The title of your email tells me that you have no idea what the facts of this arrest are. Hiking/PT with an airsoft rifle had very little to do with his arrest. Here's what I've sent to a few other folks concerned about this arrest. This young man was in a dedicated preserve area where these types of air guns are not legal to possess, and clearly posted as such. You can expect to be cited or arrested if you are so equipped in the McDowell Preserve area in Scottsdale. This was not an open hunting area or state land. Its a city park used by kids, families and recreational hikers. The rifle this young man was carrying/handling was altered to look real, so any reasonable person would assume it to be a genuine assault rifle. He (admittedly) was standing on a hill overlooking an elementary school within an hour of hundreds of school children showing up for their day of school. He had the rifle in his hands at the "low ready" position when he was perched above the grade school. Hikers were, quite literally, were fleeing from this person exhibiting this behavior. If you see this, you would to foolish to assume it was an ROTC student in training. This was a reasonable reaction by these hikers to seeing this on recreational use, municipal hiking trail where these types of guns/toys are prohibited. (And clearly marked as such). Unfortunately, there are enough incidents with real guns in the news that our citizens are compelled to call the police when they see this behavior. If you are basing your opinion on the TV news coverage, then you saw his actions AFTER the incident, when he was knowingly going to meet the police. Obviously, he was just hiking and carrying his rifle slung over his shoulder when the news helicopter showed up to beam his image to the television station. So please don't assume you have all the facts, unless you were there or have the police report on the incident. If you've already made up your mind that we are the "bad police", then there's nothing more to say. If you are interested in the facts, then you will see that our actions were completely justified. You can also call me if you wish to discuss our actions any further.
