New Hampshire man arrested for firing gun into ground while catching suspected burglar
A New Hampshire man who fired his handgun into the ground to scare an alleged burglar he caught crawling out of a neighbor's window is now facing a felony charge -- and the same potential prison sentence as the man he stopped.
Dennis Fleming, 61, of Farmington, was arrested for reckless conduct after the Saturday incident at his 19th century farmhouse. The single grandfather had returned home to find that his home had been burglarized and spotted Joseph Hebert, 27, climbing out of a window at a neighbor's home. Fleming said he yelled "Freeze!" before firing his gun into the ground, then held Hebert at gunpoint until police arrived.
Reckless conduct my eye. While I personally think the warning shots are a terrible idea - if you aren't in mortal fear for your life, don't pull the trigger - the fact is that this guy's conduct was a hell of a lot less reckless than, say, Officer Roid Rage. He didn't want to drop the hammer on the guy, but he also didn't feel like getting into a wrestling match with a guy more than half his age.
There's something underlying here, I suspect; either there's bad blood between Fleming and one or more of the Farmington PD or something along those lines. One of the comments to the story references the police confiscating *all* of his firearms - it's hard to see how they can do that, given that he has yet to be convicted of a crime. Perhaps there was something in his collection that one of the officers was coveting?
What's especially infuriating is that he'll face the same potential penalty as the crook he caught. Now, if this were Massachusetts, he'd be in bigger trouble and probably wind up with a stiffer sentence - he did, after all, practice self-help... Here's hoping that he never sees a courtroom over this, but that if he does, someone along the lines of Alan Gura will be there to defend him.
Live free or die - unless you embarass the local PD.
That is all.
9 comments:
Well...it IS Farmington.
Think Danvers in the '70s...only with a trailer park as the model for Arkham; instead of Commissioner Gordon think Officer Cadet Tackleberry; rather than Elliot Ness think Officer Zed McGlunk.
That should about cover it.
Jay, I agree that if you are not in direct immediate fear, don't pull the trigger ever. As for the confiscation, he is under investigation for indictment for a felony, that is enough to disqualify him for firearms ownership by GCA.
Would it have been better to just shoot the guy?
AW,
Heh. Or ouch. Not sure yet...
TXGunGeek,
True point. BUT... Is that why the PD is pushing a felony charge rather than something more fitting like a misdemeanor "discharge of a firearm" charge?
Hell, even here in the Volksrepublik it's only a misdemeanor to discharge a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling...
Joat,
That's apparently what the Farmington PD wants, given the circumstances.
I'm thinking someone in the Farmington Political Croniism, er Government is Anti-Gun and might be up for Re-Election, so he has to show his Base he's TOUGH!.
Heh. They should rename the town Animal Farmington...
I recently took my concealed carry class in Arizona. The instructor stressed that we should never fire our weapon except to hit a person. His take was that, while it might not be illegal to shoot in to the ground or in a safe direction (depending on the circumstances and locality), it could be twisted by a prosecutor who might tell a jury that you clearly did not feel that your life was in danger if you were reluctant to shoot the assailant.
"Life Free or Die"? I thought the motto as practiced was "Live Cheaply or Suffer Miserably".
If for nothing else, he was arrested for wasting a round firing into the ground.
According to the local news they just dropped the charges against the gunowner.
"The facts available at the scene on Saturday supported the charge of felony reckless conduct, but subsequent facts discovered since have led me to believe that such a charge under these circumstances would be unjust," the Strafford County attorney said in a statement.
Translation: "The negative attention was not wanted by the local incumbents during an election year."
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