Police negotiate with drunk open carry white man who asked police to shoot him. No charges. [View all]

[Fred Sanders]

Edit: A Google search finds many links to the police dash and audio and video....at all the sites the video has been deleted.....

Edit 2-with a little help from my friends, found in the thread.


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http://latest.com/2014/06/should-he-be-charged-swat-team-responds-to-drunk-open-carry-activist-waving-gun-in-kalamazoo/

Should He Be Charged? SWAT Team Responds to Drunk, Open Carry Activist Waving Gun in Kalamazoo

"A rifle-toting Michigan man and open carry activist was walking around town drunk and shouting of revolution in early May. Still, he claims it was all within his Constitutional rights and authorities apparently agree.

Last month, Joseph Houseman was walking through Kalamazoo near a laundromat and gas station when he was stopped by police after several people called 911.

“I just want to talk to you. You’re walking around here scaring people, man,” Sgt. Sean Gordon is heard on the dash cam recording saying to Houseman.

After refusing to give his name or surrender his weapon, Houseman then tells police, “Why don’t you [expletive] shoot me?”

Shortly thereafter, the SWAT team arrives and a trained negotiator takes over the conversation with Houseman , who talked about police violence and an ‘imminent revolution’ during the sometimes tense encounter.

“He is exercising his open carry rights, however, he has certainly overextended them at this point,” a police officer is heard saying, pointing out that he was waving the weapon around, a violation of Michigan law which allows you to carry, but not brandish, weapons in public.

Houseman also told police that his profanity and threats were also his exercise of his First Amendment right to free speech."

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Houseman is very much alive, good thing he was not carrying a steak knife or had his hands up.

His ruddy complexion probably helped also.




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"Geik (police spokesman)said that while the man wasn't brandishing the rifle, he noted that the gun did not have a strap, which caused the man to hold the weapon in both hands and continue to "fidget" with it.

Tunji Ademodi, who works at the laundromat, said he couldn't believe when he heard the man shout obscenities at officers.

"He's just sitting there calling them all kind of pigs and F-U and this and that and grabbing himself," Ademodi said. "It was unreal."

Officers eventually convinced the man to set down his gun, upon which time it was seized. Geik said the man was informed he would have his weapon returned to him if he would agree to submit to a breathalyzer test, which he repeatedly refused.

"He was given the option to keep his rifle if he submitted to the PBT," Geik said. "He refused and basically told us to jam it.

He did not receive a citation, but Geik said he would be speaking further with the man tomorrow."

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/05/man_acting_irrationally_while.html

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Description of encounter:

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/06/dash_cam_footage_from_open_car.html#incart_related_stories

Dash cam footage with complete detailed transcript of conversation.


KDPS Sgt. Sean Gordon is the first officer to arrive. From the dash cam footage from his patrol car, his vehicle can be seen pulling into the Cork Street Laundry at 4:09 p.m. as Houseman walks east on the sidewalk along Cork Street. Houseman crosses the street diagonally toward the Auto Zone parking lot, and Gordon engages him in conversation.

Gordon: Hey partner, how you doing? Can you set that down real quick and talk to me?

Houseman: I'm not setting it down.

Gordon: Well you can't cross the street like that.

Houseman: Am I being detained?

Gordon: Yes, you are being detained right now. You crossed the street illegally. Place the weapon down on the ground please.

Houseman: I will not.

Gordon radios that it appears the man will not drop his rifle.

Gordon: "Look, you crossed the street illegally; I just want to talk to you. I just want to talk to you. You're walking around here scaring people, man.

A second Public Safety vehicle arrives just after 4:11 p.m. About a minute later, Gordon asks Houseman for his name. Houseman says he is "Joe Schmoe."

"Based on training and experience I know that this is a euphemism used as an alias and knew it was not correct," Gordon would later write in his report.

Houseman: I am free to go?

Gordon: "No, you're not free to go. Right now you're committing a crime of resisting and obstructing (for failing to identify himself after being stopped for jaywalking). Now you've stepped up to a misdemeanor crime.

Houseman: Why don't you (expletive) shoot me?