Adan Salazar
Infowars.com
January 2, 2014
The 911 call which led to the arrest of a Michigan man who was exercising his right to open carry is a perfect example of how the American people have been conditioned to fear guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens.
Last March, a Grand Rapids officer confronted 28-year-old Johann Deffert as he walked down Michigan Street with a pistol strapped to his leg. The officer forced Deffert to the ground at gunpoint, handcuffed him, then secured his pistol as he ran his name through the database.
To the officer’s dismay, Deffert’s record came up clean. As a result, Deffert filed a federal lawsuit against Grand Rapids Police claiming they “violated his constitutional rights, assaulted him and falsely imprisoned him,” according to Michigan Live.
The 9-1-1 call that led to Deffert’s arrest was released Monday, and it illustrates just how uneducated and fearful some people are over the state’s current gun laws and guns in general.
“I just got out of church and I was driving down Michigan Street,” a frightened caller told the emergency dispatcher, “and I don’t know if it’s illegal, but it looks like.. it looks like the guy’s got a gun strapped to his right leg, on the outside of his pants.”
“OK. He’s got it in a holster?” the operator asks.
“Yeah.”
“OK. It’s not illegal to open carry,” the dispatcher appropriately responds. At this point the call should have been over, but the caller persists.
“Oh God, kind of alarming,” she says.
“Well you’ll probably be seeing more and more of it,” the dispatcher informs the caller, adding “since all the school shootings and stuff, people are exercising their open carry laws.”
Undaunted, the caller continues to relate the man’s ominous appearance. Once she mentions the magic word “camouflage” the dispatcher seems infinitely more interested.
“Alright, It was just kind of scary, cause he’s kind of wearing camouflage, and.. and uh.. Do you have to have a license, or..? I’m just asking,” says the caller.
The dispatcher summarily explains Michigan’s gun laws, then backtracks to the key descriptor.
“And the person was in all camouflage?” the dispatcher quizzed.
“Uh, the shirt… it looked like a Columbia jacket, but it’s green ..and black, but the pants were camouflaged, and the holster is clearly on the outside of his pants, on his right leg.”
It’s unclear why the dispatcher proceeded to alert patrol officers of a “suspicious person,” even after the caller stated Deffert wasn’t threatening anybody.
Further in the audio, the responding officer is heard saying Deffert looked as though he was “open carrying,” and reports show Deffert also told the officer this. The officer, however, justifies the stop by bringing Deffert’s “mental state” into question, telling dispatch he was walking around talking and singing to himself.
“Under the circumstances, the police response was ‘very reasonable,’ City Attorney Catherine Mish said on Monday, Dec. 23,” Michigan Live reported.
Deffert’s attorney, on the other hand, says his client committed no crime, and that so far it looked as though he was arrested for merely singing and talking on a sidewalk. “That’s not unlawful,” Steve Dulan, Deffert’s attorney stated.