Grim_Night
Regular Member
At about 4:15 this afternoon, I was waiting for my Pierce Transit bus to take me home after my appointment near the tacoma mall. I was at the transit center when I saw an officer. I had a quick firearms question to ask him so I appoached him while calling out to him. I asked my question to which he right away said "You can't have firearms on the bus!" Without thinking, I said "wanna bet?" At which point I set my backpack down on the ground so I could get my notebook out with my washington state firearms RCWs list. I had my hand on my notebook when he suddenly got defencive and told me to stop as I was pulling my notebook out. He then grabbed my backpack and searched it.
Inside my backpack, I had my unloaded handgun in the holster, with the retaining strap in place using a snap button and velcro, with the slide locked back. In another compartment of my backpack, was the rest of my shoulder holster with 3 mags of ammo and a box of winchester hollow points with only 15 rounds in it. He then demanded my CPL to which I told him I didn't need one as the weapon was unloaded and in an closed opaque case or secure wrapper per RCW 9.41.060 part 9. he was obviously detaining me as he had possession of my bag and weapon at this point. I asked him if I could at least get my drink container off the bus since he was detaining me and would not give me my bag back. He allowed me and then detained me till after the bus had pulled away.
I showed him the RCWs that I had in the "Firearms safety, the law & you Basic safety, general laws and regulations." booklet that I got from LESA when I applied for my CPL on the 10th. He was claiming that I needed a CPL because my gun was "consealed" in my backpack. I corrected him by showing him the law and he grumbled a bit and said something about how he just got the email that had gone out like a day ago. I told him that I knew about the email because the tacoma police officer that I had already talked to on the 12th told me that the email had gone out to all of pierce transit, transit security, and transit police on the 10th. He started arguing with me about how I would know about that and I told him who I had talked to. Again he grumbled then handed my my backpack and walked off to his car.
I sat down, pulled a book out of my bag to read while waiting another 30 minutes for the next bus as I had missed the previous one because of being detained. While sitting on the bench, the officer pulled around with his car behind me, called out to me and motioned for me to come to him. I shook my head no to which he asked me to come look at what he found out on his computer. I told him I wasn't interested and that I was done talking to him. He asked me why I didn't want to talk to him and I simply replied "because you're an ass." He continued to try and talk to me from his car and I continued to ignore him. He finally drove back to where he was parked earlier and seemed that he was going to leave me alone... I was wrong...
He walked over to me again and asked me for my name and birthdate. I told him no and that I didn't want to talk to him. He told me that I had to give him the information that he asked me and that he could trespass me from the bus if I didn't. I said good luck and then ignored him some more. He kept hassling me and threatening to trespass me from the bus and I finally had enough and I told him good luck and told him that I wanted to speak to his supervisor. He said he didn't have one. I soon learned that he was off duty as a police officer, still in uniform and was instead working for pierce transit privately. I said that I wanted to speak to his supervisor again. He made a call over his radio to somebody and the part I heard was that the person that he wanted to come to where we were was busy and that he had to talk to him on the phone.
So the officer pulls out his cell phone, talks to the guy and tells him that I had a gun in my bag with the slide locked back to which I corrected and added loud enough for the other person on the phone to hear, "Don't forget its unloaded and secured in a hoster!" a minute or 2 passed and the phone conversation continued. Finally the officer says to me that his "boss" said that I could not get on the bus with the gun. I started getting more upset. I told him "I want a supervisor or your boss here now!" He gets on his radio again and talks to some people I mostly ignored it.
Now, this whole time, I had been sitting on the bench with my backpack on the ground down between my feet with all zippers closed, and a book in my hands trying to read the book. I told him that since he was off duty that if he kept harrassing me, I was going to call 911. He said "good luck with that!" quoting me earlier. He then walked around in front of me and quickly grabs my backpack from between my legs and my first reaction was to lock my legs around his arm and hand to prevent him from grabbing it. My better judgement kicked in and I let him have it, I stood up and told him flat out that he had just illegaly seized my bag and that I was calling the police. I called 911 on my cell phone and told them what was going on. He started to walk off with my bag but only got a couple more steps away before he stopped.
By now, we are standing about 10 feet apart with the bench seperating the 2 of us. I was on my phone talking to the 911 operator telling her that the off duty officer had illegally seized my bag which had an unloaded handgun in it with the slide locked back and secured in it's holster. I stayed on the phone with the 911 operator till 3 cars showed up at the scene. One had a "supervisor" from pierce transit who was also an off duty tacoma police officer, and 2 more police cars showed up with 3 more officers who were all on duty. They talked among themselfs for a minute before coming over to me and asking what the problem was. They didn't even let me finish what I was saying before they told me that I was a "guest" on pierce transit's property and they didn't want me there anymore. They told me that I couldn't carry my gun on the bus even though it was unloaded because I didn't have a CPL. They refused to listen to anything else I had to say at this point and told me that I had to leave pierce transit's property or I would be arrested for tresspassing. I said fine and asked for my stuff back and told them that I would be in contact with their bosses and my lawyer (I don't have a lawyer yet).
They escorted me across the street to the nearest street corner, set my bag on the ground and then warned me that I was not allowed to be on any bus for the next 24 hours and that if I was, I would be arrested and charged. I set my backpack on a newspaper box, told them that I was getting a pen and paper and that I wanted all of their names. The one that was speaking to me most, told me his name, then told me the names of the other 4 officers and then told me to have a nice night. I said "you too!" and walked away and sat down on a bench outside of Best Buy. I then called Pierce Transit. By this time, it was just after 5 pm. I finally got to talk to a human at pierce transit, explained to the operator what had happened and I demanded to speak with somebody in charge. She connected me with somebody who was not availible and I ended up getting his voice mail.
I got a new number from his voice mail which directed me to somebody else (I suck at remembering names) listed in the message with a phone number. I called that number, talked to a nice lady that seemed like she wanted to be helpful. I had explained what had happened and what the officers had told me and told her that I was now stuck in tacoma and unable to get home. She tried to contact a few people but failed and finally told me to call the main number and ask to speak with dispatch. So I called the main number a 2nd time got through to an operator right away, explained the situation yet again. She put me on hold only to come back and tell me that the supervisors she talked to said that they looked it up and I was in fact not allowed to be on the bus even with the weapon unloaded without a CPL. At this point, I'm just about fuming... because I suspect that the officers detained me on purpose just long enough to keep me from contacting anybody of authority at pierce transit because they pretty much shut down their administration at 5PM.
Long story short, I ended up having to beg my apartment manager to come out and pick me up and I bribed her with a home cooked meal.
I have the names of all the officers involved in the situation. But at this point, I'm bout ready to seriously chew some @$$ at pierce transit reguardint this issue and I already know I'm gonna be on the phone first thing in the morning at 8am...
Edit: Sorry for the wall of text... but I had to get everything down as fast as possible before I forgot any important details...
Edit 2: corrected some typos.
Inside my backpack, I had my unloaded handgun in the holster, with the retaining strap in place using a snap button and velcro, with the slide locked back. In another compartment of my backpack, was the rest of my shoulder holster with 3 mags of ammo and a box of winchester hollow points with only 15 rounds in it. He then demanded my CPL to which I told him I didn't need one as the weapon was unloaded and in an closed opaque case or secure wrapper per RCW 9.41.060 part 9. he was obviously detaining me as he had possession of my bag and weapon at this point. I asked him if I could at least get my drink container off the bus since he was detaining me and would not give me my bag back. He allowed me and then detained me till after the bus had pulled away.
I showed him the RCWs that I had in the "Firearms safety, the law & you Basic safety, general laws and regulations." booklet that I got from LESA when I applied for my CPL on the 10th. He was claiming that I needed a CPL because my gun was "consealed" in my backpack. I corrected him by showing him the law and he grumbled a bit and said something about how he just got the email that had gone out like a day ago. I told him that I knew about the email because the tacoma police officer that I had already talked to on the 12th told me that the email had gone out to all of pierce transit, transit security, and transit police on the 10th. He started arguing with me about how I would know about that and I told him who I had talked to. Again he grumbled then handed my my backpack and walked off to his car.
I sat down, pulled a book out of my bag to read while waiting another 30 minutes for the next bus as I had missed the previous one because of being detained. While sitting on the bench, the officer pulled around with his car behind me, called out to me and motioned for me to come to him. I shook my head no to which he asked me to come look at what he found out on his computer. I told him I wasn't interested and that I was done talking to him. He asked me why I didn't want to talk to him and I simply replied "because you're an ass." He continued to try and talk to me from his car and I continued to ignore him. He finally drove back to where he was parked earlier and seemed that he was going to leave me alone... I was wrong...
He walked over to me again and asked me for my name and birthdate. I told him no and that I didn't want to talk to him. He told me that I had to give him the information that he asked me and that he could trespass me from the bus if I didn't. I said good luck and then ignored him some more. He kept hassling me and threatening to trespass me from the bus and I finally had enough and I told him good luck and told him that I wanted to speak to his supervisor. He said he didn't have one. I soon learned that he was off duty as a police officer, still in uniform and was instead working for pierce transit privately. I said that I wanted to speak to his supervisor again. He made a call over his radio to somebody and the part I heard was that the person that he wanted to come to where we were was busy and that he had to talk to him on the phone.
So the officer pulls out his cell phone, talks to the guy and tells him that I had a gun in my bag with the slide locked back to which I corrected and added loud enough for the other person on the phone to hear, "Don't forget its unloaded and secured in a hoster!" a minute or 2 passed and the phone conversation continued. Finally the officer says to me that his "boss" said that I could not get on the bus with the gun. I started getting more upset. I told him "I want a supervisor or your boss here now!" He gets on his radio again and talks to some people I mostly ignored it.
Now, this whole time, I had been sitting on the bench with my backpack on the ground down between my feet with all zippers closed, and a book in my hands trying to read the book. I told him that since he was off duty that if he kept harrassing me, I was going to call 911. He said "good luck with that!" quoting me earlier. He then walked around in front of me and quickly grabs my backpack from between my legs and my first reaction was to lock my legs around his arm and hand to prevent him from grabbing it. My better judgement kicked in and I let him have it, I stood up and told him flat out that he had just illegaly seized my bag and that I was calling the police. I called 911 on my cell phone and told them what was going on. He started to walk off with my bag but only got a couple more steps away before he stopped.
By now, we are standing about 10 feet apart with the bench seperating the 2 of us. I was on my phone talking to the 911 operator telling her that the off duty officer had illegally seized my bag which had an unloaded handgun in it with the slide locked back and secured in it's holster. I stayed on the phone with the 911 operator till 3 cars showed up at the scene. One had a "supervisor" from pierce transit who was also an off duty tacoma police officer, and 2 more police cars showed up with 3 more officers who were all on duty. They talked among themselfs for a minute before coming over to me and asking what the problem was. They didn't even let me finish what I was saying before they told me that I was a "guest" on pierce transit's property and they didn't want me there anymore. They told me that I couldn't carry my gun on the bus even though it was unloaded because I didn't have a CPL. They refused to listen to anything else I had to say at this point and told me that I had to leave pierce transit's property or I would be arrested for tresspassing. I said fine and asked for my stuff back and told them that I would be in contact with their bosses and my lawyer (I don't have a lawyer yet).
They escorted me across the street to the nearest street corner, set my bag on the ground and then warned me that I was not allowed to be on any bus for the next 24 hours and that if I was, I would be arrested and charged. I set my backpack on a newspaper box, told them that I was getting a pen and paper and that I wanted all of their names. The one that was speaking to me most, told me his name, then told me the names of the other 4 officers and then told me to have a nice night. I said "you too!" and walked away and sat down on a bench outside of Best Buy. I then called Pierce Transit. By this time, it was just after 5 pm. I finally got to talk to a human at pierce transit, explained to the operator what had happened and I demanded to speak with somebody in charge. She connected me with somebody who was not availible and I ended up getting his voice mail.
I got a new number from his voice mail which directed me to somebody else (I suck at remembering names) listed in the message with a phone number. I called that number, talked to a nice lady that seemed like she wanted to be helpful. I had explained what had happened and what the officers had told me and told her that I was now stuck in tacoma and unable to get home. She tried to contact a few people but failed and finally told me to call the main number and ask to speak with dispatch. So I called the main number a 2nd time got through to an operator right away, explained the situation yet again. She put me on hold only to come back and tell me that the supervisors she talked to said that they looked it up and I was in fact not allowed to be on the bus even with the weapon unloaded without a CPL. At this point, I'm just about fuming... because I suspect that the officers detained me on purpose just long enough to keep me from contacting anybody of authority at pierce transit because they pretty much shut down their administration at 5PM.
Long story short, I ended up having to beg my apartment manager to come out and pick me up and I bribed her with a home cooked meal.
I have the names of all the officers involved in the situation. But at this point, I'm bout ready to seriously chew some @$$ at pierce transit reguardint this issue and I already know I'm gonna be on the phone first thing in the morning at 8am...
Edit: Sorry for the wall of text... but I had to get everything down as fast as possible before I forgot any important details...
Edit 2: corrected some typos.
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