Many of you may already have seen this thread on FreeRepublic, The High Road (updates), or Packing.org. In light of The Firing Line's reopening, I thought I'd post it here.
Latest news follows in the first post.
===================
Capt. David Mara
Public Integrity & Professional Standards
Manchester Police Department
351 Chestnut Street
Manchester, NH 03101-2294
March 29, 2004
Dear Captain Mara,
I am writing to you in your capacity as head of Public Integrity and Professional Standards to lodge a complaint against your department and certain of your officers stemming from an incident that took place on Saturday, March 27 at about 9:00pm.
Background
My wife and I had just finished our 11th anniversary dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse on Second Street, and had stopped in to the Barnes & Noble bookstore on South Willow Street for a cup of latte and a few books and DVDs. I was dressed neatly in slacks and a purple oxford shirt, and was clean-shaven.
Due to the pleasant evening air, I left my coat in the car. Since I had neglected to tuck my shirt over it, my holstered Glock 30 sidearm was thus visible in the small of my back in a Workman IWB holster.
For about 10-15 minutes, I chatted with my wife about choosing a sweater from a selection of knitting books she was reviewing, browsed the history and political sections near the restroom, and then made my way over to the Science Fiction aisle.
I was idly leafing through an interesting book, minding my own business, when suddenly I found myself seized by the right shoulder and my holster, pushed towards the corner of the bookcase, by either Officer Chris Byron or Office David DuPont, I’m not absolutely certain which of them.
I exclaimed, raised my hands up to prevent myself from going face first into the bookshelf. I dropped the book, and upon glancing over my right shoulder, saw another uniformed officer at my right flank. The officer holding me requested that I relax and place my hands on my head. I immediately complied.
I was then disarmed, the holster being unsnapped and removed from my waistband. I informed the detective to whom the firearm was handed that it had a round in the chamber upon his inquiry. I believe the individual who unloaded it was one of the detectives, either Sean Leighton or John Patty.
I was then asked to go outside the store with them, and I agreed. I was released and walked to the doorway, handing over my driver’s license and New Hampshire pistol license on the way out.
Once my record came back clear, naturally, I was subjected to a condescending lecture about the carrying of arms, quizzed repeatedly as to why I carry a firearm.
I replied “to protect myself and my family,”[1] which yielded a number of derisive comments about the effectiveness of firearms in self-defense and defense of others – hmm, why do cops carry them, I wonder? “We have to,” one of the detectives whined. They also lectured on liability issues, terrorism, and other such topics.
I informed them that I am trained, having completed the Lethal Force Institute’s Judicious Use of Deadly Force course, as well as handgun licensing requirements in California and for a Utah Concealed Carry license.
Given the crowd of talkative uniformed officers and detectives around me (Ofc. Chris Byron, Ofc. David DuPont, Sgt. Bartlett, Det. Sean Leighton, and Det. John Patty), and having been somewhat rattled by the ambush, I had difficulty finishing a sentence, and in hindsight I should probably have told them it was none of their damn business why I carry a firearm or whether I was trained.
After about 5-10 minutes of my polite endurance various disrespectful and arrogant statements and questions by the officers and detectives, my firearm was returned to me, and I reloaded it and placed it back on my belt, this time tucked under my shirt. Upon completing a contact card with Ofc. Byron, at his vehicle, I retrieved my coat, and returned to the store to find my wife.
We purchased about $200 worth of books and DVDs, and then went home.
Points of Complaint
Simple Assault – RSA 631:2-a-I(a)
At no time until, during, or after the officer laid his hands on me, was there any legal cause for his touching or restraining me.
The irrational alarm induced by the sight of my holstered handgun among those who called 911 aside, I was conducting myself in a calm and reasonable manner, merely browsing the books and minding my own business, occasionally chatting with my wife, not posing any threat or menace to anyone else in the store.
RSA 631:4, Criminal Threatening, does not apply as I was not engaging in any manner of physical conduct that purposely placed or attempted to place another in fear of imminent bodily injury or physical contact.
RSA 644:2, Disorderly Conduct, does not apply as I was not engaging in “violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior,” either knowingly or purposefully. The open carrying of a firearm is not inherently threatening behavior, even when it makes someone from Massachusetts pee their pants and hyperventilate.
Unlike Illinois,[2] New York, or Washington, DC, where an openly carried firearm is prima facie evidence of a violation of the law, there is no New Hampshire statutory provision against open carry. In fact, it is a right guaranteed explicitly in the Constitution of the State.
Your officers should have enough experience and common sense to evaluate the totality of the circumstances – my attire, my demeanor, the fact that most armed criminals don’t carry openly, etc. – and take action on that basis, rather than on the basis of a paranoid fear of armed citizens which they evidently share with those who called upon them.
Public Duty – RSA 627:2
Given the fact that there was no violation of the law taking place or reasonably suspected when I was seized, the officer’s use of physical force was not authorized by law, and thus does not fall under the exemptions offered to public servants by this section of New Hampshire law.
The irrational concern expressed by others at the mere sight of a well-dressed individual openly carrying a firearm “near the children’s section” has no legal standing, and does not afford any credible justification. Another’s belief in “evil gun radiation” has no bearing on law or reality.
Physical Force in Law Enforcement – RSA 627:5
This statute provides that “[a] law enforcement officer is justified in using non-deadly force upon another person when and to the extent that he reasonably believes it necessary to effect an arrest or detention or to prevent the escape from custody of an arrested or detained person, unless he knows that the arrest or detention is illegal…”
Again, the officer should have known, and can reasonably be expected by a court and a jury to know, that there was no legal justification for seizing and detaining me under the laws of New Hampshire, and his detention of me was therefore illegal and unjustified.
Fourth Amendment
My Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizure was violated, as there was no reasonable basis to believe, given the totality of circumstances and New Hampshire law, that a violation of the law was underway or planned before I was grabbed by the officer.
Defamation of Character
The seizure of my person under false and illegal pretenses, being ordered to place my hands on my head, and my being escorted from the store by a crowd of police officers had a clear and unmistakable tendency to expose me to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule[3] by all the patrons of the store who witnessed the incident, and by anyone who might read about the incident in the newspaper were it to be reported in the media’s usual breathless and inflammatory style.
Latest news follows in the first post.
===================
Capt. David Mara
Public Integrity & Professional Standards
Manchester Police Department
351 Chestnut Street
Manchester, NH 03101-2294
March 29, 2004
Dear Captain Mara,
I am writing to you in your capacity as head of Public Integrity and Professional Standards to lodge a complaint against your department and certain of your officers stemming from an incident that took place on Saturday, March 27 at about 9:00pm.
Background
My wife and I had just finished our 11th anniversary dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse on Second Street, and had stopped in to the Barnes & Noble bookstore on South Willow Street for a cup of latte and a few books and DVDs. I was dressed neatly in slacks and a purple oxford shirt, and was clean-shaven.
Due to the pleasant evening air, I left my coat in the car. Since I had neglected to tuck my shirt over it, my holstered Glock 30 sidearm was thus visible in the small of my back in a Workman IWB holster.
For about 10-15 minutes, I chatted with my wife about choosing a sweater from a selection of knitting books she was reviewing, browsed the history and political sections near the restroom, and then made my way over to the Science Fiction aisle.
I was idly leafing through an interesting book, minding my own business, when suddenly I found myself seized by the right shoulder and my holster, pushed towards the corner of the bookcase, by either Officer Chris Byron or Office David DuPont, I’m not absolutely certain which of them.
I exclaimed, raised my hands up to prevent myself from going face first into the bookshelf. I dropped the book, and upon glancing over my right shoulder, saw another uniformed officer at my right flank. The officer holding me requested that I relax and place my hands on my head. I immediately complied.
I was then disarmed, the holster being unsnapped and removed from my waistband. I informed the detective to whom the firearm was handed that it had a round in the chamber upon his inquiry. I believe the individual who unloaded it was one of the detectives, either Sean Leighton or John Patty.
I was then asked to go outside the store with them, and I agreed. I was released and walked to the doorway, handing over my driver’s license and New Hampshire pistol license on the way out.
Once my record came back clear, naturally, I was subjected to a condescending lecture about the carrying of arms, quizzed repeatedly as to why I carry a firearm.
I replied “to protect myself and my family,”[1] which yielded a number of derisive comments about the effectiveness of firearms in self-defense and defense of others – hmm, why do cops carry them, I wonder? “We have to,” one of the detectives whined. They also lectured on liability issues, terrorism, and other such topics.
I informed them that I am trained, having completed the Lethal Force Institute’s Judicious Use of Deadly Force course, as well as handgun licensing requirements in California and for a Utah Concealed Carry license.
Given the crowd of talkative uniformed officers and detectives around me (Ofc. Chris Byron, Ofc. David DuPont, Sgt. Bartlett, Det. Sean Leighton, and Det. John Patty), and having been somewhat rattled by the ambush, I had difficulty finishing a sentence, and in hindsight I should probably have told them it was none of their damn business why I carry a firearm or whether I was trained.
After about 5-10 minutes of my polite endurance various disrespectful and arrogant statements and questions by the officers and detectives, my firearm was returned to me, and I reloaded it and placed it back on my belt, this time tucked under my shirt. Upon completing a contact card with Ofc. Byron, at his vehicle, I retrieved my coat, and returned to the store to find my wife.
We purchased about $200 worth of books and DVDs, and then went home.
Points of Complaint
Simple Assault – RSA 631:2-a-I(a)
At no time until, during, or after the officer laid his hands on me, was there any legal cause for his touching or restraining me.
The irrational alarm induced by the sight of my holstered handgun among those who called 911 aside, I was conducting myself in a calm and reasonable manner, merely browsing the books and minding my own business, occasionally chatting with my wife, not posing any threat or menace to anyone else in the store.
RSA 631:4, Criminal Threatening, does not apply as I was not engaging in any manner of physical conduct that purposely placed or attempted to place another in fear of imminent bodily injury or physical contact.
RSA 644:2, Disorderly Conduct, does not apply as I was not engaging in “violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior,” either knowingly or purposefully. The open carrying of a firearm is not inherently threatening behavior, even when it makes someone from Massachusetts pee their pants and hyperventilate.
Unlike Illinois,[2] New York, or Washington, DC, where an openly carried firearm is prima facie evidence of a violation of the law, there is no New Hampshire statutory provision against open carry. In fact, it is a right guaranteed explicitly in the Constitution of the State.
Your officers should have enough experience and common sense to evaluate the totality of the circumstances – my attire, my demeanor, the fact that most armed criminals don’t carry openly, etc. – and take action on that basis, rather than on the basis of a paranoid fear of armed citizens which they evidently share with those who called upon them.
Public Duty – RSA 627:2
Given the fact that there was no violation of the law taking place or reasonably suspected when I was seized, the officer’s use of physical force was not authorized by law, and thus does not fall under the exemptions offered to public servants by this section of New Hampshire law.
The irrational concern expressed by others at the mere sight of a well-dressed individual openly carrying a firearm “near the children’s section” has no legal standing, and does not afford any credible justification. Another’s belief in “evil gun radiation” has no bearing on law or reality.
Physical Force in Law Enforcement – RSA 627:5
This statute provides that “[a] law enforcement officer is justified in using non-deadly force upon another person when and to the extent that he reasonably believes it necessary to effect an arrest or detention or to prevent the escape from custody of an arrested or detained person, unless he knows that the arrest or detention is illegal…”
Again, the officer should have known, and can reasonably be expected by a court and a jury to know, that there was no legal justification for seizing and detaining me under the laws of New Hampshire, and his detention of me was therefore illegal and unjustified.
Fourth Amendment
My Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizure was violated, as there was no reasonable basis to believe, given the totality of circumstances and New Hampshire law, that a violation of the law was underway or planned before I was grabbed by the officer.
Defamation of Character
The seizure of my person under false and illegal pretenses, being ordered to place my hands on my head, and my being escorted from the store by a crowd of police officers had a clear and unmistakable tendency to expose me to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule[3] by all the patrons of the store who witnessed the incident, and by anyone who might read about the incident in the newspaper were it to be reported in the media’s usual breathless and inflammatory style.
