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Nashua, NH - Man pulls gun on of-duty cop over parking space

StevieP

StevieP

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http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/10/20/man-pulls-gun-on-off-duty-police-officer-over-parking-spot/

“He had a loaded 38 revolver pointed at my chest and was shaking and that crazed look about him,” says Childs. “I thought he certainly had potential to pull the trigger at any point.”

It all started over a parking spot outside a grocery store.

When Sgt. Childs pulled into the lot, the spots were all taken. So he made his own space and that’s what set this guy off.

When Childs got back to the car, Joshua Webb was waiting for him.

=========================================

My question is - Does this police officer think he's above the law, and can just park wherever the hell he wants, just because he's a cop?

Obviously Mr. Webb went to (insane) extremes to attempt to remedy the parking infraction, but imnsho this could have been avoided if Sgt. Childs had done what everyone else in that situation would have had to do, which is to circle the damned lot until a legitimate parking spot opened up.
 
While his reaction was a bit much, I have to commend the dude for getting pissed about an entitled douchenozzle and doing something about it.
 
WTF the reaction was "a bit much", pulling a gun because somebody parked illegally? Your are kidding right? Who cares if he parked illegally? Do you go around confronting everyone who parks illegally? If you do I feel very sorry for you. Should the officer be held to the same standard as civilians - of course. I would guess that most people here have parked illegally at some point in their lives, and certainly shouldn't have their lives threatened for it.
 
And why is he displaying a Nashua PD badge in that story when he is a U Mass Lowell cop?

He retired from Nashua, so WTF does he still have a badge?

So not only is he self entitled, and a fraud, he goes over the border to MA to get some time in the MA retirement system so he can eat from two troughs.

Now here is where it gets good, and I will play devil's advocate for Mr Webb, who MAY have been a little out of line when the situation started BUT...

the cops side is "I started to open my door, he (Webb) pushes his body against the trunk of my car and says you’ll have to run me over because you’re not going anywhere.”

Then the cop does the " OK you caught me but I am a cop I am not accountable " thing "Childs informed Webb that he is a police officer. He went for his badge."

Now there has been some sort of confrontation between an idiot and a moron, the idiot now goes from the trunk of the car to the hood of the car, takes cover, and draws a weapon......

Let's assume that the L.E.O. reached into the car to get the Nashua PD badge, because he admits he turned his back on the guy that was at the rear of his car blocking his exit, and when he turned around Webb has taken cover and drawn a weapon that up until now has not been displayed or mentioned.

Would a normal person who was making a statement by confronting someone who was violating parking etiquette who probably was acting like an a**h*** be reasonable in taking cover and drawing a weapon if he felt threatened by the actions of the person claiming he was a cop reaching into his car?

"Childs informed Webb that he is a police officer. He went for his badge. And when he turned around, Childs says he was over the hood of the car pointing the gun at his chest."

Reasonable to a jury? I bet Webb's lawyer will be down there looking for any security camera footage.

He is not a superior officer at U Mass Lowell if I had to take a guess, with a 36K budgeted salary.
Childs Scott J. University Police Officer University of Massachusetts $36,733.30 (budgeted salary).....$1,419.44 (2010 actual total earnings)
 
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XTAV750 said:
I think they keep the badge when they retire.
Click to expand...

When my friends retired, they had to turn in their badges. It was required. One friend of mine retired from Arlington and told me the C.O.P. returned one of his badges to him as a courtesy. Now many departments are letting retired officers work details (again double dipping at the trough) so they need badges, but I would think that any agency with half a brain would insist on the badges back upon retirement reducing the chances a former cop would pull the badge out and do something stupid, resulting in the victim of the stupidity going back after the agency in some way, shape, or form.
 
StevieP said:
Obviously Mr. Webb went to (insane) extremes to attempt to remedy the parking infraction, but imnsho this could have been avoided if Sgt. Childs had done what everyone else in that situation would have had to do, which is to circle the damned lot until a legitimate parking spot opened up.
Click to expand...
Yeah, because whatever sets off the mentally deranged is primarily the fault of the other person.

If I had the inclination to parked illegally, I should think to myself, "Shit, I hope I don't piss off some crazy luntic who'll want to blow my head off."

Glockaholic said:
And why is he displaying a Nashua PD badge in that story when he is a U Mass Lowell cop?

He retired from Nashua, so WTF does he still have a badge?

So not only is he self entitled, and a fraud, he goes over the border to MA to get some time in the MA retirement system so he can eat from two troughs.

Now here is where it gets good, and I will play devil's advocate for Mr Webb, who MAY have been a little out of line when the situation started BUT...

the cops side is "I started to open my door, he (Webb) pushes his body against the trunk of my car and says you’ll have to run me over because you’re not going anywhere.”

Then the cop does the " OK you caught me but I am a cop I am not accountable " thing "Childs informed Webb that he is a police officer. He went for his badge."

Now there has been some sort of confrontation between an idiot and a moron, the idiot now goes from the trunk of the car to the hood of the car, takes cover, and draws a weapon......

Let's assume that the L.E.O. reached into the car to get the Nashua PD badge, because he admits he turned his back on the guy that was at the rear of his car blocking his exit, and when he turned around Webb has taken cover and drawn a weapon that up until now has not been displayed or mentioned.

Would a normal person who was making a statement by confronting someone who was violating parking etiquette who probably was acting like an a**h*** be reasonable in taking cover and drawing a weapon if he felt threatened by the actions of the person claiming he was a cop reaching into his car?

"Childs informed Webb that he is a police officer. He went for his badge. And when he turned around, Childs says he was over the hood of the car pointing the gun at his chest."

Reasonable to a jury? I bet Webb's lawyer will be down there looking for any security camera footage.

He is not a superior officer at U Mass Lowell if I had to take a guess, with a 36K budgeted salary.
Childs Scott J. University Police Officer University of Massachusetts $36,733.30 $1,419.44 (2010 total earnings)
Click to expand...
Was there a sense of entitlement on the part of the retired LEO? Seeminly so, but if you really have to try and create a story with no foundation in the record to attempt to justify the acts of a deranged lunatic, you've gone off the reservation.
 
There's a lot of stupidity in that situation, but if I had to rank them on a scale of 1-10:

1. Guy parking in a non-parking space: 0.05

2. Other guy pulling a .38 and pointing it at the other dude: Eleventy billion
 
OfficerObie59 said:
Yeah, because whatever sets off the mentally deranged is primarily the fault of the other person.

If I had the inclination to parked illegally, I should think to myself, "Shit, I hope I don't piss off some crazy luntic who'll want to blow my head off."


Was there a sense of entitlement on the part of the retired LEO? Seeminly so, but if you really have to try and create a story with no foundation in the record to attempt to justify the acts of a deranged lunatic, you've gone off the reservation.
Click to expand...

This. ^

Parking spot behavior is no reason to wait for a guy and pull a gun on him. That's nuts. Those of you putting any of this on the cop who parked like am ass are way off base.
 
OfficerObie59 said:
Was there a sense of entitlement on the part of the retired LEO? Seeminly so, but if you really have to try and create a story with no foundation in the record to attempt to justify the acts of a deranged lunatic, you've gone off the reservation.
Click to expand...

I am just playing devils advocate, and laying out what could be a reasonable defense. There is enough "wrong" to be spread around that everyone around is fully covered.
 
JRyan said:
This. ^

Parking spot behavior is no reason to wait for a guy and pull a gun on him. That's nuts. Those of you putting any of this on the cop who parked like am ass are way off base.
Click to expand...

I wholeheartedly agree with you....If someone (doesnt matter who) parking illegally sets a person off enough to pull a gun on them, then that person deserves all the s**t thats gonna fall on him for doing something that stupid and dangerous...............I would also add that a physciatric (pardon the spelling) examination would be in order also. Dummies such as this are the ones who cause the anti-gun polaticians to come up with all their feel good laws that effect the LAW ABIDING in more negative ways than we care to experience...............
 
Had someone else “not noticed” that he had parked in an illegal parking space, this cop would have not accepted that excuse from the regular Joe parking illegally. He would have stated that ignorance of the law is no excuse! But he is a retired cop, so all excuses are acceptable. BS… the cop was wrong and the douche is insane. But just because the douche is insane does no justify the retired cop’s parking violation. I would have been towed. All non-retired cops or active cops would have been towed. But this retired cop is suddenly some freaking hero? The retired cop was an ass and knew exactly where he was parking. He felt justified in violating the parking regulations because it was raining and he is a retired cop and as such, society owes him a parking space. Just as he probably gets to violating speeding laws… because rules are for the ‘other’ guys… not cops and retired cops. The douche with the 38 is exactly that, a douche. The cop is obviously above the law.
 
Ok, Joshua Webb is a moron. He has an license to conceal carry and he pulled his firearm out because he thought he was the law. The cop parked there because it was pouring out... Big deal. This Joshua fella is really luck the cop wasn't carrying or he could be taking the dirt nap right about now...
 
EC1 said:
Todays Headlines: Cop's car towed for parking in an undesignated location. [smile]
Click to expand...

Dog Bites Man type stuff there ^


Tomorrow's page 7 retraction/correction: "Ticket Fee Waived In Parking Misunderstanding"


Who wants to bet the guy knew the other one was a cop, and there would likely be no repercussions with any other avenue he took. He had enough, and took the cuckoo route to resolve this himself.
 
He has an license to conceal carry and he pulled his firearm out because he thought he was the law.
Click to expand...
It could be that he pulled his gun because he suspected the parker was going for his pocket.

Plenty of innocent people have been killed by (sometimes multiple) cops because the police said it "looked like he was going for a weapon."

The idiot enforcer had no reason to assume the guy was police, and a criminal claiming to be police is a good way to get the drop.

Had the advice, often repeated here, that "when carrying one should avoid conflict if possible", been taken, everyone would have had a better day.

--jcr [apologizing for one of more convoluted sentences I've written]
 
jcr said:
It could be that he pulled his gun because he suspected the parker was going for his pocket.

Plenty of innocent people have been killed by (sometimes multiple) cops because the police said it "looked like he was going for a weapon."

The idiot enforcer had no reason to assume the guy was police, and a criminal claiming to be police is a good way to get the drop.

Had the advice, often repeated here, that "when carrying one should avoid conflict if possible", been taken, everyone would have had a better day.

--jcr [apologizing for one of more convoluted sentences I've written]
Click to expand...


The news report shows the officer stating he went into his car to get his badge.

It is quite possible the individual thought the driver was going for a gun, drew his gun in response. Consider that the location a badge would likely be stored would probably be similar to that one would use to store a loaded handgun (center console, etc.) and the movement is absolutely consistent with going for a gun. Add a few choice words of a less than friendly nature from the officer as he goes for his badge, and a reasonable person might just conclude there is an assault in progress. Guess wrong one way and you go to jail. Guess wrong the other way and you get a free ride to the morgue.

The "professional talkdown" from the police officer may have been nothing other than identifying himself as police, showing his badge, and accepting a gun that was surrendered once the person realized the other party was LEO. Of course, explaining it that way, does not make for good news.

Consider if the roles were reversed - an off duty police officer who draws a gun based on a citizen's movement that, in his professional training, it totally consistent with retrieving a handgun from a car. If anything, the news report would cite the officer's professionalism and restraint in handling a potentially dangerous situation.

At you note, the gun carrier was an idiot for initiating a discussion over something as trivial as a parking space issue while packing, however, he may not be the lunatic ready to shoot over a parking space that the news media makes him out to be.

-----

I just read the article and it mentioned the gun carried announced he was calling the police over the parking violation. So, he is not only stupid enough to get in this sort of confrontation when armed, he actually things the PD is going to respond and do something other than let the person move the car.
 
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I've had a few "discussions" over my parking and nobody ever even came close to pulling a gun on me. I've even been on the other side of "well I'm a cop" and still never seen a gun. The asshat thinking because he had a CC license he was the law is an idiot plain and simple. I don't care who parked odd, illegally or funny nobody should ever point a gun at them. I'm pretty sure you are getting arrested in 100% of all instances.

How some of you think its rational to blame the cop is beyond me.
 
Well, seeing as the parking situation at UML has gone above and beyond full retard (you can't find a parking space on North Campus unless you get there before 7:30am) he's probably just used to making his own parking space. I've done that several times.
 
dhuze said:
How some of you think its rational to blame the cop is beyond me.
Click to expand...

It's not a matter of "blaming the cop", but trying to understand what could have happened given incomplete information (with one side's position being presented as fact by the media).

My guess -

- Subject initiates confrontation
- Off duty cop goes for badge so subject knows he has power over him. (what other reason is there for flashing a badge in a situation such as this?)
- Subject sees a lunge that looks like "going for a gun"
- Subject reacts in a manner that would be "commendable" if done by an off duty officer; "criminal" if done by a civilian

I don't care who parked odd, illegally or funny nobody should ever point a gun at them.
Click to expand...

True - if the gun was pointed for parking. The story is consistent with what would be 100% justified if the person with the gun was an off duty officer and the driver was a civilian reaching for his ID in the vehicle after a heated discussion and using the same motions that would be used to go for a gun.

But, in this case, a reasonable person would never have created that situation in the first place - and that is real source if idiocy in the encounter. Totally, and easily, avoidable.
 
IMHO it sounds like a pair of retards got into an argument over a parking spot, except the guy with the gun went full retard.

-Mike
 

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