Zoogster Costumes /AP Photo
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A real-life fright was delivered at a Halloween haunted house--but this time, it was the customer scaring the employee. From the Associated Press:
Sgt. Eric Janik, 37, was charged with assault and reckless endangerment for pointing his service handgun at the worker, who was dressed as Leatherface, the killer from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"...
Regular readers, both here at Gun Rights Examiner and at my online journal, The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance, are familiar with a feature I call "The Only Ones Files." So-named after Lee Paige, a DEA agent who told a group of schoolchildren he was "the only one in this room professional enough" to carry a gun, and who then proceeded to shoot himself in the foot, its purpose is not to bash cops, but to illustrate that they are not automatically more trustworthy to carry a gun than the rest of us.
Let's examine the rest of the allegations and see if Sgt. Janik, who we may assume by his rank and age has significant experience, exhibited the type of responsible behavior meriting special deference in regard to being armed.
According to charging documents, Janik smelled of alcohol and told police two different stories about what he did with the gun. First, he denied drawing the weapon, but later he said he pointed it at the ground.
Morrison and two other witnesses told police that Janik pointed the gun at Morrison's chest.
So in addition to assault and reckless endangerment, we have public intoxication and falsification of a police report? Will those charges follow?
The Baltimore Sun posted a video from CBS WJZ-13. Click here to read their account and watch the report.
Two additional items stick out:
Janik's group...included a female city police officer...
and
The report also stated that Janik had slurred speech, but officers did not administer a breath test.
So we're to assume a fellow officer knew he was armed and had been drinking, yet did nothing about it. And we're to further assume that not collecting actual evidence of intoxication by investigating officers is standard department procedure?
Just a few bad apples in the bobbing tub? And we're to assume these are the "Only Ones" we can trust?
Neat trick.
Comments
What will it take for Law Enforcement Officers to be treated the same as the rest of us when they break the law? Their lives and careers aren't worth one bit more than any other citizen's!
When will they treat the law equally!
Cops don't even enforce the laws. In California there are millions of vehicles with no front license plate and junk cars parked on front lawns dripping gas and oil onto the dry grass and basketball hoops in almost every block and people playing basketball all day long in the street and the cops refuse to do anything and we see the cops running stop signs and red lights as well as the city buses, etc.
Why don't they do something about mobbing and gangstalking and help the victims instead of sticking up for the perpetrators?
Am glad Baltimore PD is investigating this. Let's see if they conclude that Morrison instigated the confrontation by wielding a chain saw and that the officer's decision to draw his weapon was poor but not out of line with department policy? There is a reason no BA test was taken, it would make the city even more liable to lawsuit if he was indeed intoxicated and carrying a weapon.....
It is a shame that Sgt. Janik's behavior will give good LEO's much grief. Am really glad that no one was shot.
Baltimore? A gun-banning city in a gun-banning state. Clearly Maryland has no civilian carry-culture -- it is one of something like nine remaining states that still have may-issue laws. Since only the Only Ones carry guns there, I would suspect they don't even have ("need") a specific law against being armed and drunk in public. Watch this guy skate.
www.makemymood.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/philosaptor-54.jpg
Sorry, I just can't quite comprehend how stupid (or stupid drunk) you have to be to go to a haunted house, a place where you expect to be scared, pay to get in, then upon encountering the VERY annoying guy wielding the chainsaw minus blade (I've even seen some with electric saw's for "safety" reasons) pull a gun on him....IN FRONT OF YOUR 9yr old daughter who you TOOK to the house drunk...who drove there?
Which is why I presented the philosaptor link above, because if I didn't have things like that to think about I would be forced to think about the room temp IQ "only ones" that seem to be above the law and how they are the champions of some people...which leads to such a horrible depressing view of humanity I want to vomit.
Orygunner, OMG! Who would Serve & Protect us if our Boys in Blue received Equal Protection Under the Law?
There. Three idiotic cliches in one 17-word sentence (16 if you don't count the ampersand). Okay, Brady Bunch, step up to the plate and beat that.
If we didn't have a good old boys network what would we have?
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