Watch the videos below. The first is a long one but well worth watching all of it so you see most of what went on during the stop of a person who was apparently legally carrying a concealed firearm. Whether or not the suspect actually was or was not soliciting a prostitute does not give the officers, in my opinion, any reason, right or excuse to act as they acted. It would have given them the right to arrest him and to seize the weapon in a professional manner but that is probably a mute point as the person they believed was a prostitute was run off by the officers and not arrested or charged.
That I believe the officers did not have a right to act as they did especially applies to the officer who rages on and on and on but it definitely applies to both. In my almost 32 years as an LEO, that has to rank, in my opinion, among the top 10 3 worst stops I have ever witnessed as far as suspect control or lack of it went, as far as officer mindset went, as far as the officers placing themselves in jeopardy went, and as far as an officer being unprofessional went. All that, let alone, possible crimes, torts and right violations committed by the officers and it was one big mess.
After you have watched the first video, click on the second and watch it. It is much shorter in length. The officer in it is of a very different mindset that the officers in the first video. The disparity is significant and the officer in the first video would have done himself well had he learned to be a bit more like the one in the second video, or so is my opinion, and that goes regardless of the either officers' personal feelings about civilians carrying firearms.
So, what do you think? I think that the officer(s) in the first video will soon be fired (at least one may even wind up being charged criminally), the suspect will be exonerated of any and all charges, and that he will wind up fairly rich after a successful lawsuit against Canton, OH or at least against its police department. That, of course, is just my guess. I also think the officer in the second video will have a long and great career in his police department and that he will be a credit to that department. Since it is a crazy world in which we live, I will not be betting my house on any of my predictions for either the first two officers or the one in the second video. I will wish that officer, the one in the second video, a long, safe, and prosperous career; he seems a true professional.
In closing let me ask you to do one more thing: Just imagine how the cop in the first video would have reacted had he found out his armed citizen had been making a video tape of the stop! I shudder to think of the consequences.
All the best,
Glenn B
When was it, May 27th I think, that my newly acquired Okeetee Female Corn (bred to a reverse Okeetee male corn snake) Snake decided to lay a clutch of eggs rather unexpectedly. I knew she was gravid but figured her for at least another week or two before laying. Luckily, my son, Brendan saw she had laid eggs and we set up an incubator and got the eggs in there quickly. More on all that here.
Tonight, when I got home from work, I checked the incubator, and there were a couple of baby corn snakes atop the medium in the incubation chamber. A little bit of looking inside the container revealed another 4 of them in there. Two are one phase or another of albino and the other 4 are more normal looking. Only time will tell (well a corn snake expert might also be able to tell) how they will turn out as adults. The colors of baby corn snakes can change markedly from when they hatch until they grow into older juvenile snakes by which point they usually have acquired their adult coloration. For now, and until they have their first sloughing (shed), I will keep the baby corn snakes in the incubator where it remains warm and slightly damp. That dampness will help them with the shed. After the shed, I will offer them their first meal of pinkie mice. Hopefully each one will feed right away, again, time will tell. Pics of the baby snakes will be put up in a later post.
You may remember I also had 2 clutches of Hermann's Tortoise eggs in the incubator. I had been doubtful that any would be fertile and I was partially correct. Out of two clutches of 4 eggs each, only 1 egg from each clutch was fertile. I now have 2 eggs that are fertile. One has a hairline crack about 3/4 the way around the longer part of the oblong egg shape. It is still alive and hopefully doing well. I took a thing strip pf duct tape and put it over the crack, hopefully that will prevent it from cracking any further and will keep out any nasty germs or other things like mould or fungus that would destroy the embryo. The other egg looks good all around. Come mid or late August I should know if the 1 from the first clutch will hatch and the other is due to hatch about 2 weeks after the first one. If I am really lucky, then the female tort will have also laid another clutch somewhere in my backyard and I ill find babies crawling around before they escape the yard. I kind of doubt though that she laid a third clutch.
All the best,
GB
