Snowball fight takes dangerous turn when police officer draws gun

[PeaceNikki]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/20/AR2009122000881.html

The snowball fight is a time honored ritual, a return to childhood innocence.

But as any kid with tell you, a glob of ice in the eye can ruin the fun.

During Washington's record-breaking snowstorm on Saturday, a massive snowball fight was taking place at the corner of 14th and U streets that had grown men and women laughing and hurling fresh-fallen snow at one another in the middle of the street. Good-natured, wintertime fun, according to participants.

Then a D.C. police officer happened by, and the event -- filmed by amateurs and a local television station -- suddenly became more serious.

Videos and photos show a D.C. police detective unholstering his gun (and admitting to it) during a confrontation with a group of snowball fighters. The video is making the rounds on the Internet and national TV stations. The detective, who authorities have not identified, on one such video says: "Yes I did," apparently referring to the fact that he drew his gun, "because I got hit with snowballs."

At least he didn't taze them, bro. :eyes:

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RhossH1bm4&feature=player_embedded

[Heidi]

1. Holy cow. I've been hit with lots of snowballs and some of them hurt.

But I've never drawn a weapon on anyone. Someone has an anger management problem and shouldn't be carrying a weapon until it's resolved.

[PeaceNikki]

3. Note that he was driving a Hummer, no less.

:eyes:

[Heidi]

5. And yet, he felt threatened.

Power trippin' fool lookin' for a reason to whip out his appendage.

[sakabatou]

46. By snowballs?

Yeesh...

[PeaceNikki]

48. The snowball knocked several ounces of testosterone out of him,

clearly putting him straight out of the "holiday" spirit

[sakabatou]

50. So you're against Jesus!

Don't you know O'Reilly says the truth?!

:sarcasm:

[hfojvt]

40. I got hit in the head by a snowball when I was delivering papers

a snowball fight is not always innocent fun, sometimes it is a form of assault. If you are throwing snowballs at unwilling participants who happen to be going by or doing their job, then they might not see it as 'all in good fun'. I would have loved to see those little punks arrested for assault. If they wanna have a fun snowball fight, then they can throw them at each other.

[PeaceNikki]

41. Did you pull a gun on them?

[hfojvt]

47. if I'd had a rocket launcher ...

[Heidi]

54. ...you'd be Bruce Cockburn!

:rofl:

Hey you! :hug:

[hfojvt]

58. but I'd probably be abusing my rocket launcher

kinda surprising that I never carried a weapon when I did that paper route. Probably just as well, since even a bat wouldn't have helped against Mike Bregal and the other two with him.

[Heidi]

44. Oh, please.

This law enforcement officer clearly abused his authority. If he'd had a better handle on his anger and ego, and genuinely believed this was a case of assault, he could have just arrested them and been done with it.

I lived for 15 years in Nebraska and survived a case of something similar to "cauliflower ear" caused by an fast and hard ice ball to the side of my by an eager, fun-loving kid. I uttered not a single swear word, nor did I menace the thrower. Instead, I said, "Hey man, that hurt me!" The kid came over and apologized.

[PeaceNikki]

45. Anyone who thinks that we should use police resources and clog up the courts

with kids having a snowball fight is not usually open to the idea of "logic".

[hfojvt]

49. argument quickly degenerates into insult, thanks

what kids were having a snowball fight. One kid was doing his job and go assaulted by some young thugs. That may be a bullies idea of 'just good fun' but it's not mine, little miss logic.

[PeaceNikki]

55. You're right, I shouldn't have gone there like that,

But I do find it illogical to think that in all cases, snowball fights are acts of assault by thugs/bullies. They mostly are innocent fun.

[hfojvt]

57. sometimes they are, sometimes they are not

I used to have a snowball fight almost every day. There was this kid who always got picked on. His dad and my dad were in the same government office, and his house was on my way to school. One day I saw him across the street and he waved a snowball at me, so we started lobbing snowballs at each other from across the street. That became a sort of ritual and we had a number of such 'fights'. I am not sure anybody even ever got hit, although I do remember once we started wrestling (it couldn't have been my idea) and I knocked him down and flicked a handful of snow in his face and then ran away. I thought I was gonna get in trouble for that.

The other thing I remember though is if you throw snowballs at cars, you had better be prepared to run like hell.

[Heidi]

53. I like the guy to whom I replied, but he and I are in disagreement on this matter.

We sometimes are in disagreement on policy matters, but I still like him a lot and would not say he's illogical. :hi:

[hfojvt]

59. sometimes I am

after all, I am half human. :blush:

Plus, I have a temper, especially when I lose in darts. :argh: or three dimensional chess.

[sasquatch]

2. Someone needs to be shit canned

[Turbineguy]

4. It's all those other people!

Never bring a snowball to a gun fight.

[ixion]

6. headline should really be something like: cop goes psycho

because it wasn't really the snowball fight's fault that it turned dangerous.


That said, once while I was in college we were playing Red Rover in a field on a weekend night, and half-a-dozen cops showed up because they thought there was a riot.

They tend to over-react, IMO.

[NoPasaran]

7. He could put out somebody's eye with that thing!

[Heidi]

11. He's frah-jee-lay!

[Iggo]

8. I was ready to kill someone "because I got hit with snowballs."

Yay, cops! They're the best!

[PeaceNikki]

9. *HE* didn't even get hit, his Hummer did.

[Webster Green]

13. And a Hummer is the best target for snowballs ever!

Bad cop, no donut!

[KittyWampus]

14. Ah, but a snowball might put a ding in his Hummer or scratch the paint>

CLEARLY brandishing a lethal weapon was called for.

[PeaceNikki]

25. I stand corrected

He DID get hit with a snowball after he pulled out his gun.

Thanks to csziggy for this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFC8mNdxV0c

[KG]

10. another exceptional incident.

:eyes:

[Heidi]

12. Yep, completely isolated. This sort of thing NEVER happens.

:eyes:

[vadawg]

15. no hes a dick, but way to go tarnishing all cops withthe same brush

forget the fact that i havent been home since friday morning due to having to work through the state of emergency, or that cops have been patrolling the snowcovered highways looking for people stuck or a thousand other acts this weekend alone, lets just take this one douche and label all cops...

[PeaceNikki]

16. Who did that?

Jackasses like this reflect very poorly on your profession and they should be made an example of.

[Leftist Agitator]

36. You don't like the job? Quit.

That's what you get paid for.

[vadawg]

37. no thats what i get paid a lot for, but its still not a brill part of the job

i guess i also get paid when we do stuff that you dont like us doing as well, so i guess you will have the same level of support for that as well..

[Toasterlad]

51. Why Don't You Just Shoot the People You Find Stuck?

Then you won't have to deal with them. After all, they might be carrying concealed snowballs.

I'm sorry, that was over the top. I know that very, very few cops would ever shoot people just for being stuck in the snow.

What I meant to say is that your should TAZE them.

[PeaceNikki]

52. *snort*

thanks for that

[Kievan Rus]

17. Watch out for cops...they're pigs...they carry swine flu!

[vadawg]

19. and as a pig i can easily recognise you as a jackass......

[piratefish08]

18. Stupid kids - bringing snowballs to a gunfight.

In their defense, they probably thought they would only have to face stun guns.

[Renew Deal]

24. lol

:rofl:

[csziggy]

20. Here is the fun part of the snowball fight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri3LoJJpkOU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dOBj0Kltw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTx2w0WjYIk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBFHBaqzByE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBaZHPkOY68

And here is part of the actual gun incident with the crowd reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFC8mNdxV0c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROnLqJPe1Ao

ETA more fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ihedwQQQU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1sU4mR97Ss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzw-c3hPKaU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAoUpX_SK1s

And my favorite "No War but Snowball War": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pg_daIA7gc

[PeaceNikki]

22. Wow... what a dick!

He dares them to “Throw another snowball” like he’s Samuel L Jackson. Get those motherfucking snowballs off this motherfucking street!

[csziggy]

31. Detective Bayloe (the cop) has serious anger issues and should be taken off duty

To pull a gun over a snowball hitting his CAR?! He needs to have his weapon(s) taken away and in depth counseling to control his temper.

And that he refused to give his badge number bothers me. Most places, that is required when asked by a civilian. Professor Gates knew that and that is why he followed the police officer out of his house - to get the badge number. A cop can give any name, but it is harder to come up with someone else's badge number in a pinch.

This does show how police will have to be more aware of their actions - look at the number of videos of the actual incident prior to and following the gun waving have already surfaced. It used to be, the cops could have claimed it was a riot if things went bad. With the videos, it could be proven it was just good fun with no malice.

I can't help thinking if it had been a black neighborhood and a white cop that things would have gone way worse really fast.

[Irreverend IX]

21. And remember, only police are responsible enough to be trusted with guns. nt

[Renew Deal]

23. Give the cop a break. One of the snowballers was wearing an Al Queda t-shirt

:silly:

[PeaceNikki]

29. More like snowball terrorism. Round these monsters up and ship them to Gitmo.

[justabob]

26. Who brings a gun to a snowball fight?

This is total insanity.

[walldude]

27. Well being in Combat is dangerous.. just ask BillO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfqROgZzxok&feature=player_embedded

[elocs]

28. Posted here last night:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=148x3160

[Heidi]

30. The rules about dupes that apply to LBN do not apply to GD.

I'm glad PeaceNikki posted this thread. Otherwise, I would not have known about this incident.

[elocs]

38. Please point out where I stated anything about rules? Can't, can you?

I am sure there are things that were posted 3 days ago that I don't know about either. How many of them should be reposted because I didn't see them?

[PeaceNikki]

39. Sorry to have bothered you with my post. Do you patrol the halls on weekdays, too or is it just a

Sunday gig?

[Heidi]

43. You implied criticism toward the OP for posting a dupe.

You're not the center of the universe (news flash) nor am I and this OP doesn't harm you. You have the option of hiding the thread if repetition is a problem for you.

I think anything short of spamming is a fair number of times for a topic to be posted, since the "no dupes" rule doesn't apply in GD.

[Mugweed]

32. Since when could a cop salary afford a Hummer?

Can anybody say "on the take"? I'll repeat what I read once a while back: People who want to be cops are exactly the kind of people who should never be allowed to be cops.

[CanonRay]

33. This guy has no business being a cop.

[saltpoint]

34. Next time the cop will call in an air strike.

Goddam those people throwing snowballs anyway. They'll pay dearly for their careless frolic!

[MilesColtrane]

35. What a douchebag.

[zoff]

42. There are laws and there are rules of engagement.

If it can be proven his car was intentionally targeted then under the law someone could have gotten arrested.

Since it is proven that he violated all rules of engagement by drawing a handgun, the detective should receive a very harsh punishment.

He was pissed that his lil toy got hit? ok. As a law enforcer authorized to carry a deadly weapon, his judgment is sorely lacking.

on edit

[madinmaryland]

56. Freakin guntards. The idiot was obviously trying to compensate for something else!

[TheMightyFavog]

60. Never throw shit at someone who is armed.

Words to live by.

[PeaceNikki]

61. They didn't know it was a detective in the Hummer.

[boppers]

62. Flashmob + Cameras + Hothead Cop = Major PR nightmare.

This is going to resonate in DC for a while, and possibly (hopefully?) change their culture quite a bit.