Posted on 12/20/2011 5:23:13 PM PST by marktwain
A group of men who drew police attention for openly carrying guns at a Far East Side restaurant last year on Tuesday accepted a $10,000 offer from the city of Madison to settle their federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and a group of police officers.
The five men, members of Wisconsin Carry Inc., were ticketed for disorderly conduct on Sept. 18, 2010, after police were called to Culver's, 4301 East Towne Blvd., about a group of men with guns at an outdoor table. The tickets were later dismissed.
Two of the men initially refused to identify themselves to police and were handcuffed, searched and arrested. They were cited for obstructing police, but those citations were rescinded.
The city made its offer to settle the case on Dec. 12, and Wisconsin Carry, through its lawyer, John Monroe, agreed to accept the offer on Tuesday.
In its offer, the city does not admit to any wrongdoing. Attorney Catherine Rottier, representing the city, said the offer was made simply to settle the case without having to spend a lot more money.
But Monroe interpreted the offer differently.
"They can say they're not liable all they want to," Monroe said. "The result is exactly the same.
"I think it's clear they recognized there was a problem with their actions," he said.
Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said police still encourage citizens to call if they have concerns about someone armed with a gun, "but depending on the circumstance we might not make contact with an individual."
A legal update for officers by Capt. Vic Wahl indicates that people simply carrying guns cannot be charged with disorderly conduct under the new state concealed carry law. But they could be charged if criminal or malicious intent is shown,
(Excerpt) Read more at host.madison.com ...
The penalty was paltry and the taxpayers paid, not the ignoramuses who broke the law. I would have liked to see the case proceed in federal court. If a jury finds for the plaintiff and assess punitive damages the individual defendants, not the govt entity, have to pay the punitive damages. That is what gets their attention.
Absolutely! I am so tired of taxpayers paying for the stupidity of police officers.
We really need a National Carry Day, until everyone gets the idea that we have a RIGHT to keep & bear arms.
Wisconsin Open Carry ping!
Send me a FREEP Mail if you want on, or off, this list. I’m minding it for Diana in Wisconsin.
The city officials, such as the mayor and city council, hold these police officer's leashes.
The taxpayers elect the city officials.
Therefore, if you want the officers to behave differently, elect city officials who comply with the taxpayers' wishes.
Then the police officers will have to behave like police officers instead of goons with guns and badges.
Oh man! A National Open Carry Day. I would strap my 7.5” Redhawk up on my cowboy belt that hold 35 .44Mags, put on my boots and go out on the town.
Sounds good to me. A special day for open carry would be good, but I would not mind the habit catching on for Bill of Rights day or Independence Day!
The problem with policy is that sometimes policy doesn't match the law
and allows police to harass.
I think what would even be better is if we had a 2nd Amendment holiday where we celebrate it by going to the range, learning the importance of the 2nd Amendment, and have a barbecue.
I’ll add that to my 2nd Amendment wish list of
1. a national Constitutional carry,
2. and legal ownership of full-auto firearms like regular firearms.
GA is now considering a bill to allow open carry or concealed carry with no permit. Right now you have to have a CCL to open carry a hand gun. Hopefully it will go through.
But police are there to uphold the LAW, not policy. If a town decides their policy outweighs the constitution, then THEY should shoulder the expense of irate citizens contesting their stupidity. And the police who go along with it.
If we could only get it nation wide. I carry almost all of the time now, but concealed and usually another in the car. I only carry the big iron when I go hoggin’
It took FOURTEEN months for each of these men to get $2,000 in return for being kidnapped at gunpoint by armed men unfamiliar with the laws they’re paid to enforce..?
Imagine you pointed a pistol at a police-officer, then took him to another location (i.e. kidnapped him).
What would happen to you? Just lose your job?
MUCH worse would happen to you. Yet NONE of these men lost their jobs and it’s VERY likely they’ll do EXACTLY the same thing, next time.
They were held at GUN POINT, but more than 1 year later each of them get an amount of money equal to the cost of a PERSONAL COMPUTER.
I would not accept the settlement. I would take it all the way up and I would sue the police officers too personally. America needs to do the extreme to defend our rights.
That must be some computer -
I can build a top notch gaming machine for <$600.
You are correct about equal enforcement.
Ah, whoops!
Only 2 were arrested, not 5, sorry. And I don’t know it was at gun-point, I only suspected it, as it’s Madison, Wisconsin.
I was wrong, there.
And it could be the cops were just following insane policy by the city?
Should they pay each of the 2, say $100k, or more? Yes —even more.
Yes we carry everywhere also. My fiancee’ packs in the house too. We are never unarmed. My Mom’s house across the street from us got broken into about 6 mos ago. The young cop that came out to investigate told us he also keeps his weapon on in the house.
I faintly remember some Freepers running their yaps about these being trouble makers. Am I wrong about that?
Nope. Lots of bootlickers here. Fortunately, they are becoming more, and more outnumbered as time goes on.
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