What Would You Do?

[swamper]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...3/AR2009011302840.html?nav=rss_nation/special

After being deadlocked twice, a D.C. Superior Court jury yesterday acquitted a Marine amputee on felony charges of gun possession stemming from an arrest while he was on the way to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

In the 2006 incident, Cpl. Melroy H. Cort, 24, and his wife, Samantha, were en route from their home in Columbus, Ohio, to Walter Reed. Cort's legs had been amputated above the knees when he was wounded by a makeshift bomb in Ramadi during his third tour of duty in Iraq.

The couple's car got a flat tire, forcing them to pull over at a car repair shop in the 5000 block of Georgia Avenue NW. While there, Cort said, he reached into the glove compartment, removed a 9mm pistol and put it in his jacket pocket.

A witness who noticed Cort handling the gun called police, who arrested and handcuffed Cort while he was sitting in his wheelchair. He was charged with three counts of carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of ammunition. He spent the night in the D.C. jail before returning to Walter Reed.

...

Although acquitting him of the gun charges, the jury found Cort guilty of possessing ammunition, a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to time already spent in the D.C. jail.

Firstly, I would hope I don't ever have to travel to D.C.; obviously, this man did not have that luxury. Secondly, I don't blame the guy considering the area. I understand "respect the law," but most firearm laws in D.C. just asinine. Then, there is the fact that the guy is a Marine and obviously took one for the good guys. I read this comment over at Blackfive concerning the area.

Wounded warriors being treated at Walter Reed, which is located on Georgia Avenue, have been assaulted and mugged on the street there. Carrying a gun there is a prudent measure.

Here is the homicide map of DC. That black vertical line going left of center through the District is Georgia Avenue. That's the line with all the dots on it representing murders done with guns, knives, and miscellaneous weapons. If you look in the immediate area, you will find plenty more such dots:

http://www.firststrike.net/images/DChomicides.jpg

The 5000 block of Georgia Avenue NW, where Corporal Cort was arrested, is in the middle of the biggest cluster of homicide dots. This is probably the first time the gun of a non-criminal was called in to the police in Washington.

It's just amazing that in a city where many murders are not even investigated, the police are sent out to disarm a veteran in a wheelchair getting his car fixed.

 

[Bayoupiper]

DC is rapidly become the toilet bowl of America!

 

[penguin]

Funny how all parties think they know what's best for all the people, yet they can't even get their laws to work in the city where the nation's laws are vetted...

 

[posse comatosis]

That cop needs to be bitch slapped back into his hole.

 

[swamper]

That cop needs to be bitch slapped back into his hole.

Not a police bashing thread. The gun laws in that district are to blame, not the officers.

 

[goodburbon]

"A witness who noticed Cort handling the gun called police, who arrested and handcuffed Cort while he was sitting in his wheelchair. He was charged with three counts of carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of ammunition. He spent the night in the D.C. jail before returning to Walter Reed "

How in the hell can you be charged with three counts of the same crime for having one gun in your pocket? If possessing ammunition is really an actual crime someone can be charged with, some lawmaker is smoking crack. Perhaps the MAYOR OF THAT SHITTY.
The most asinine charges I have ever heard of.

 

[swamper]

Wrong. Not trying to diss you, but cops have discretion in these things.

We used to shun other guys on the shift who wrote tickets to other cops delberately (sometimes they don't say anything until its too late; I'm talking about troopers who did not practice "professional courtesy")...

If a trooper working for me arrested a dismembered veteran for something so trivial, I would make his life as miserable as I could.

What a worthless tool(s).....

Nah. You're good on the diss. I was being too nice. I guess I slipped off onto the blaming the laws more than holding the upholders accountable to reason on this one.

My apologies, posse.

 

[AK shooter]

Wrong. Not trying to diss you, but cops have discretion in these things.

We used to shun other guys on the shift who wrote tickets to other cops delberately (sometimes they don't say anything until its too late; I'm talking about troopers who did not practice "professional courtesy")...

If a trooper working for me arrested a dismembered veteran for something so trivial, I would make his life as miserable as I could.

What a worthless tool(s).....

+1

 

[Speedlace]

Help him change the flat tire.

Perhaps the MAYOR OF THAT SHITTY.

A city that would knowingly re-elect a crack head that smoked on the job is definitely shitty.

 

[Kraut]

That cop would never hear the end of it on my shift. Chickenshit.