Cops get called on gun-toting, screaming Nazi disturbing customers. Cops say that's free speech.

[DetlefK]

https://www.theroot.com/man-goes-on-white-supremacist-rant-flashes-gun-police-1832795340

An Alabama man went all Alabama in an Alabama coffee shop by going on a racist rant that left the business’ white customers disturbed and reminded the black customers that they were actually in Alabama.

...

Customers called police at Mama Mocha’s on Gay Street after the man — who hasn’t been identified by police — walked in with a young woman, ordered a coffee, sat down by himself on a couch for a while and proceeded to stand in a chair in the middle of the cafe to shout Nazi and white nationalist rhetoric.

“He was giving Heil Hitler arm motions pretty aggressively,” said Sarah Barnett-Gill, the owner of the coffee shop, known for its minority and LGBT-inclusive atmosphere. “He loudly started talking about Nazi rhetoric and White Lives Matter and giving a racist monologue.”

The cafe’s manager, Richard Trammell, said he was outside on the phone when the incident started, but he rushed back inside when he saw the man wave the Nazi salute.

“As he was walking out, I told him not to come back, and he showed me his gun,” Trammell said. “I have a Black Lives Matter pin on and being a black man, I wasn’t really shook. I wasn’t really scared. But it was a very charged situation.”

...

However, instead of fearing for their lives, the cops decided to go easy on the gun-toting coffee Nazi.

Police told the Plainsman in a statement that the man was legally in possession of his weapon, adding: “The incident did not occur in the presence of APD Officers; as such, any criminal charges would have to be filed by a complainant.”

...

According to AL.com, Barnett-Gill said the police explained that Hay was “within his right to free speech.”

[Mc Mike]

1. Yeah, nazis are all about 'free speech'.

Sometimes.

[marble falls]

2. Yeah they are all about free speech. Their own.

[Mc Mike]

3. Stop being so intolerant of their intolerance. It hurts their delicate feelings.

[marble falls]

5. I'm not so much intolerant of the intolerant as I am tolerant of the tolerant.

[backscatter712]

17. ...and nobody else's.

[watoos]

4. The cops may have also been Nazis.

[marble falls]

7. At the risk of starting a kerfluffle, I'd say even money.

[Tien1985]

12. May have been is too diplomatic

“If you’ve got a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis." —Where ever that old chestnut came from.

[2naSalit]

13. That or an affiliate and sympathetic org...nt

[backscatter712]

15. Pretty safe bet.

I can't say what I think should happen to Nazi cops without violating DU's TOS...

[ornotna]

6. There is a positive in this story

The store owner wasn't tazed for calling the cops.

[marble falls]

8. And that's only half a joke.

[uponit7771]

16. +1, omg ... isn't that a shame though !?

[Quackers]

9. "any criminal charges would have to be filed by a complainant"

Why wasn’t anyone willing to be the complainant?

[Submariner]

11. He flashed his gun at the manager so that would probably scare off the complainant

Living in a gun hamper state like Alabama where a first grade drop-out, who cannot read or write, can carry a gun on the streets and hunt me down would give me pause about turning that turnip into the cops.

[Quackers]

10. Zachary Taylor Hay is his name.

According to the cafe owner.

[backscatter712]

14. The cops were fucking useless.

That nazi POS displayed his gun to the manager when he told him to get out.

That's felony menacing. Fucker should have been jailed for that right there.

Some of those who burn crosses are the same that work forces.

[uponit7771]

18. +1

[uponit7771]

19. K&R, But if this guy was a black or brown person sitting near a pool then 234 cars would've shown up

... and somebody would've been "talked to" at the least.

[rockfordfile]

20. He should have been arrested

[Initech]

21. Stop being intolerant of my intolerance!

Oh wait, fuck Nazis!