business owner jailed for loitering on his own property.

[littlewolf]

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/business-man-arrested-loitering-carrying-legal-gun/nbySS/

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A local businessman is outraged after being thrown in jail for loitering and carrying a gun on his own property.
Eric Lee, who owns a furniture story on Covington Highway in Lithonia, says thieves have targeted him several times.
“They recommended us have a gun. The police officer said the crime rate is one of the worst,” Lee told Channel 2’s Rachel Stockman.
So he bought a gun and also got a concealed carry permit.
One night, Lee went outside to check on some people making noise on his property.

snip

“They (the police) just pulled in and said, ‘What is going on? What is going on? Hands up, Anybody have any weapon?’ I said I have a gun. They just grabbed me, took my gun and threw me in the car,” Lee said.
Lee said he told the officer he had the permit on him. He was cited for loitering and his truck was towed from his private property.

snip


A judge dismissed the case at his initial appearance and apologized. For more than a year, Lee has been trying to get his gun back, get an apology from police and get reimbursed for the cost of getting his car towed.
Shortly after the incident, he wrote a letter to DeKalb County Internal Affairs and asked for the officers who arrested him to be investigated.
“I am not sure how one can be loitering on property that they own. I am also not sure how one can be carrying a weapon without a permit when they do indeed have a permit for the weapon at issue. I believe my Fourth and Second Amendment rights were violated.”

snip

Within the last month, Lee filed a federal lawsuit claiming his constitutional rights were violated.

more at the link

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. It looks like this guy has a pretty good case.

The good burghers of Dekalb County will pay for letting their cops run wild. Maybe they'll figure it out someday.

[mynaturalrights]

2. This sounds bizarre

Did he tell the police he owned the furniture store at the time of arrest ?

[Earth_First]

3. What's so bizzare about civil rights infringement against an law-abiding African American male?

Happens several times a minute; twenty-four hours a day.

Unless you mean bizzare that this shit still happens in 21st Century United States culture...

[mynaturalrights]

9. It just seemed crazy that they did this at his own store.

Didn't he tell them it's his store?

[Savannahmann]

13. Does it matter?

If he was on his property, he can't be loitering. The car in the parking lot can be towed, but only if the owner or authorized representative says so. So both of those actions would have to have the owners or authorized representative's consent. But the police just used a handy charge to pick him up.

Once the charges were dropped, the police should have returned the gun. (Despite the fact that I hate the damned things that is the law) but they have refused for a year. Also since the towing was unauthorized (by the property owner) the person who ordered the car towed is responsible.

I can stand in my front yard from now to Valentines day, and not for one second am I loitering.

[Th1onein]

4. This shows the idiocy of not allowing intelligent officers in the force.

Are the cops here stupid? You betcha!

[rufus dog]

5. Not checking the link yet

Is he Black? I'll give 10 to 1 odds he is.

[Earth_First]

6. You win! nt

[rufus dog]

8. Yup not high enough odds

Should have been 50 to 1. This is what righties don't get when comparing the incarceration rates. This guy has a few ounces on him and he is popped and just another stat. Some white douche broker can walk around Manhattan with a few grams with almost no chance of ever getting popped. It is simple arithmetic.

[Logical]

7. Cops can basically do anything they want without getting fired. Unbelievable. n-t

[rrneck]

10. Well, maybe he can retire after he's done suing them.

Looks like he got profiled.

[madville]

11. He was definitely profiled

The cops automatically assume the worst simply because he is black. Also an example of how gun control was originally a racist concept meant to keep minorities from legally owning/carrying firearms.

[Cal Carpenter]

12. It's not even necessarily about assuming the worst

It's just knowing that they can get away with excessive bullshit. Abuse of power.

It's systemic. They likely don't care if he is guilty of something or not. This is how it works. It's about more than this or that cop's opinion of an individual. Profiling like this is built into the system. It's the norm. Institutionalized racism.

The only thing exceptional about this case is that we're hearing about it.