Ok so here are the details of the incident (now that the case has been settled in court).
At approximately midnight of April 2nd 2014, I was suffering from chronic pain that was disturbing my sleep. I decided to go for a walk inside the apartment complex of which I reside with my roommate. I decided to go for a walk because I did not want to disturb my roommate who was sleeping and had to work the next morning.
While I was walking around the apartment complex on the sidewalks, I noticed that there was police activity in the area (multiple Lakewood Police cars parked on public roads outside the gates apartment complex with emergency lights active). As I made my way back to the building where my apartment is located, I noticed a neighbor who was standing at the corner of the building closest to the street. I went over to chat with him and inquire as to whether he knew what the police were doing. He informed me that he did not know but that he knew they were inside the gated apartment complex. He then pointed to where a couple of officers were (their flashlights visible in the direction of the opposite end of my building).
I then walked to the other end of the sidewalk in front of my apartment building and stood at the end of the building in full light provided by the building's external lights. 2 officers approached me and one of them asked me to go back inside. I asked if I was legally required to do so. The officer responded that no I was not but it was for my own safety because they were looking for a fleeing felony suspect and that they had a K9 unit on the property searching for said suspect. I said that because I was not legally required to comply with the request, I would not comply. I continued to stand in the same spot that the initial contact was made by Lakewood PD after the 2 officers walked away.
The 2 officers joined a 3rd near the gate to the pool area at the management building. The original officer then approached me again and asked me for ID. I simply stated that I was not required to give it to him. He asked me why I didn't want to give it to him and I told him that I had committed no crime and that I had no legal requirement to provide ID. He then walked away again to join the other 2 officers near the management building.
I continued to stand in the same spot, not doing anything other then using my cane to keep my balance as I stood there. A few minutes later, a group of 2 officers with a german shepherd on a leach made an appearance from the pathway between the 2 rear most buildings inside the complex. As they did so, a group of 2 women started walking down the stairs from the 3rd floor of the building. The dog started barking and the officers asked them to go back inside. They said they were going to check their mail. The officers asked if they could do it later. The women said yes then went back to the 3rd floor and then presumably back to their apartment. After a minute or 2, the 2 officers with the dog turned back around and went back the direction they came from.
Shortly thereafter (within a minute or 2) the original officer that made contact with me and the 2 others he was with came back over to me and told me I was under arrest. I asked what for and was told for obstruction of a law enforcement officer. I was cuffed and the original officer seized my openly carried handgun on my right him and told me in an aggressive tone that I needed to tell them that I had a weapon because I could have gotten shot. I informed him that I was under no obligation to inform him or any officer that I was doing a lawful activity and that I was open carrying. He started to pat me down. he found my wallet in my front left pocket of my sweat pants and asked what it was. I said it was my wallet (at no point did I tell him he could take it) and he then took it out of my pocket, opened it and removed my driver's license.
I asked if they were going to read me my rights. They said no and that the sergeant would do that when he arrived. All the while I was being questioned with my hands cuffed behind my back and without my cane and not allowed to sit down. Finally after complaining enough to them that I could not stand any longer without my cane because of my arthritis, they walked me over to a picnic table in front of my building and helped me to sit down. I was questioned some more and even talked to by another officer who had possession of my firearm who told me that I was not getting it back until it was taken apart because he was not going to give me back a fully functional weapon. Finally the sergeant arrived. By this point, there were at least 6 officers in close proximity to me.
The sergeant read me my rights and then asked if I wanted to speak with a lawyer, I said yes and he said "well that's not going to happen right now" then continued to question me. They eventually removed the cuffs only to replace them with a set that had a longer chain so that I could reposition my arms to be more comfortable. After some more questioning, I was released with a single piece of paper saying I was being charged with RCW 9A.76.020 Obstructing a law enforcement officer, and told it was because I interfered with the K9 unit. I was given back my firearm in 2 brown paper bags (1 bag contained the magazine with and 16 bullets removed while the other contained my firearm broken down into the slide, frame, recoil spring/pin and the barrel). The officers then left.
On April 15th 2014, I had my hearing at the Lakewood municipal court where the PA/DA (never could figure out the difference) was reading off the police report regarding the incident. While listening to the PA/DA read off the same details I have already posted, I asked my lawyer how any of this constituted a crime. She told me that they haven't proven probable cause and that she was going to ask for an immediate dismissal because of that. Turns out that the PA/DA ended up dismissing the case.
There is a chance that they may refile because they dismissed without prejudice.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to make sure to give as much detail as possible. I have photos detailing the incident.
