Posted on 05/06/2009 4:20:49 AM PDT by marktwain
STEVENSVILLE-Brook Blakeley knows what it’s like to be looking down the business end of an assault rifle.
He didn’t much like it.
Two Saturdays back, Blakeley and his wife had just finished walking their usual three-mile loop around Three Mile Road on the east side of the Bitterroot Valley just north of Stevensville.
Like usual, Blakeley was carrying his pellet rifle on his shoulder. *
“My neighbor has given me permission to shoot starlings on his property and so I take my pellet gun along,” he said. “I’m also an avid hunter. I think it is good practice to carry it with me.”
The couple returned home which is located across the street from the little Three Mile Store. His wife went inside while Blakeley lingered on the porch with his rifle still on his shoulder.
“I saw a squad car coming down the road about that time,” he remembered. “It went by my house and then flipped a u-ey in the store’s parking lot. Dirt was flying everywhere. I thought the store was being robbed.”
Then, much to his surprise, the car pulled off Three Mile Road and onto his lot. Another squad car from the Stevensville City Police blocked the road he lives on.
Blakeley said he watched in amazement as officers began to deploy in front of his home. One carrying a tactical assault rifle took cover behind a trailer on his property. Another officer came directly at him with his pistol drawn. The officer was yelling at him to drop his weapon.
“I’ve watched a lot of cop shows,” Blakeley said. “I could tell that guy was on an adrenaline rush. I thought I was going to get killed.”
Blakeley said he took the gun off his shoulder, leaned it against the house and put his hands in the air. He started telling the officers: “This is my home. I live here. This is a pellet gun.”
From inside his home, Blakeley could hear his wife screaming at him to come inside.
“She was very afraid and eventually ran to the back of the house,” Blakeley said.
In the next few minutes, the officers had Blakeley kneel in his front yard. He was handcuffed in front of his neighbors. They then led him to one of the squad cars where he was questioned.
The officers told Blakeley there had been two reports of him screaming at people and acting oddly.
He told them: “I can guarantee you that I haven’t taken this rifle off my shoulder and I haven’t spoken to a single person. Someone is lying to you.”
According to Blakeley, it took about 10 minutes for the officers to realize they had made a mistake. They released him.
“I couldn’t believe that this had just happened to me on my own front porch,” Blakeley said. “I don’t have anything against the officers. They were professional and courteous to me. I appreciate the fact that their job is sometimes dangerous, but someone lied to them and it put both me and my family in danger.”
Blakeley is asking the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office to complete a full investigation on the matter. Last week, he asked for copies of the police report, transcripts from the 911 call, names of the callers and other information.
On Monday, Blakeley said he hadn’t received any of it.
“I kind of feel like this is being swept under the rug,” he said. “This whole incident was totally embarrassing for me. I was mortified and completely humiliated. I’ve never had handcuffs on in my life.”
Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman said the officers responded appropriately considering the information they had received.
Hoffman said 911 dispatch received two calls about Blakeley that evening. The first reported a man walking around with a rifle over his shoulder. The second call had the man yelling at cars.
When the first call came in, a deputy was dispatched to the area. At that point, Hoffman said there wouldn’t be much reason for the officer to be apprehensive. The second call that had a man with a rifle yelling at cars was a different matter.
“That would escalate it a little bit,” Hoffman said. “An officer would start thinking that maybe there’s a potential situation.”
Officers from Stevensville were called for backup.
Somewhere along the route, someone flagged down the sheriff’s deputy and told him that Blakeley was pointing his rifle in the officer’s direction, Hoffman said.
“We have that conversation on tape,” he said.
At the point, the incident escalated.
“The call went from nothing but a drive-by to check it out to what in essence was a felony take-down of an individual,” Hoffman said. “When that happens, officers have their weapons out. No fingers are on the trigger, but it is serious.”
Hoffman is confident the officers reacted correctly.
“Given the information the officers had at the time, I am very confident that their response was absolutely appropriate,” he said.
Hoffman said he plans on providing Blakeley with the information he requested “within reason” as soon as possible.
“We’ll go out of our way to comply with Mr. Blakeley’s request and make sure that he has all the information that we can provide him,” Hoffman said. “We’ll do whatever we can to help him understand this situation.”
Blakeley said he’s looking forward to putting this incident behind him, but it’s not going to be easy.
His wife isn’t sure she want to stay in the home they recently built.
“She told me that she doesn’t feel safe here anymore,” Blakeley said. “She hasn’t been sleeping very well since this happened. She says she doesn’t want to be here anymore.”
Blakeley said all he wants is some assurance that the incident is being taken seriously.
“I just want an explanation on why this happened,” he said. “I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to go through something like this.”
Editor Perry Backus can be reached at 363-3300 or editor@ravallirepublic.com.
European Starlings were introduced to the US.
They can be very harmful in large quanities.
Marxists and other liberals are insidious.
Had a neighbor...that moved to the sticks here...and built a big house on 250 acres. Just so happened there entire spread was surrounded by a giant ranch...
She never really liked living here...but I think just bowed to her husbands wishes..and it's up for sale now.
Anyway....during her living here...she hit like 4 or 5 deer...driving the dirt road to and from her house. The crazy thing...is she wanted the giant ranch owners to pay for the damages to her car after she ran into the deer.!?!?!
She's still a nut-job...but not around here anymore.......
When I lived there as a teenager, the guys used to take their guns to school and store them in their locker so that could hunt on the way home.
They take over nesting areas of native birds....
He's doing the native bird population a big favor. Not to mention starlings are a pretty dirty bird, not unlike english sparrows..that were also imported here.
Want to apologize?
Me too. What a great story.
As you can see from my page, I live in California, although I am an AF brat and landed here after living all over.
I am the descendent of Lexington Minutemen and pioneers in Colorado and Idaho.
I believe that open carry would go a long way to cure this country of its problems.
I'd like to see 0bama in the midst of a group of "packers," lol...
We should encourage California to succeed from the Union and put an end to their nonsense. If they want to become a socialist nation like Norway, so be it.
I wish I had film of that scene!!!!
Me too.
In nearly all places in the U.S. the address shows on a 911 call for a land line. She must have been using a cell phone.
Yep, pre-paid cell phone.
I know what you mean. A local restaurant here in Idaho is also the local gun buy/sell/show-off spot, damn foreigners climb out of their skins. It's pretty funny actually.
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