Toy Guns Draw Real Cops at San Jose Wendy's Restaurant

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http://origin.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7739366?nclick_check=1

Toy guns draw real cops to San Jose Wendy's
By Joshua Molina
Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/16/2007 08:16:40 PM PST


Two teenagers carrying toy semi-automatic guns caused some brief chaos this afternoon at a San Jose Wendy's on Bascom Ave.

Thirteen patrol cars responded to the restaurant around 3 p.m. after somebody called 911 on a cell phone.

Police spokesman Enrique Garcia said two boys inside the restaurant were briefly handcuffed and detained but released without being arrested. There was no attempt to rob the eatery, Garcia said.

San Jose resident Arnold Koot was driving by the scene when he saw the police cars and pulled over. He snapped some photos and said he could tell that the guns were fake.

Still, "If I were in a restaurant and someone pulled that out on me, I would knock them cold and then call the police," said Koot, a former reserve officer with San Jose.

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Surprising that there were no charges, as displaying an 'imitation firearm' is a citable offense. This might have been justification for sending 13 patrol cars to scold children with airsoft 'weapons', at the behest of a solitary person calling 911.

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No real cop wants to arrest kids for toy guns. Some probably don't even know what the charges is. And there are better things to do like eat and drive around looking at girls.

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I think there's a difference between an "immitation firearm" and a toy gun. I don't think the statute can reasonably be interpreted to include the kids having a water gun fight in the front yard, etc.

I'm not at all surprised with the response. Imagine if they had sent 2 cars and it turned out the guns were real? Random shootings in public places seem to be happening more frequently lately, so they gotta respond in full force to every call. Otherwise they're risking a huge PR nightmare, not to mention the lawsuits that would be brought if someone did shoot the place up.

Of course, I don't agree with the response. I'm just saying it isn't a surprise. I would much rather have each person wipe their own ass, rather than relying on my tax money to do it for them. If the people in the mall don't care enough for their life to carry a self defense weapon(s), then how do they have the right to take my money to hire more cops?

:cuss: