The Tale of Henrico - Chapter 2 in a Ferry Tale - Arrested for following the law

A continuation of the below thread with details posted here that will shock and appall you.
http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/s...d-quot-getting-guns-off-the-street-quot/page5

Dan Hawes is prepared to accept either paper or electronic checks - please foot note: For Graham C.

Payable to:
Virginia Legal Defense
P.O. Box 100
Broad Run, VA 20137

or

Tuesday, April 9th was a pleasant spring evening, staying light longer now with daylight saving time. Anticipating a pleasant, relaxing dinner with friends and looking forward to a new job the following week, scouser embarked on a journey that would dramatically change his life.

Oh the dinner went well and the conversation was lively amongst friends with common interests. All agreed that these informal gatherings seemed to conclude to soon. For Scouser the evening didn't exactly end there though. The nightmare began 48 hours later when he was arrested at home, cuffed and transported to jail for brandishing and held for almost 13 hours.

Got your attention yet? Hope so, follow these details.

A private school bus driver apparently saw him at about 6:30 PM Tues. in his vehicle moving a pistol from right hand/passanger side glove box to center of dash glove box where he has a built in holster. Then reported it (probably next day) to his school security officer (moonlighting) friend who is a Henrico LEO. Henrico LEO/security officer waits 2 days until he is back on his county job and convinces a magistrate to issue a warrant for brandishing - never investigated it, never interviewed Scourcer. LEO had no personal knowledge.

The magistrate would not release him until a judge saw him the next day. Then released on personal recognizance bond and told to not leave the state - Scourcer is a truck driver. Dan Hawes got that lifted at Motions Hearing. Commonwealth Att'y. was visibly surprised that it wasn't being plead down and didn't seem pleased with some of Dan's requests.

This has also cost Scourcer that new job, he was to have started on last Tuesday. He is the sole bread winner with a wife and handsome young son. Now he is unemployed (yes looking diligently) and faced with significant legal expenses. How dare he carry a gun - well you can't beat the ride........BET ME!

Time to rise up and be counted ladies and gentleman - there but for the grace of God, go you or I. This kind of action against everyday good people must stop. We cannot let him stand alone - I will not.

More following on how you can help.

Outrageous. I would like to help. Please provide details as soon as possible!

This is what we do - we stand together, we support our own.

Support for a brother in need comes in many forms in a situation like this. Being there for him, attending hearings and letting the "powers that be" know that such offenses are taken seriously and that we stand united against such flawed actions. Spread the word far and wide to friends, co-workers and on other forums - direct them here.

Right now funds are needed to meet a significent expense. Collectively, no donation is too small - they add up in a big way. The cost of a lunch, dinner out, or a price of a box of ammo will become working capital to right this most egregious wrong.

Scourcer's primary offense would seem to be that he takes protecting himself and his family seriously/responsibly - the nerve, I mean really.

Dan Hawes is prepared to accept either paper or electronic checks - please foot note: For Graham C.

Payable to:
Virginia Legal Defense
P.O. Box 100
Broad Run, VA 20137

or




....

I just have a couple personal thoughts here... We all supported Skidmark a few months back, and that support was well-deserved. I don't believe he did ANYthing wrong in that case.

Having said that up front, this case is entirely different. Skidmark chose to walk the front line that day. That choice cost him the pain and grief that he was willing to endure for sticking up for what was right, and he is to be commended for making that choice on our behalf.

In this case, there was no choice involved. Just a working man on his way home, when some anti-gun nut with a well-connected buddy who was willing to abuse his position of trust just happened to see something that I would bet virtually every one of us has done at one point or another. Very literally, as Grape wrote, "there but for the grace of God..."

"Click->Send!"

TFred

Check made out (I dislike PayPal). It will go out in Wednesday's mail.

Count me in

Money is tight this week, but next week I will send the check. Keep us posted as to court dates and I will be there barring any unseen problems. I look forward to seeing Dan "The Man" in action again.

WTF!?!?! We need that cop fired asap. I will say I'm rather surprised at the stupidity and abuse of authority in this case, the Henrico cops I know would not have done something like this.

Well,,,

Im sorry, I dont like paypal and Im almost out of checks, But
Ive got an envelope, addressed, and a stamp, and 100 dollars ready to post, next time I go to town, this week!
Hope you dont mind cash.

My support from Afghanistan

I just set up my first contribution from here, will get to User on about the 29th of April.

How he could even get the warrant on this misdemeanor without a sworn statement from the "witness" is beyond me! Good luck, how long of a drive is it from the Newport News area to this courthouse or any support meeting/dinners are going to be held?

The Ammo sale did a couple of things. First it raised some money and second, it got the attention of at least one group that members are selling surplus equipment for donations.

TFred is right about this being a little different than Skidmark's and hopefully this will not have the comments from LEO's and ExLEO's that were directed at him about not showing the proper respect.

Besides the legal fund of which I will be sending a check, is there a separate fund to help him pay non legal bills and feed his family as well or will that be covered by any extra funds left after legal expenses are taken out as long as the check is footnoted as mentioned?

mobeewan said:

Besides the legal fund of which I will be sending a check, is there a separate fund to help him pay non legal bills and feed his family as well or will that be covered by any extra funds left after legal expenses are taken out as long as the check is footnoted as mentioned?

Click to expand...

I guess Grapeshot will jump in about that since he set the fund up but I don't know of any personal fund yet. We have discussed some ways to help and I'll let the folks that are involved talk about it if they want. Personal finances can be embarrassing in public. I plan to help as best I can in a discrete way, and others have indicated the same.

AFCop said:

I just set up my first contribution from here, will get to User on about the 29th of April.

How he could even get the warrant on this misdemeanor without a sworn statement from the "witness" is beyond me! Good luck, how long of a drive is it from the Newport News area to this courthouse or any support meeting/dinners are going to be held?

Click to expand...

It doesn't say whether or not a written statement was taken. It really does not matter anyway - it's shoddy police work. I won't even call it police work. The criminal saw a chance to make a "collar" on a "weapons offense" and he took it.

Oppressor. Tyrant with a badge.

He should be fired. He should be sued. He should be jailed. His badge should be ripped off of his chest. The superior who approved this report should be likewise dealt with harshly.

I'm outraged. Obviously the bus driver felt so threatened he called the police at that moment! Idiot!

For the folks that do not like/want to use PayPay -

If you have electronic banking/bill paying you can send your contributions from the comfort of your keyboard.

Set up a new payer:

Virginia Legal Defense
P.O. Box 100
Broad Run, VA 20137

Be sure to add a comment/note to the payer that the funds are for Graham C.

Pick an amount, verify the address it is to be sent to, and "click" and it's done.

If you do not have a large amount of cash just laying around in your checking/savings account but would like to chip in more than the $x you currently can spare for the cause, consider setting up a recurrent payment. $x every week/twice a month/monthly for as long as you want to do it (set an end date) and a check gets sent automatically. If for some reason you cannot spare $ when a payment is scheduled to be sent, you can cancel just that payment.

I know my bank sends paper checks to Dan that are about 2/3 the size of regular personal checks. He told me that he still carries them down to the bank and cashes them without grumbling about his poor, old, tired eyes and how tiny the space is for him to endorse the check. He's a good guy about things like that.

stay safe.

If what Grapeshot reported above in post #2 is a correct assessment of what took place, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, I am outraged at this travesty. Really outraged. This thing smells like crazy. He was in his car, clearly not doing anything of a threatening manner and something probably most of us have done either similar or same. How in the hell could this be construed as brandishing? Where does that fit? Yesterday I went to my local post office to drop off a few letters and left my sidearm in my truck. When I returned to my truck, I removed my gun from my glove box and while standing on the driver's side with door opened, I reholstered. Was that brandishing? I hardly think so but apparently by Henrico standards it would have been. Did I say I am outraged? A check will be going to my neighbor Dan this morning.

Tried to donate $50, but my bank says I need a phone # to add them as a payee

ETA: Nevermind, used my cell # and it went through, donation sent

ron73440 said:

Tried to donate $50, but my bank says I need a phone # to add them as a payee

ETA: Nevermind, used my cell # and it went through, donation sent

Click to expand...

USAA? I had to do the same thing, lol...

Grapeshot said:

A private school bus driver apparently saw him at about 6:30 PM Tues. in his vehicle moving a pistol from right hand/passanger side glove box to center of dash glove box where he has a built in holster. Then reported it (probably next day) to his school security officer (moonlighting) friend who is a Henrico LEO. Henrico LEO/security officer waits 2 days until he is back on his county job and convinces a magistrate to issue a warrant for brandishing - never investigated it, never interviewed Scourcer. LEO had no personal knowledge.

Click to expand...

I took the never investigated it to mean just that. Given the sparse details, I find it highly unlikely, given the course of action, that he went back to the bus driver and obtained a sworn statementbefore swearing out a warrant.

AFCop said:

I took the never investigated it to mean just that. Given the sparse details, I find it highly unlikely, given the course of action, that he went back to the bus driver and obtained a sworn statementbefore swearing out a warrant.

Click to expand...

I know it's a pain Guys...but as usual, we don't want to release a lot of details yet.
I can tell you this. I tried to get the written complaint from the court and it doesn't appear to exist.