Ever been mistaken for a criminal & had a LEO point a gun at you?

F

FUD

Moderator
I had to fly out to GA for a one day business trip (Sorry KaMaKaZe, but things hit the fan pretty quickly and before I knew it, I was packing my bags so there was no time to drop you a line but check your e-mail from this morning) and since I had to be there first thing in the morning, I took a red-eye flight out. Our wonderful :rolleyes: travel department, who booked the entire trip (air, hotel, car rental, etc.) did not bother to arrange for a late check-in because I didn't specifically ask for one. I ASSUMED that since they knew when my plane was getting in (since they booked the flight) it would have just been common sense to arrange for a late check it but I was wrong -- this'll teach me to never assume anyhthing.

When I got to the hotel, I learned that my room was released at 6PM (at 6pm I was still packing my bags) and they were sold out. Here it is almost midnight and I'm in a strange place and I have to be showered, shaved and be ready to make my presentation in about 8 hours. I called around and finally found a place that had rooms to rent. The woman who gave me the driving directions on how to get there was in a bit of a rush and I had to write things down in shorthand (not official "shorthand" but my own form of shorthand).

I quickly discovered that there are a lot of streets name "Peach Tree" this or "Peach" that in the Atlanta/Alpharetta area. As a result, the more I drove, the more useless my directions became and the more lost I got. I eventually found myself driving around in a residental/park area with no clue on how to get to where I needed to be and no idea on how to even get back to a main street/highway.

I finally came upon some flashing blue lights and I decided to get out of the car and ask the LEO for directions. I made my way through the bushes and approached the LEO, whose back was toward me. Hearing the noise behind her, she turned and pointed her firearm at me. I didn't realize this when I was making my way toward her but it turned out that she was holding two suspects at gun point waiting for additional back-up to arrive and now it was three suspects as I was ordered to get face down on the ground.

When her back-up arrived we were able to clear everything up (I showed them my plane ticket indicating that I just got into town a couple of hours ago and they verified with the hotel that I HAD a reservation but my room was released and therefore my story about getting lost while looking for a hotel checked out) and they even gave me an escort to the hotel that I was looking for -- which I thought was very nice of them.

However, this experience got me thinking if any other board members have ever been mistaken for criminals and/or have had guns pointed at them by LEOs?

FUD
fudflag.gif
Share what you know & learn what you don't
 
I'm laughing so hard, I don't know if I can contain myself.

Sorry you got booked in a hurry and didn't have time to msg me, but thats alright. I'll have to wait a few more hours before I can check my Email, as I usually only check it late at night before I goto bed.

I think what struck me as being so humorus is that you noticed a Peach St this, Peach St that. Even better is trying to figure out which Roswell Rd people are talking about.. or if someone meant Johnson's Ferry or Johnson Ferry. I work off of Johnson Ferry which gets real humorus when they make it over to Johnson's Ferry and can't find you.

Oh, and about approaching an LEO in Atlanta.. I seriously would not advise it. But I guess you figured it out already. :) Sorry to hear about your misfourtune, but for some reason I'm not all that surprised! :D

How did your presentation go?

(What were you presenting that required you to fly up here anyway?)

When you flyin' out?

..look, I doublestacked smileys!
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God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!

oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"

[This message has been edited by KaMaKaZe (edited August 29, 2000).]
 
FUD, you have to go take some situational awareness classes. You went through the bushes to a cop. You didn't call out.
You didn't think the flashing lights meant something.

This stuff happens a little too much to you for me to think that you are not looking for trouble or at least subconsciously. Then you post to this group as a reward.

Any tactical course would clearly point out that your action was silly. You could easily have found a convenience store (probably being robbed) or a gas station.

This might be rude but at work, when stuff always happens to one worker - we start to take a hard look at him.
 
{ KaMaKaZe, I'm presenting in half an hour -- UNIX Databases (Oracle, Sybase, Informix, etc.) Performance & Benchmarking results until noon. Then lunch. Then Q&A with Tier Two Support Staff then back to the airport to go home. It was a very quick, sudden trip without a lot of spare time for any other activities. Maybe I'll catch ya the next time I'm in town. FUD. }
 
FUD, are you for real? You should have your own comedy hour complete with pratfalls and
everything.
 
Okay, thats cool.

Gotta have some words with you since you Emailed me. I'll catch you then.

Good luck with your presentations and such!!

:D

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God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!

oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"
 
FUD,
Seems like that little dark cloud follows you EVERYWHERE! :D

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
 
EnochGale, I couldn't find anything commerical (gas station, store, etc.). I ended up in a residental area (all there was, was private homes and open space -- trees, grass, etc.). I had been driving around for over half an hour and I was seriously thinking about ringing somebody's doorbell but I kept putting that off when I came upon the LEO.

I post things here on TFL because humans learn from experience -- either their own or that of others. I know that I have learned much from the experiences of others on this board and I hope that others can learn a little something from my experiences. I may sometimes make mistakes but I never claimed to be a technical tactical expert. I'm just a regular guy who has an interest in firearms (which is why most of us are on this board) and a little bit (VERY LITTLE) of LEO training. I'm here to share what I know and learn what I don't. FUD.
 
EnochGale: "Any tactical course would clearly point out that your action was silly. You could easily have found a convenience store (probably being robbed) or a gas station."

I am curious to know how many hours FUD had been awake by the time he had his fun? Fatigue has a serious impact on thinking ability. So does stress...whether it is physical, mental, emotional, or other types of stress.

But for next time FUD how about a GPS [you like gadgets don't you?] and map for whatever areas your travling to? Just in case.
 
Okay, then. FUD, and the rest of you-- Listen up:

If the cop's patrol vehicle's overhead lights are on, he/she is BUSY. Wait for him/her to come back to their vehicle and turn them off. Call out. Approach from in front, and stop a good distance from the vehicle.

FUD's story could have ended tragically, had the cop been a bit more nervous and made a foolish error. I'm glad she wasn't, and glad she was careful.
 
I don't know if they thought I was a criminal*, but I've had LEOs point guns at me.

Several years ago, I was paintballing with some friends in what we thought was a national forest. Turns out it was a national park. I had been tagged and was trudging back to camp, fully camoed and with my gun in my hand, dangling by my side. I heard two ATVs coming down the trail. As they rounded the last turn between me and them, I saw that they were cops.

Out came the Glocks. THAT fast. Less than 1/2 second between first contact and draw. I was actually pretty impressed, considering the shooting skills of the average LEO.

I dropped the paint gun, raised my hands, and said VERY loudly, "PAINTBALL, DON'T SHOOT!" They dismounted and approached with guns at low ready. When they saw that it really was a paint gun, they holstered and commenced to ripping me a new one.

That's the only time I've ever been on the wrong end of a gun (that I could see). I didn't like it.

*: Who am I kidding? We're ALL criminals to a certain type of person.
 
My boss "interogated" me at gunpoint once. Didn't like it.

He kept asking me if Jake was in the vault, and must have thought I didn't know who Jake was, because all I could do was look down that big black hole on the end of his pistol.

The jackass didn't even seem to know he had it in his hand (security protocol demands weapons out whenever a door is open). Then he points it up the hall and asks me to check for Jake in the driver's lounge! Complete ass!!!

What gets me is how hard it was to think when that 9 was pointed my way. Definitely didn't like it. Definitely don't care to do it again.

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When Reason Fails.....
 
This sort of thing has happened to me several times. Must be my aftershave. :D

The funniest/scariest was one time several years back when I went to the courthouse to get a dog license.
I walked up to counter, and the lady behind the counter screamed, "OH MY GOD, IT'S HIM!!
She hit the alarm button, and a dozen deputies came pouring out like angry bees.
All had their pistols, shotguns, and AR15s leveled at me.
I was spread eagled against the counter, and they searched me. Since it was a courthouse, I had left my 1911 in the truck.
They had one gun screwed into each ear and every other of my orifices the entire time.
They seemed to think that I was a local multiple murderer, and had come to turn myself in. Evidently, I matched his description to a T.
I repeatedly protested that I was there oNLY to buy a dog license, and had murdered no one.

When they got my ID out, they were surprised and more than a little disappointed to learn that I was NOT the murderer that they were looking for. They apologised profusely, with lots of muttering about "better safe than sorry".

I left without the dog license...
 
With regard to MAD DOG's story ... see EnochGale, this type of thing happens to more people more often than most people realize (it isn't just me) -- it's just that I'm more willing to share my experiences with others. Thanks for the story MAD DOG.
 
Don't know if you read my post about experiences of being shot at but as it turned out the deputy sherrif and his family owned the golf course. I am 99% sure that it was the deputy's father who was doing the shooting.
I have had cops follow me through stores before. I remember another night back in college when some buddies were playing the assassination game and dragged me along as a lookout. We were staking out a target's place and two of us went for munchies to a nearby convinience store. There was an LEO chatting up an employee in the back of the store withing straight sight of the front door. When we walked in, the LEO suddenly went on alert. I suppose a couple of burly guys walking into a convinience store late in the p.m. might make a guy nervous. I was the bigger, darker complected, and was wearing a black trench coat so he parallelled me as I walked across the front of the store to the soda fountain and back to the counter. No shooting that time but I am not sure who was more nervous. I probably should have smiled and waved or something to let him know I wasn't a stickup artist.

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Those who use arms well cultivate the Way and keep the rules.Thus they can govern in such a way as to prevail over the corrupt- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
 
Okay, FUD, I'll 'fess up too.

Three times come to mind.

1) Among other sixteen year old idiots, I used to drive through our little
town at 80 mph to get the town cop to chase us. Then we’d race down to the
local gravel pits and lose him in the dark and (great clouds of) dust.

The evening in question my idiot friend (riding with me) and I had an
unusually good lead on the town cop. However, as I tore down into the
gravel pit (dusty road, cop can’t catch us, heh, heh, heh!) I "happened upon" a
state trooper’s car blocking the road. The trooper, approximately twelve feet
tall (as I recall) was leaning across the hood of his car, pointing his
revolver at us, and requesting we exit the vehicle. We did everything as he
requested. As my friend and I got out of my car, the trooper holstered his
handgun.

After about twenty minutes of yelling at us he had to spend another twenty
minutes calming me down so I could drive home as he directed. Nothing
more happened. The town cop didn’t even come down to the gravel pit to
enjoy the show - believe it or not!

I guess the trooper understood that he’d taught me lesson because he never
even told my Dad. That’s why I lived to join the military.....

2) Three years later I was in the Air Force, stationed at Goodfellow AFB (San
Angelo), Texas. I was asleep in the barracks when the CQ Runner woke me
to say five of my fellow classmates were in town and had missed the last bus
to base. They needed me to come pick them up. I was less than thrilled. In
fact, I was downright grumpy!

Driving a friend’s car (while he was in the hospital trying to explain why he
hadn’t told the Air Force about his epilepsy), I picked up five boisterous
drunks and was flying back to base as they whooped and hollered and stuck
their arms and/or legs out the car windows.

Suddenly, a red beacon appeared in my rear view mirror.

As I quickly stopped the car, I thought it might help if I was super respectful
and ran back to his car so he wouldn’t even have to get out.

As I ran toward him, he threw open his door and drew down on me with his
.357 magnum - so named because of its three hundred and fifty-seven inch
bore!

Frankly, I don’t remember much for about five minutes. The general theme
of his rather prolific speech was, “Boy, don’t you know no better than to run
at a police officer?!?!” I don’t believe he could have understood my
blubbering answer.....

I remember several points of personal interest:
- Never take a cop by surprise.
- Never rush a cop.
- I barely kept from vomiting.
- About 47 poorly concealed checks revealed I had NOT peed my pants after
all....

In retrospect, I believe the officer was nearly as scared as I was. He realized
he nearly shot some kid for (nearly) terminal stupidity.

3) Then there was the time they thought *I* was the one who robbed the
gas station. (I was driving a similar car.) But I was older then, moved slowly (exactly as directed) and the incident was fairly routine. ;)
 
Unlike all of y'all, I'm completely impervious to any wrong-doings..

**winks at EnochGale** :D

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God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!

oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"
 
Fud, I had one rule when I was on patrol, don`t scare me. If you did that to me, I`d have ripped off your leg and beat you to death with it! :D Seriously, I hope you learned something and that LEO sounds like she had her sierra together.

Dennis, you`re absolutely right. That LEO could have killed you when you ran at him and been justified. That wouldn`t make him feel any better about taking a life. His first priority was to go home after the end of his tour in the same condition he started it. It galls me no end when people won`t attribute the same human feelings to LEO`s that they so generously attribute to themselves.
BTW, I was in the Air Force 65-69 and I don`t think I ever heard of Goodfellow AFB. What aircraft and Wing were there?
 
Well I was too young to remember it but I'll share the story. My Mom and Dad had gone to the store and were driving a red Nova. They got a few blocks from the house when they were surrounded by police cars from all directions. The officers got out of their cars, drew their weapons, and yelled at my parents to get out of the car. My parents slowly exited the vehicle and their I was in my Mother's arms. The police put their weapons away and explained that they were sorry but they were chasing a get away car and our car matched the description. When my parents got home the phone was ringing, it was my Grandpa calling to see if they were OK becaus ehe had heard it on his scanner. And knew it was them by the vehicle and occupants description.

[This message has been edited by HukeOKC (edited August 29, 2000).]
 
Dinsaur,
What you just said is what I now teach! Luckily, I lived long enough to learn! :D

Goodfellow AFB (we called it "GoodBuddy") had an inactive airfield which we used for go-kart races. For decades, the 6940th Security Squadron at GAFB taught various SIGINT-related courses. The student squadron was the largest on base. I guess the remaining few personnel were all support-related.

San Angelo was nice. I got a part-time job at a gas station (back in 1960 it was "full service", ya know), made some friends and even earned a little spending money. Even went to Mexico - once!

The three month tour there was a short one.

I was in the USAF Security Service (and related tours) from 1959 to 1979. Gad! It's hard to believe I've been "out" longer than I was "in"! :D
 
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