Saturday, May 27, 2017

Was I illegally arrested?


I live in Portland Oregon. I moved here from Cleveland Ohio where I had my CCW, and I attained my CCW for Oregon when I moved here, as they do not have reciprocity with anyone. I am a 33yr old male. The other day I was sitting at a coffee shop that I frequent while carrying my legal loaded firearm at about 4 oclock in an Alien Gear holster. It was very hot outside and so at some point I decided to take my shirt off. Open carry is legal in the state of Oregon, however in Portland proper there is a rule against open carrying loaded firearms, with one stipulation of that law being any concealed handgun permit holder may open carry a loaded firearm in Portland. I'm under the impression that just carrying a gun in and of itself is not reasonable suspicion or probable cause for the police to inquire about your firearm unless they see you committing a crime. I put my shirt back on and left the outside bench where I was sitting and as I rounded the corner there were 5 cops, one with an AR-15 and one with a riot shield screaming at me. One was beckoning for me to come that way and the AR was pointed in my direction so I naturally assumed there was something behind me going on and started to run towards the police. At that point another cop screamed at me to stop while the other one was still beckoning me to come so I froze and just hollered what do you want me to do you guys are scaring the hell out of me?! They said for me to walk towards them with my hands up so I did and when I got there they asked if I was carrying a firearm. even though I'm not obligated to inform them that I am I said yes and I am a licensed CCW holder. At this point they handcuffed me and took my gun telling me that someone had called the cops about a man with a gun. I said that it was probably me but I'm well within my rights to possess and carry my gun. After confiscating my gun and my pocket knife they put me in the car and took me to a holding cell at which point I could hear them talking. It was obvious they didn't know the law as one of them literally said " I will Google that " in reference to whether or not I was breaking any laws. Once they found out that I was allowed to carry and they had made a mistake they released me and tried to shame me. They told me it was my fault that I got arrested and that anytime they see someone with a gun they have to assume that they are there to shoot a cop. I replied that I was under the impression it was innocent until proven guilty in America, and that unless they suspect me of committing a crime they can't even ask about my gun. They continued to argue with me telling me they were going to send the case up to the district attorney to see if charges should be filed and then they released me. They said the whole ordeal was because there was a black lives matter protest down the block. I said as far as I know it's not a crime to be near a protest. One officer was nice and apologized but I can't help but thinking if I were a black man I probably would have been shot with that AR when I started to run towards the police in confusion and fear. is there anything I can do about this? Should I contact a lawyer or file some sort of complaint? It just strikes me as odd that the people who are supposed to uphold the law didn't even know the law and detained me and seize my property with no legal reason. They also arrested a young kid filming me being arrested because he didn't stop filming them when they told him to. Shouldn't they have just told the person who called that it is legal for licensed individuals to carry firearms in Oregon and unless I was causing a ruckus or brandishing or committing a crime that they shouldn't worry? Wouldn't this diffuse the situation? It seems like they caused a huge scene and riled up a whole protest full of people while accusing me of causing a disturbance for just having coffee. Sorry for the rant I'm just curious if any of you have experienced anything like this and what I should do about it. I will add that at no point did I touch, draw, or move my firearm the entire time I was having coffee . Did i do something wrong? sorry for any typos I am on mobileTL;DR was cuffed and stuffed for legally carrying my gun and didn't even get an apology upon release. via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2s8Qptd

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