Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Tampa Florida Arrest

The scene is right out of a Hollywood movie.  A foot chase, criminal trying unsuccessfully to scale a fence, a fight with police that ended with a battered suspect in custody.  It's the description afterwards that I found interesting.

"In hindsight, he was trying to go for the gun the whole time," [Tampa police Officer Jerry] Wyche said.
That made me wonder a bit, but at least it explained the weird headline, "Man nearly pulls gun..."

The other part I liked was this.
Both officers, who said they smelled marijuana in the Chevrolet, chased Powell, who ran toward a home and jumped a fence.
Isn't that the old let's-make-up-some-probable-cause trick so we can harass this guy? That's what it sounds like to me. I wonder what the real reason the stopped him was.

What's your opinion?   Am I reading too much into this story? 

Please leave a comment.

3 comments:

  1. Well...point 1 is that I've known officers who drive around with a window slightly open simply because it's so easy to smell marijuana smoke from so far away, so it doesn't sound too trumped up to me.

    Point 2 is that the guy you say they 'harassed' did, in fact, have marijuana on him, as well as a firearm (while being a felon)...exactly the type of person the majority of the people on this blog point out need to be targeted. I suppose you'd rather have the police working on arresting a father/son when one gives the other an antique rifle that's been in the family for 3 generations?

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  2. MikeB: “Isn't that the old let's-make-up-some-probable-cause trick so we can harass this guy?”

    Clearly the more cops harass criminals and take away illegal guns, is less time that could be spent searching the homes of registered gun owners. I really don’t understand you, Mike. You want to see a guy like this disarmed, right?

    MikeB: “I wonder what the real reason the stopped him was.”

    Illegal window tinting. The article said so.

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  3. I am an enigma wrapped in a riddle, TS.

    But one thing I never suggested is harassing 3 generations of family members over an heirloom rifle, nor did I ever suggest searching registered gun owners' homes (except briefly until Zorro straightened me out). Now I say those registered gun owners need to present themselves to the police periodically, with their guns.

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