Eyewitness Confirms: D.C. Cop Freaks Out Over Snowball Fight–Brandishes Gun

Originally posted by whatukno
reply to post by rcwj1975

 

Pissed yes, but not enough to pull a gun on people for doing it. I am not a cop but I am pretty sure that pulling your gun on people for throwing snowballs is a bit over the top.

Yea, I would have gotten out of the car and yelled at them. But pulling a gun?

My friend I am AGREEING with you! I am NOT saying what he did was right, I have expressed that. I can't imagine getting out of my truck and pulling my duty weapon vs snowballs. I AM ok with him getting out and wanting to address the issue, but leave it holstered.

reply to post by whaaa


Okay, I WILL agree with the idea that the people throwing snowballs should have known better than to "attack" (notice the " " because how can you really call having a ball of semi-frozen water thrown you an attack?) someone that wasn't participating in the snowball fight. That's proper snowball fight etiquette #1.

Having said that, and prefacing it with this statement: off the top of my head I don't know what the CCW laws are in D.C.

When a man steps out of a hummer and pulls a pistol... that is asking, inviting, allowing, CALLING FOR someone who has a CCW permit + concealed weapon to pull and FIRE on you.

1) The only purpose of owning a gun is to shoot it.
2) The only purpose of pulling a gun is to shoot it.
2a) You can not assume someone is pulling a gun merely to scare you, refer to 1 and 2. You don't play with guns and I'm sure Mr. Grumpy Police officer man knew this.
3) All police officers and military are taught to shoot on the spot if someone pulls a weapon. Refer to 2a, death isn't a game and you don't take chances. You don't wait and see if they're serious or "just joking" when someone pulls a gun.

Being aware of 1-3 and being aware that Mr. Grumpy Police Officer Man didn't let anyone know he was indeed Mr. Grumpy Police Officer Man, he's EXTREMELY lucky he isn't dead right now.

If D.C. doesn't allow CCW, ignore everything I say in regards to this particular situation as it wouldn't apply.

But I can say this... pulling a gun on children and teenagers who threw a snowball at you, when you're an officer of the law sworn to serve and protect the public (which includes those kids who threw snowballs at you), there is no bigger pussy move than that one. He should be fired. If he can't keep his cool against a pelting of snowballs, I don't even want to contemplate how he would react in an actual life and death situation. Fire him, fire him, fire him... he's obviously not stable. Fire him. Fire him. Fire him. I do not , do NOT , DO NOT want someone like that in charge of protecting me from people who are actually just like him.

Fire him. Guns are no joke. I am a huge proponent of 2nd amendment rights... and I am an even bigger proponent of gun safety education. If your buddy can't hold his liqour, you don't feed him shots of Everclear. If you can't keep your cool in a situation as innocent as a snowball fight, you don't deserve the right to carry a gun or a badge.

Fire him.

To the dude who said "snow is wet and cold" and made an entire argument out of it... move to Florida and stay there. As someone who has lived in a northern state my entire life and dealt with this "cold and wet snow," it's a part of LIFE and after 1 or 2 winters when you're, I don't know, 6 years old, you get used to it. If you can't handle being cold and wet and you are fully aware of this and still chose to live in a area that is known to get "cold and wet snow," you DESERVE to have your nerves fried to bits for being one notch less stupid than Mr. Grumpy Police Officer Man.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Here's the link to the story.

www.washingtoncitypaper.com...

Thanks for repairing the Link GP!

Drug test cops

DRUG TEST COPS !....

First off, the boys who will be witnesses should be arriagned with assulting an officer, public nussance, endangering public safety (not talking the vehicle, but some old lady walking down the street gets hit in the head by a random snowball. Falls over breaking a hip and each and every one of them would have been liable)And carrying a weapon (since they all seem to believe that the snowballs would be able to take out a crazy guy with a gun since none of them left after the cop came out carrying the gun.

Now who in thier right mind stays in the area when a crazy guy (white, black, hispanic, green, Doesnt matter) gets out of his high priced car brandishing a weapon. He is either a well off guy with good lawyers who will be able to clear his name after he shoots a few people, or he is a crazy guy with a gun who is going to shoot people. Why stick arround at that point. Scater and come back in a hour after he leaves. Teens nowadays dont think about death. Sad realy. Before you go on about how tough you are. One bullet in a major artery (even your leg) and you could bleed to death before the ambulance can get to you in a storm like that. Plus the report of the guy carrying a gun would stop the ambulance till the cops cleared the area.

Now the cop not identifying himself probably because he was off duty. So he should be charged with brandishing a firearm. Dealt with and given a suspension for a while (or some psych evaluation too) but fireing him is a bit on the extreme as no one got hurt. The snowballers should feel lucky like some have said, that this guy was a cop and kept his head before laying down some gunfire. As stated by some of the angry snowballer friends, none of them had a gun. So none of them would have been able to take out the crazy shooter before he emptied his clip(and possibly reloaded several times before the cops showed up). Now looking at the video there seemed to be several people who stuck arround, which would have given that crazy gunman multipule targets, and sorry but you dont bring a snowball to a gun fight.

reply to post by anubis9311


Are we really to the point in this country where we're lucky off-duty cops don't off us if they're in a bad mood?

The question I'm surprised no one has asked yet is why is this detective driving a Hummer? That's a very expensive vehicle and I wasn't aware detectives were paid so well. Especially ones that seem to have trouble keeping their cool.

Anyone who is defending the cop is out of their mind. Let me ask you in that situation where a man jumps out of a vehicle waving a gun around, you'd be fine with that? Even if you were just an innocent bystander on the street, a man jumping out of his vehicle and waving a gun around is acceptable? This was so crazy that people called 9-1-1 on him. Other cops had to stop this guy (and then lied about him being blackmailed.) I don't see any possible way this can be defended.

I've been hit with and thrown many snowballs in my life. This is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen.

Snow balls, paint balls, lead balls, acorns...

What's the difference? They can all put an eye out or even kill you if used right. It's not very smart throwing *anything* and a moving vehicle because freak accidents can and do happen.

look at the video of the snowballs flying through the air----they begin disintegration the moment they leave the throwers hand. These are not snowballs they are powder puff balls. FCS!!

Here's a comment from the site:

The WJLA story is bull#. It was never a protest. The sign said "No War but Snowball War." It never specified Iraq or Afghanistan. If anything, it was intended to be ironic.

The guy in the maroon hummer pulled out his gun and never identified himself as a police officer. As soon as he drew a weapon I headed up 14th street with my friend.

The Hummer was targeted because it was a Hummer. It was the fourth of fifth Hummer hit all day. It was an unmarked police car and we had no way of knowing if it was a cop. Every other driver took it in good fun. The snowballs were soft and the cop's life was definitely NOT in danger. He had no reason to pull his gun. Pulling his gun out was an extremely dumb way to disperse a crowd and made the situation way more unstable.

MPD needs to suspend or dismiss this guy. He's a complete embarrassment to the city and to his fellow officers. It's behavior like this that breeds distrust of the police in communities.

the real story here is how a DC cop can afford to drive a Hummer. MMMMM....let' see .......where could he get that much money? Kickbacks from drug dealers mb? Sure, he can afford it on a police man's salary.
thats a good one!

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Its an H3, not that expensive. My Toyota Tundra costs more than them... and since I am an officer I guess I am "dirty" and "on the take" too huh?

Here is a longer video showing more! I dont know what to think. If I was that cop I would of just stayed in my car asking people to move it to another safer location or something...

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by rcwj1975


Ever pull your gun on kids playing? Know any other officers that have?

reply to post by CuriousSkeptic


That I haven't and no, not until this guy did! Glad I could clear that up...

The video that Way2slo posted Is really good, it shows the cop with his gun out. He was way too ticked about someone hittin his truck with a snowball, telling them "go ahead throw another snowball" sounding like a threat, stormin into the crowd pullin someone out sayin he was the one that did it, etc.

His superiors seriously need to watch that video and send him for a psych evaluation because he sure needs one. He should be suspended at least until he passes a psych evaluation, he looks like he's ready to go off the deep end.

He should have been charged with something. The officers that responded should be repremanded for not taking him in and charging him.

Cops that break the laws that they are supposed to enforce shouldn't be cops. They need to be shown that they are not above the law.

Maybe he loves his hummer, maybe he was the target of all unwanted snowballs as a kid and is having flashbacks of school (post traumatic stress disorder) added to the stress of the job/snow. Its not right to pull a gun or tazer for that but he probably always wanted to have that power in a situation like that. He may have thought that showing a walky and his gun proved he was a cop. I can understand why he may have done it even though I don't agree with it, its still not anywere near as bad as shooting an unarmed nake man or tazing kids. If he was pitted against a nude man in traffic or a child thats freaking out, no weapon should ever be pulled.

He could have done it much better...close that intersection off, get about 20-30 officers and win the snowball fight! That would be great to see even if it is our tax dollars, it might even let the officers vent a bit.

reply to rcwj1975


Right well, maybe America is different even in snowball fights but here in 'merry old England'.

If my dad was driving down the street, struggling to keep contorl of the car because of half an inch of ice covered with snow, in his 5,000 (maybe) second hand car that we struggled to pay for despite his pretty good salary...

He wouldn't get out and shout at anyone, at most he would say an expletive and carry on.

If I was walking down the street and randomly got hit by a snowball thrown by someone, I would do two things... look and see who threw it, was it meant to hit me. If not, they'll say sorry and I'll carry on, and if it WAS aimed at me... a complete stranger... Well I'd just make my own and throw a few back before continuing on my way.



Why... because it's called harmless fun, it's little bits of frozen water, only unlike being hit by a ball of water you don't get soaked because you can brush most of it off before it melts. If my face can take a snowball, so can the window of a hummer.

Now, if theyre were clearly stones in these snowballs, thats a different issue, but even then nobody needs to be shouted at or grabbed... a simple shout of "oi watch it theres stones in those" would be enough for light hearted snowball fighters.


And I thought WE were going to 'fall' first as a nation

[edit on 21-12-2009 by StevenDye]

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
Actually Washington D.C. got hammered today with up to two feet of snow in some spots.

Having lived for a couple of brief spells in the Washington D.C. Metro area I can say a few things from experience.

One snow is really cold and wet!

Two most people in Washington D.C. do not know how to drive on and in the snow. So even for an experienced driver in a Hummer nerves would be frayed just worrying about who might stupidly run into you because of their poor driving.

Three snow is really cold and wet!

Four driving during a heavy snow storm when roads are nearly impassible (weather reports bear this out today in the area, I have it under good authority ambulances were actually skidding off the roads!) and then having kids further hamper your visability by throwing snowballs at your moving vehicle creates an even more dangerous situation that could lead to an accident.

Five snow is really cold and wet!

Six today's kids are not innocent, well mannered, common sense oriented, intelligent, user friendly or cute and under no circumstances should be allowed to breed EVER.

Seven snow is really cold and wet!

Eight normally I would be against the man as I really love being against the man, but lets face it since the man doesn't let us beat our kids any more our kids are even worse than the man!

Nine snow is really cold and wet!

I think in this particular case the police detective would have been in his rights to shoot and kill or at least maim every kid involved because....

Snow is really cold and wet!
[edit on 19/12/09 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

I dunno. Call me Crazy, but I get the distinct impression from your post that snow is really cold and wet!

that video was crazy. That cop was out of control and you could see his uniformed coleagues were embarrased,

A cop brandishing a gun and warning the next person to dare throw some snow at him. Meanwhile he's getting covered in snow thats falling from the sky.

Im pretty glad our coppers dont carry guns in the UK.

Shameful, Shame on him, Shame on the Police Force.

Look, When it's all said and done, We are really lucky to have the Police. Without the Police We would be Shooting People for no reason and then lying about it, We would be Stealing, We'd be Selling Drugs, We'd be Threatening/Harrassing people, We'd be Drink Driving, We'd be breaking into other peoples homes and taking property that doesn't belong to us and We'd even be pulling guns on people throwing snowballs at each other.. Without the Police we'd be doing lot's of other illegal things.

Hey, Hang on a Minute.. Come to think of it, I think the Police actually do most of these thing already.. Gosh, I am really happy we do have a Police Force..