court?
On May 18, 11:04 am, Jonathan <jonathanashle...@lavabit.com> wrote:
> *Man Who Clashed With Cops Over Legal Gun Was Also Armed With Audio
> Recorder*
> Posted: 05/17/2011 5:38 AM
> By DAVID GAMBACORTA
> gamb...@phillynews.com 215-854-5994
>
> MARK FIORINO'S story has three elements that tend to get people worked
> up - gun rights, Philly police and YouTube.
>
> On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an
> AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber
> Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His
> stroll ended when someone called out from behind: "Yo, Junior, what are
> you doing?"
>
> Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him.
>
> What happened next would be hard to believe, except that Fiorino
> audio-recorded all of it: a tense, profanity-laced, 40-minute encounter
> with cops who told him that what he was doing - openly carrying a gun on
> the city's streets - was against the law.
>
> "Do you know you can't openly carry here in Philadelphia?" Dougherty
> asked, according to the YouTube clip."Yes, you can, if you have a
> license to carry firearms," Fiorino said. "It's Directive 137. It's your
> own internal directive."
>
> The cops, department officials later admitted, were wrong. They didn't
> know that a person who has a license to carry a firearm can openly carry
> it in the city.
>
> But the story doesn't end there. How could it?
>
> After Fiorino posted his recordings on YouTube, they went viral. Members
> of pro-firearms forums on the Web took a particular interest in the
> incident.
>
> The Police Department heard about the YouTube clips. A new investigation
> was launched, and last month the District Attorney's Office decided to
> charge Fiorino with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct
> because, a spokeswoman said, he refused to cooperate with police.
>
> Fiorino said he plans to sue the city whenever his criminal case is
> resolved.
>
> Police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers said the department believes that Fiorino
> wanted to get into a confrontation with cops, that he wanted to see them
> lose their cool so he later could file a lawsuit.
>
> Or, as one cop was overheard saying on the YouTube recording: "He set us
> the f--- up, that's what the f--- he did."
> Terrified to be powerless
>
> Fiorino, an IT worker who lives in Montgomery County, grew up in
> Feltonville.
>
> A handful of his friends fell victim to random crimes over the years - a
> mugging here, a beatdown there, the kind of stuff that happens all the
> time in a big city.
>
> It was enough to make him think about being able to protect himself if
> he ever ran into trouble. "It would be terrifying to me to be
> powerless," he said.
>
> So, about a year ago, Fiorino said, he got a firearms license and began
> openly carrying his .40-caliber Glock.
>
> "I did research for quite a few years leading up to making a decision to
> carry," he said. "I was ready to take on the responsibility."
>
> His gun went with him everywhere - to the store, you name it.
>
> After he began carrying, Fiorino said, he was stopped a handful of times
> by cops in Montgomery County and other parts of the state. The
> encounters were civil and quick, he said, and usually ended when an
> officer checked out his firearms license.
>
> He also had encounters with Philadelphia cops last year near the
> Philadelphia Museum of Art and on South Street.
>
> "Both times they told me what I was doing was illegal," he said. "They
> patted me down and said, 'We don't care what you consent to.'
>
> "The second time, they did an official confiscation, and it took me five
> months to get back my gun."
>
> It could be argued that Fiorino should have stopped openly carrying his
> gun because it invited police scrutiny. But that argument couldn't be
> more wrong, said John Pierce, co-founder of OpenCarry.org.
>
> Pierce, of Minnesota, said his website offers information on gun rights
> "from a legal perspective, a public-policy perspective, not from a 'my
> cold, dead fingers' viewpoint."
>
> "According to the Pennsylvania and U.S. constitutions, open carry is
> Mark's right," he said.
>
> "To say he has to give up that right in order to stop being persecuted
> by the state, well, that doesn't sound like the America we want to live in."
>
> Pennsylvania allows citizens to openly carry firearms across the state,
> but with a simple caveat: A person who carries a weapon openly in
> Philadelphia also must be in possession of a firearms license.
>
> Fiorino said he was following the law on Feb. 13, when he decided to
> take a walk to AutoZone while he was in the Northeast, visiting his mom.
>
> It was a nice day, warm enough for him to head out without a jacket,
> leaving his holstered Glock fully exposed.
>
> Fiorino's firearms license was in his shirt pocket, he said, along with
> his driver's license.
>
> Oh, and a digital recorder.
>
> 'Get down on your knees'
>
> Fiorino was on Frankford near Placid Street when Sgt. Dougherty spotted
> him from his police cruiser, stopped and called out to him.
>
> An unnerving back-and-forth started to unfold like a bizarre routine.
> Dougherty would bark an order, and Fiorino would make an alternative
> suggestion.
>
> Fiorino offered to show Dougherty his driver's and firearms licenses.
> The cop told him to get on his knees.
>
> "Excuse me?" Fiorino said.
>
> "Get down on your knees. Just obey what I'm saying," Dougherty said.
>
> "Sir," Fiorino replied, "I'm more than happy to stand here -"
>
> "If you make a move, I'm going to f------ shoot you," Dougherty snapped.
> "I'm telling you right now, you make a move, and you're going down!"
>
> "Is this necessary?" Fiorino said.
>
> It went on like that for a little while, until other officers responded
> to Dougherty's calls for backup.
>
> Fiorino was forced to the ground and shouted at as he tried to explain
> that he had a firearms license and was legally allowed to openly carry
> his weapon.
>
> "You f------ come here looking for f------ problems? Where do you live?"
> yelled one officer.
>
> "I'm sorry, gentlemen," Fiorino said. "If I'm under arrest, I have
> nothing left to say."
>
> "F------ a------, shut the f--- up!" the cop hollered.
>
> The cops discovered his recorder as they searched his pockets, and
> unleashed another string of expletives.
>
> Fiorino said he sat handcuffed in a police wagon while the officers made
> numerous phone calls to supervisors, trying to find out if they could
> lock him up.
>
> When they learned that they were in the wrong, they let him go.
>
> That might have been the end of the thing, too, if it hadn't been for
> the recordings.
>
> 'He did it intentionally'
>
> The weeks passed, but Fiorino couldn't stop thinking about what had
> happened to him on Frankford Avenue.
>
> "They treated me like a criminal," he said.
>
> "The organization that's supposed to be the embodiment of the law didn't
> even know some of the most important laws at the street level."
>
> He decided to put the recordings on YouTube.
>
> "I wanted people to know this is an example of what can happen if you
> exercise your rights and freedom in Philadelphia," he said.
>
> Fiorino said he didn't lay a trap for the cops. He regularly carries a
> recorder with him in case he ever has to use his gun and then offer
> proof of what transpired, he said.
>
> "I'm not trying to set anyone up," he said.
>
> "It was a setup. He's done this kind of thing before," said Evers, the
> police spokesman, referring to Fiorino's encounters with authorities.
> "He did it intentionally, and he audiotaped it."
>
> Evers said the department decided to take a second look at the case
> after learning about the recordings.
>
> Any number of things could have gone wrong during Fiorino's
> confrontation with Dougherty, Evers said.
>
> For one thing, Evers said, Fiorino could have been shot. Cops who raced
> to the scene could have gotten into a car accident or injured pedestrians.
>
> Ultimately, the D.A.'s Office decided to charge Fiorino with reckless
> endangerment and disorderly conduct. He's scheduled for trial in July.
>
> Fiorino's attorney, Joseph Valvo, said the move to file criminal charges
> against Fiorino was retaliation for his posting the recordings on YouTube.
>
> "They're embarrassed and using creative theories to come up with
> charges," he said.
>
> Up to speed
>
> If there is a positive to Fiorino's saga, it is this: The Police
> Department is trying to make sure none of its officers are ever again
> caught not knowing basic gun laws.
>
> "Our officers weren't up to speed [because] we never really addressed
> it," said Lt. Francis Healy, the department's lawyer.
>
> "In the last several weeks, we've done a lot of training and put out a
> lot of information about what is allowed and what's not allowed. Right
> now, our officers are better-versed on the subject matter."
>
> Healy said he emphasized the importance of officers being polite and
> professional if they have to stop a person who is legally carrying a
> firearm.
>
> "You can use caution, but you don't need to curse them up and down and
> put a gun in their face," he said.
>
> At City Hall on Saturday, about 30 gun owners staged a protest of
> Fiorino's recent arrest.
>
> The protesters and cops got along fine.
>
> "These aren't bad people," Healy said.
>
> *Philadelphia Police Violate Rights Of Open Carrier At Gunpoint (Audio)*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vUYeJXSrA
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vUYeJXSrA>
> --
>
> Freedom is always illegal!
>
> When we ask for freedom, we have already failed. It is only when we
> declare freedom for ourselves and refuse to accept any less, that we
> have any possibility of being free.
>
> "Why should we bother with 'realities' when we have the psychological
> refuge of unthinking patriotism?"
> Gary Leupp - Professor of History, Tufts University
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