Shoot on sight!!!!

Ex-PH2

Well, what he did was just plain stupid. Why didn’t he put down that pellet gun before he put the kid on his lap?

Old Tanker

Okay, it was pretty stupid but when did that become a crime? If stupidity was a crime there would be nobody left to vote for Obama…

Old Tanker

Roger that Hondo!

PintoNag

Ex-wife sees pic of ex-husband holding baby and gun. How many stories have we heard lately of men killing their ex’s and kids? Without knowing the family involved, the cops may have perceived an implied threat to the baby and/or the baby’s mother in that photo.

I question the reason behind putting a photo like that on a social medium. Stupidity is a possibility. Aggression is another.

B Woodman

#10 Hondo,
Yep, gran’ma just lost all visiting privileges.

Old Trooper

Common sense is an uncommon commodity.

2/17 Air Cav

According to news accounts, Baby Momma is 17 and Baby Momma boyfriend, Domonic Gaines, is 22. Gaines’ father, Wilson Dykes (don’t ask me, I don’t know), is the one who said the deal was blown out of proportion. Baby Momma says it was a joke. Go ahead and saint them all if you want. I’m saving the halos for others.

CC Senor

And locally we have this. I’m still trying to figure out why the air rifle was confiscated.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Man-with-air-rifle-sparks-a-brief-lockdown-at-4139142.php

2/17 Air Cav

Hondo. I saw that video and I saw the one claiming to be the ONLY one that was able to talk with the guy’s father. They weren’t the same TV station. I just got pissed, that’s all. I know no one is doling out halos, at least here. I’m not backtracking, jus’ ‘splain’. I don’t know why the police did what they did in arresting him. I do strongly suspect, however, that there’s more to this than just the grandmother’s purported complaint. I won’t speculate because I don’t want the CRACK TAH LEGAL TEAM to have to issue an anti-apology apology, however much I enjoyed its first and only.

2/17 Air Cav

The alleged child endangerer isn’t Public Enemy #1. For that matter, he’s not Public Enemy 1,000,000,000 either. Ohio has an online court records system and, although he’s in it multiple times, it’s petty traffic stuff with one VERY minor non-traffic charge. So, there you go–or, there I go, as it were.

FatCircles0311

I hope this guy sues the utter piss out of this law enforcement department.

Ex-PH2

Hondo, the police over-react to things regularly now. This incident of shooting two dogs fighting in the back of a pickup truck is not a solo incident:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16758026-cops-shoot-dogs-in-front-of-pennsylvania-high-school?lite&gt1=43001

This seems to be happening a lot.