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First LEO encounter... Confronted at gunpoint

I OC nothingwronghere

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
22
Location
Northshore, LA
New here so many might not know me so i'm going to give a brief description of my self. I'm 19 years old, Look about 22 though, 6'4" 200lbs clean shaven, short 1.5" hair, Most of the time i'm wearing a nice polo with khaki shorts" tonight was a bright orange polo". I'm not a rough looking or mean looking person by any stretch of the imagination.

So I been carrying off and on around covington, just getting used to it and all. Well tonight I got a little thirsty well my normal gas station that i go to had a no weapons sign, Won't go there again, so i ran across the road to the Racetrac in Covington on Hwy 190. Didn't see the cruisers when I drove up so i walk in with My .45 1911 in my serpa with the polo clearly behind it. Walk in look to the left ask the assistants " How yall doing?" they responded "Doing fine". Look to the right two St. Tammany sheriffs officers. They see my gun and go into freak out mode one "1" ,going to keep names wrapped up for now, draws his sidearm and is holding it gangster at a 45* pointing it at me asking me "What the hell are you doing?" I walk over and said "I'm buying a Coke". 1 says "What are you doing carrying a gun you gonna get in trouble". 2nd "2" Asks " Do you have a license to carry it?" I say "In Louisiana you do not have to have a PERMIT to open carry". 1 says " where did you read that" I say " Read the laws on LOCO.Org on the law sheet". 1 slightly getting pissed now still has weapon drawn on me says " What stature does it say you can carry". I couldn't think of the numbers so i say I Can't remember. Maybe because of the pistol pointing at my chest. I ask if they want to unholster my gun so I can take my hands off of my head and stop staring down the barrel of a pistol. Well they proceed to tell me this isn't the wild west and it ain't texas I just can't carry a gun. They said that because my pistol was in my serpa that i was concealing it. I and i asked for them to write down their names and ranks and they kinda refused so i didn't push the issue but i remember # 1's name. Well now i'm at home heart isn't racing or anything look at my gun and the officer took one of my JHP's. Who do i need to email to have this worked out? And will everyone please help me to get this straightened out. Also I thought on my way home if it was that bad of an offense why didn't they arrest me. I think they were standing behind a badge and didn't know the laws themselves Steven F.
 

estcrh

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
365
Location
Louisiana, USA
New here so many might not know me so i'm going to give a brief description of my self. I'm 19 years old, Look about 22 though, 6'4" 200lbs clean shaven, short 1.5" hair, Most of the time i'm wearing a nice polo with khaki shorts" tonight was a bright orange polo". I'm not a rough looking or mean looking person by any stretch of the imagination.

So I been carrying off and on around covington, just getting used to it and all. Well tonight I got a little thirsty well my normal gas station that i go to had a no weapons sign, Won't go there again, so i ran across the road to the Racetrac in Covington on Hwy 190. Didn't see the cruisers when I drove up so i walk in with My .45 1911 in my serpa with the polo clearly behind it. Walk in look to the left ask the assistants " How yall doing?" they responded "Doing fine". Look to the right two St. Tammany sheriffs officers. They see my gun and go into freak out mode one "1" ,going to keep names wrapped up for now, draws his sidearm and is holding it gangster at a 45* pointing it at me asking me "What the hell are you doing?" I walk over and said "I'm buying a Coke". 1 says "What are you doing carrying a gun you gonna get in trouble". 2nd "2" Asks " Do you have a license to carry it?" I say "In Louisiana you do not have to have a PERMIT to open carry". 1 says " where did you read that" I say " Read the laws on LOCO.Org on the law sheet". 1 slightly getting pissed now still has weapon drawn on me says " What stature does it say you can carry". I couldn't think of the numbers so i say I Can't remember. Maybe because of the pistol pointing at my chest. I ask if they want to unholster my gun so I can take my hands off of my head and stop staring down the barrel of a pistol. Well they proceed to tell me this isn't the wild west and it ain't texas I just can't carry a gun. They said that because my pistol was in my serpa that i was concealing it. I and i asked for them to write down their names and ranks and they kinda refused so i didn't push the issue but i remember # 1's name. Well now i'm at home heart isn't racing or anything look at my gun and the officer took one of my JHP's. Who do i need to email to have this worked out? And will everyone please help me to get this straightened out. Also I thought on my way home if it was that bad of an offense why didn't they arrest me. I think they were standing behind a badge and didn't know the laws themselves Steven F.
Steven, first thing to do is to get the name of the chief of police in the city were this happened, then get his phone number and email address, send him a polite email telling him the situation and see how he responds, let us know how he responds and if you do not hear from him or you get a negative response I will send him an email and I am sure other people here will and we will enlighten him on the current open carry laws in La. as he seems to have neglected to properly instruct his officers on how to deal with this matter....OR....he could be like the commander of the 8th district police where I live .....Major Hosli was unaware or did not want to admit in public (I was at a public police meeting) that I had a right to open carry...he pulled the old gun in a holster means its concealed bull on me...I emailed him several times with all the current La. open carry rulings and he refused to answer me...I cornered his second in command (Lt Selby) twice at public meetings and I finally got him to admit in public that I did have the right to open carry...and then he promptly pulled the old school zone bull on me....many of these old guys just cant stand the thought of people DEFENDING them selves.....The funny thing about my situation was that right before I tried to get the commander of the 8th dist police to publicly acknowledge my right to open carry I had to defend myself while open carrying by shooting at an armed man who pulled a gun from his waist band on my street in the middle of the night in the Quarter and there was no mention of charging me with any crime.........Let us know what response you get when you contact the police in the city were your incident occurred.
 

jjh

New member
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
4
Location
, ,
I hate to tell you this but this seems to be a common in the Covington area. Now when I was there I didn't have problems but if it was STPSO your not going to get hardly anywhere with them as Jack Strain who is the sheriff is anti-citizen owning guns if he could he would disarm us all.
 

charlie12

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2007
Messages
545
Location
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
I would be calling the St. Tammany Sheriff's Office internal affairs and make a complaint. You might not know their names but there can't be too many deputies that would be there at that time and they might be on the radio log being there at that time. Racetrac should have it on video
Too bad you couldn't ask them what RS says you couldn't carry. Oh and tell them the deputy stole one of your rounds.
Don't drop it or they will have won with Bull$hit info

You need to join LOCAL below
http://www.laopencarry.org/index.php?sid=5612e2fcfb2995f5f5faa9199a918c8b

More info at http://louisianacarry.org/index.htm

Let us know what happens
 
Last edited:

LA Confederate

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
238
Location
Hammond Area, LA, ,
First like was said above, contact STPSO IA Division and file a complaint against the 2 officers. Make sure to give full details including the jackass who was holding his service sidearm sideways because I know for a fact that the department will not tolerate that crap (and it can likely be confirmed via surveillance video from the store.) Do this ASAP, go in person, and dress in decent clothes.

Second, ascertain if they were full time or reserve deputies if possible. If they were reserves contact me off list.
 

estcrh

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
365
Location
Louisiana, USA
Well now he has a couple of different opinions.....you have to consider that this is a young man who lives in the area, going to internal affairs will not make him any friends in that neck of the woods and could complicate his life in the future...he was not arrested and the state is full of officers who do no know or follow th law....I still think that the head of the dept is were he should start before he does something that could make him a target for retribution.....Raceway will not just hand him the video so he would need an attorney or the police would have to request it. He could contact Raceway to see how long the even keep video before they are re-recorded. If he gets an acknowledgement from the head of the dept that he can open carry then he won in my opinion without causing any one to much embarrassment...also...this might happen again in the future...how many times do you make internal affair complaints..its better to try to solve it amicably at least at first......just my personal opinion based on how I would do things.
 

NRAMARINE

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Messages
523
Location
Anywhere but here.
In a perfect world that would be true. However not making friends shouldn't be the issue. This cop abused his authority and put a gun in this man's face. Not only that but he clearly violated his rights. This cop and his partner need to be held accountable for their actions. Get an attorney to subpoena the tapes ASAP. If these guys get away with this, what's next? Do they shoot the next oc'er they see. Point is these guys are responsible for enforcing and upholding the law, they should be held to it's standards. If you can get it dealt with amicably, fine. They learn an important lesson and you move on. If not go the next step. DO NOT LET THIS GO UNCHALLENGED.
 

I OC nothingwronghere

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
22
Location
Northshore, LA
I'm working on it

I just got home bout to sit down and type an email for Sheriff and I talked to a judical judge today that said I was no way doing anything wrong. Giving a call to local DA tomorrow. I can't afford an attorney,Barely can afford .45 ammo, But I'm going to do everything I can to see that this is solved. Thanks for the comment , Steven
 

I OC nothingwronghere

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
22
Location
Northshore, LA
Thank you sir. I will not hesitate to ask anyone I'm just really trying to sort it out. I wasn't nervous like heart beating out of chest but i wasn't in a totally calm state of mind. I wish i could go back i wouldn't have left with getting attendants names officers rank and full name, Asking clerks about videos, resisting a little more, and just not acknowledging them at first. Many different things that i wish i would've done
 

estcrh

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
365
Location
Louisiana, USA
First of all...you did the right thing...resisting law enforcement orders no matter how right you think you are can lead to very bad circumstances, thats what attorneys are for. No one really knows how they would respond if they were in your place no matter what they might tell you, getting your message to a public forum like this was the right thing to do, I am sure that many people here will send emails to whoever is in charge of that department if you can not get this situation solved to your satisfaction.

I think that maybe to much blame is being placed on the officers them selves....unless they have been told that open carry is legal and they decided to ignore the law its probable that they were startled by you and had not been properly trained and informed as to what the procedure is when they happen to see a citizen openly carrying a firearm. If this is the case then their superiors need to be informed about what happened in order to see if they will address the problem in their department and apologize for what happened to you.

Here is what happened to Nikki Black in a somewhat similar situation to yours>>>> http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?74016-Really-bad-LEO-encounter!!

You should send this link to whoever you contact to....its about the ever popular Mark Edward Marchiafava >> http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/27706824.html In case you do not know about mark..he was wrongfully arrested for open carrying and received a cash settlement as a result..any department head who reads this story will have difficulty telling his officers that open carry is not legal after being informed about what happened in Gonzales La., no city official wants to be the one that caused a law suit that has to be paid out for a bad arrest.
 
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LA Confederate

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
238
Location
Hammond Area, LA, ,
STPSO is trained on what the firearms laws are in the state, though I can't attest to the depth or specifics of the teaching at this time. Irregardless, the deputies attempted to enforce what they thought were the laws, not necessarily what the laws are. Their duty is to enforce what the laws actually are. Since they took it upon themselves to determine what the law stated then they are in the wrong and should be disciplined.

Contacting the Sheriff may or may not do any good. It certainly wouldn't hurt, BUT what exactly are you going to state in your email? "A guy I know on an internet forum who's goes by a certain screen name (but I don't know his real name) said that he was in a gas station and such and such happened, but he didn't get the deputies names or badge numbers so I really don't have a clue who they were." I don't mean to sound harsh, but if I got an email like that I'd immediately delete it and go about my business. The point is, if you're going to make an effort, have all your bases covered and a pile of ammo to shoot with. Right now that is not the case.
 

estcrh

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
365
Location
Louisiana, USA
STPSO is trained on what the firearms laws are in the state, though I can't attest to the depth or specifics of the teaching at this time. Irregardless, the deputies attempted to enforce what they thought were the laws, not necessarily what the laws are. Their duty is to enforce what the laws actually are. Since they took it upon themselves to determine what the law stated then they are in the wrong and should be disciplined.

Contacting the Sheriff may or may not do any good. It certainly wouldn't hurt, BUT what exactly are you going to state in your email? "A guy I know on an internet forum who's goes by a certain screen name (but I don't know his real name) said that he was in a gas station and such and such happened, but he didn't get the deputies names or badge numbers so I really don't have a clue who they were." I don't mean to sound harsh, but if I got an email like that I'd immediately delete it and go about my business. The point is, if you're going to make an effort, have all your bases covered and a pile of ammo to shoot with. Right now that is not the case.
Well read what happened in this case, its very similar and the Chief of police was contacted and informed of the situation and he did reply to emails in a positive manner...The chief did not delete the email I sent him and responded almost immediately and he solved the situation without any threats of legal action and no hard feelings etc. Every one handles things differently and it does not hurt to just try the direct approach before ramping things up. http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?74016-Really-bad-LEO-encounter!
 

Superlite27

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
1,277
Location
God's Country, Missouri
I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone mention submitting a FOIA request for all radio transmissions, memos, e-mails, reports, and department communications regarding this incident yet.

First thing I would do.
 
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