Sigger
Regular Member
Go get a cup of coffee. This is a long post.
On Saturday July 17, 2010 I was shopping at the Finnytown Kroger on Winton Rd., in Springfield Township (Southwest Ohio). As I was moving along the back of the store filling up a cart, a manager walked by me and did a double take as he noticed my gun holstered at 4:00. He turned around and came back to ask me if I was a police officer. The brief conversation, and all of the ensuing hullabaloo was captured on my voice recorder (http://www.kingsknight.org/7-17-20101400.wma).
Several minutes later Springfield Township Police officer Nick Nimskern shows up. Even though it wasn't required, I notified. As you can hear on the audio, the officer basically admitted that he did not know the law about firearms and thereby admitted that he had no reasonable suspicion (RAS) or probable cause (PC) for stopping me. The officer, without legal authority to do so, then ordered me to produce identification (ORC 2921.29 requires RAS/PC). This was the first of many times on the audio recording that you will here me ask the police "is that a request or an order" and virtually every time I was told it was an order. Every time my reply was "I will comply but I do not consent." Forcing me to produce my drivers license and Ohio CHL was the first violation of my civil rights under the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (protection from unreasonable search and seizure).
Without legal authority, the officer then demanded that I cover my gun with the T-shirt I was wearing. One reason that I OC is to make a statement to the public. This was a violation of my civil rights under the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (freedom of speech).
Without authority, the officer then ordered me to leave the store. No representative of the store had ever asked me to leave. Over my objection, I was escorted out the front door.
As soon as I exited the store officer Stroud tried to sneak up behind me. When I made eye contact with him he asked "are you the guy with the gun." As I began to notify him, he told me to turn around and place my hands behind my back. Without probable cause officer Stroud confiscated my gun and the extra magazine I was carrying, and handcuffed me. Again I expressed my compliance, but not consent. His response was "that doesn't matter." This is the officer that can be heard later on in the recording saying "we have you out numbered and out gunned." At this point the officers have stolen my identification, my CHL, my gun, and my spare magazine. I was placed in the back of the nearest police car and the door was closed.
I sat in the police car, publicly humiliated, for a long time in the July heat, There was no AC running and the windows were rolled up. It was miserably hot. Eventually an officer cracked the right rear window next to me so that the officers could speak to me.
During my arrest, I asked several time "am I under arrest." The answer was always "no." I followed with "am I being detained." The answer was always "no." I followed with "am I free to go." The answer was always "no."
I asked for badge numbers multiple times. The officers declined. At one point I asked Officer Web if the 2-digit numbers on their physical badges were their badge numbers. Officer Web said "yes." At the end of the event, I insisted one more time that all names and badge numbers be written down. When one officer mockingly wrote down the badge numbers of his criminal co-workers, they were all 3-digit numbers. Later, the public information requests confirmed that Officer Web lied about the 2-digit badge numbers.
After being threatened with misdemeanor and felony charges because I open carry, I was finally released and my stolen property was returned.
That was my Saturday. I spent Sunday very nervous. I called off work on Monday in order to select and contact a lawyer. Taking a day off work cost me a lot of money. On Tuesday, I went in to work to find out that my position had been outsourced and I was being laid off. Had I not lost my job, I would have immediately filed lawsuits. Since I was intending to find a job and then sue the Township, and because felony charges had been threatened, I followed my lawyer's advice to not publish anything about the event on the internet. That is the largest reason that this is only now being made public. Recently I have had to accept the reality that "equal justice under law" is something that I could not afford and began gathering the information to make it public.
I filed a public records request with the township. The response took well over 2 weeks and was very scant. The township never did completely fulfill my records request, even after a written complaint to Michael Hinnenkamp the Township Administrator. I requested the township provide me the policy that requires police officers to identify themselves by badge number when requested. There is none according to Mr. Hinnenkamp. I requested that all reports of the event be provided to me. Even though two of officer's notes cards indicated that Field Interrogation Reports were filed (see http://ocjs.ohio.gov/leot/fimanual.pdf), Mr. Hinnenkamp refused to produce them under the guise that they did not exist. A call was made from a pro-2A friend of mine to Police Chief David Heimpold the week following the event. I was told that the chief had some colorful verbiage to describe me with. I also requested the recording of that call (intending to file a complaint of behavior unbecoming) but was told the recording does not exist.
Mr. Hinnenkamp also tried to use records retention policies as an excuse to continue the cover up. I told him that my lawyer's original letter (July, 2010) to the township's Law Director (Laura Abrams) contained a notice that all records of this event were to remain immediately available indefinitely. He had no response to that.
During the fall of 2010 I found a small syringe with a hypodermic needle attached laying on the ground in my neighborhood. I also found a crack pipe. I did not report this to the police because I am more afraid of Springfield Township Police than I am the local druggies.
I also found a rusted out shotgun sticking out of the mud in the neighborhood creek. Parts with serial numbers were badly defaced. I left it there. Interactions with the police are too much of a risk for law-abiding citizens like me to report such things.
In February 2011, my son and I came home from church on a Wednesday night. The man that was living across the street came out to meet us as we were getting out of the car. He was carrying a long-handled axe and shouted from the street "you f#####d with my truck and now I'm going to kill you." I was in my driveway, a sufficient distance away. It wasn't much of a decision. I chose to address the man verbally as we made our way into the house rather than take the risk of calling the police. No one was injured, and no, I didn't mess with his truck. His girlfriend kicked him out less than a week later because he was physically abusive.
In July, 2011 another man is stopped by Springfield Township Police for open carry of a firearm (OC) while walking to a park. I will let someone else relate that story if they choose to (hint, hint).
Since I only recently got a job, I have resigned to the reality that I will not have the money to for lawsuits before the statute of limitations runs out. So I began the public information request process described above.
Here's the good part:
On September 13, 2011 there is the monthly Springfield Township Trustees meeting. After all the official business, the meeting is opened to members of the public. One man addresses the trustees with his concerns about the civil rights violations that occurred when he was stopped by Springfield Township Police, in a complete absence of RAS/PC. He requests the townships policies on armed civilians. Laura Abrams, the Law Director, replies "we don't have a policy on that; we also don't have a policy on murders."
Police Chief David Heimpold responds with "99.9 percent of the time when someone is open carrying a gun down the street, our officers are going to stop him." He then takes the 0.1% of uncertainty out of it and announces "when we see someone walking down the street and they are open carrying a gun, we're going to stop him (sic)."
Trustee Gwen Mcfarland addresses the issue by stating that she has her CHL, but does nothing to reign in the rogue police chief.
Trustee Tom Bryan addresses the issue by announcing that he also has his CHL, is a member of the NRA, and is very pro 2A. He also falls into a spineless silence and does nothing to support the rights of the citizens.
Another civilian presents his concerns to the trustees about Chief Heimpold's flippant disregard for civil rights. Trustee Honnerlaw tries to justify the chief's remarks with Terry v. Ohio but is aptly reminded that Terry stops still require RAS/PC and that OC is legal.
I have a DVD of this meeting. The entire recording can be watched here: http://www.waycross.tv/stvod.
I removed two excerpts from the DVD. Part I is the first speaker I mentioned and can viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRR6qLX1kII.
Part II is the second speaker mentioned above and can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uymrcJSnLx8&feature=related
Springfield Township Police has demonstrated a pattern of abusing the civil rights of legally armed civilians. Springfield Township Police Chief David Heimpold has stated his intention to continue this illegal behavior. IMHO, anyone that could possibly ever go into Springfield Township legally armed has a valid complaint against the chief for his threats to stop them without RAS/PC, and it would be constructive to formalize that complaint with the township (http://www.springfieldtwp.org/HowToFileYourComplaint.cfm), the Ohio Attorney General's office (http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Enforcement/Submit-a-Tip/Public-Corruption), and the U.S. Department of Justice (http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/color_of_law).
On Saturday July 17, 2010 I was shopping at the Finnytown Kroger on Winton Rd., in Springfield Township (Southwest Ohio). As I was moving along the back of the store filling up a cart, a manager walked by me and did a double take as he noticed my gun holstered at 4:00. He turned around and came back to ask me if I was a police officer. The brief conversation, and all of the ensuing hullabaloo was captured on my voice recorder (http://www.kingsknight.org/7-17-20101400.wma).
Several minutes later Springfield Township Police officer Nick Nimskern shows up. Even though it wasn't required, I notified. As you can hear on the audio, the officer basically admitted that he did not know the law about firearms and thereby admitted that he had no reasonable suspicion (RAS) or probable cause (PC) for stopping me. The officer, without legal authority to do so, then ordered me to produce identification (ORC 2921.29 requires RAS/PC). This was the first of many times on the audio recording that you will here me ask the police "is that a request or an order" and virtually every time I was told it was an order. Every time my reply was "I will comply but I do not consent." Forcing me to produce my drivers license and Ohio CHL was the first violation of my civil rights under the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (protection from unreasonable search and seizure).
Without legal authority, the officer then demanded that I cover my gun with the T-shirt I was wearing. One reason that I OC is to make a statement to the public. This was a violation of my civil rights under the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (freedom of speech).
Without authority, the officer then ordered me to leave the store. No representative of the store had ever asked me to leave. Over my objection, I was escorted out the front door.
As soon as I exited the store officer Stroud tried to sneak up behind me. When I made eye contact with him he asked "are you the guy with the gun." As I began to notify him, he told me to turn around and place my hands behind my back. Without probable cause officer Stroud confiscated my gun and the extra magazine I was carrying, and handcuffed me. Again I expressed my compliance, but not consent. His response was "that doesn't matter." This is the officer that can be heard later on in the recording saying "we have you out numbered and out gunned." At this point the officers have stolen my identification, my CHL, my gun, and my spare magazine. I was placed in the back of the nearest police car and the door was closed.
I sat in the police car, publicly humiliated, for a long time in the July heat, There was no AC running and the windows were rolled up. It was miserably hot. Eventually an officer cracked the right rear window next to me so that the officers could speak to me.
During my arrest, I asked several time "am I under arrest." The answer was always "no." I followed with "am I being detained." The answer was always "no." I followed with "am I free to go." The answer was always "no."
I asked for badge numbers multiple times. The officers declined. At one point I asked Officer Web if the 2-digit numbers on their physical badges were their badge numbers. Officer Web said "yes." At the end of the event, I insisted one more time that all names and badge numbers be written down. When one officer mockingly wrote down the badge numbers of his criminal co-workers, they were all 3-digit numbers. Later, the public information requests confirmed that Officer Web lied about the 2-digit badge numbers.
After being threatened with misdemeanor and felony charges because I open carry, I was finally released and my stolen property was returned.
That was my Saturday. I spent Sunday very nervous. I called off work on Monday in order to select and contact a lawyer. Taking a day off work cost me a lot of money. On Tuesday, I went in to work to find out that my position had been outsourced and I was being laid off. Had I not lost my job, I would have immediately filed lawsuits. Since I was intending to find a job and then sue the Township, and because felony charges had been threatened, I followed my lawyer's advice to not publish anything about the event on the internet. That is the largest reason that this is only now being made public. Recently I have had to accept the reality that "equal justice under law" is something that I could not afford and began gathering the information to make it public.
I filed a public records request with the township. The response took well over 2 weeks and was very scant. The township never did completely fulfill my records request, even after a written complaint to Michael Hinnenkamp the Township Administrator. I requested the township provide me the policy that requires police officers to identify themselves by badge number when requested. There is none according to Mr. Hinnenkamp. I requested that all reports of the event be provided to me. Even though two of officer's notes cards indicated that Field Interrogation Reports were filed (see http://ocjs.ohio.gov/leot/fimanual.pdf), Mr. Hinnenkamp refused to produce them under the guise that they did not exist. A call was made from a pro-2A friend of mine to Police Chief David Heimpold the week following the event. I was told that the chief had some colorful verbiage to describe me with. I also requested the recording of that call (intending to file a complaint of behavior unbecoming) but was told the recording does not exist.
Mr. Hinnenkamp also tried to use records retention policies as an excuse to continue the cover up. I told him that my lawyer's original letter (July, 2010) to the township's Law Director (Laura Abrams) contained a notice that all records of this event were to remain immediately available indefinitely. He had no response to that.
During the fall of 2010 I found a small syringe with a hypodermic needle attached laying on the ground in my neighborhood. I also found a crack pipe. I did not report this to the police because I am more afraid of Springfield Township Police than I am the local druggies.
I also found a rusted out shotgun sticking out of the mud in the neighborhood creek. Parts with serial numbers were badly defaced. I left it there. Interactions with the police are too much of a risk for law-abiding citizens like me to report such things.
In February 2011, my son and I came home from church on a Wednesday night. The man that was living across the street came out to meet us as we were getting out of the car. He was carrying a long-handled axe and shouted from the street "you f#####d with my truck and now I'm going to kill you." I was in my driveway, a sufficient distance away. It wasn't much of a decision. I chose to address the man verbally as we made our way into the house rather than take the risk of calling the police. No one was injured, and no, I didn't mess with his truck. His girlfriend kicked him out less than a week later because he was physically abusive.
In July, 2011 another man is stopped by Springfield Township Police for open carry of a firearm (OC) while walking to a park. I will let someone else relate that story if they choose to (hint, hint).
Since I only recently got a job, I have resigned to the reality that I will not have the money to for lawsuits before the statute of limitations runs out. So I began the public information request process described above.
Here's the good part:
On September 13, 2011 there is the monthly Springfield Township Trustees meeting. After all the official business, the meeting is opened to members of the public. One man addresses the trustees with his concerns about the civil rights violations that occurred when he was stopped by Springfield Township Police, in a complete absence of RAS/PC. He requests the townships policies on armed civilians. Laura Abrams, the Law Director, replies "we don't have a policy on that; we also don't have a policy on murders."
Police Chief David Heimpold responds with "99.9 percent of the time when someone is open carrying a gun down the street, our officers are going to stop him." He then takes the 0.1% of uncertainty out of it and announces "when we see someone walking down the street and they are open carrying a gun, we're going to stop him (sic)."
Trustee Gwen Mcfarland addresses the issue by stating that she has her CHL, but does nothing to reign in the rogue police chief.
Trustee Tom Bryan addresses the issue by announcing that he also has his CHL, is a member of the NRA, and is very pro 2A. He also falls into a spineless silence and does nothing to support the rights of the citizens.
Another civilian presents his concerns to the trustees about Chief Heimpold's flippant disregard for civil rights. Trustee Honnerlaw tries to justify the chief's remarks with Terry v. Ohio but is aptly reminded that Terry stops still require RAS/PC and that OC is legal.
I have a DVD of this meeting. The entire recording can be watched here: http://www.waycross.tv/stvod.
I removed two excerpts from the DVD. Part I is the first speaker I mentioned and can viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRR6qLX1kII.
Part II is the second speaker mentioned above and can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uymrcJSnLx8&feature=related
Springfield Township Police has demonstrated a pattern of abusing the civil rights of legally armed civilians. Springfield Township Police Chief David Heimpold has stated his intention to continue this illegal behavior. IMHO, anyone that could possibly ever go into Springfield Township legally armed has a valid complaint against the chief for his threats to stop them without RAS/PC, and it would be constructive to formalize that complaint with the township (http://www.springfieldtwp.org/HowToFileYourComplaint.cfm), the Ohio Attorney General's office (http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Enforcement/Submit-a-Tip/Public-Corruption), and the U.S. Department of Justice (http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/color_of_law).