“He can say what he wants — they’re words,” the officer says of the violent threat.
= = =
No he can’t
CA Penal Code 422.
(a) Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family’s safety, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison.
You don’t expect the cops to know the law do you?? I take a threat of bodily harm the same as an actual attempt. As such it will receive the maximum brutal defensive retaliation possible.