''No Warnings'' for accidental felonies in Montgomery Co.
June 17, 2004
WHIOtv.com
Deputies Arrest Alleged Concealed Carry Law Violator
DAYTON, Ohio -- A Dayton man reportedly becomes Montgomery County's first person to violate the concealed carry law after deputies said he took a gun into a court building.
Investigators said Douglas Lyons walked into the Common Pleas Courts building in downtown Dayton on Tuesday with the gun.
Law enforcement officials say permit owners need to be careful about where they carry concealed weapons. They said gun owners are aware of what the law is and that there will be no warnings, but arrests.
If convicted, Lyons faces six months to a year in jail.
UPDATE! Dayton Daily News coverage
Commentary:
Statistics from across the nation confirm that CHL-holders are convicted of crimes at far less than the national average. When they ARE convicted, it is usually for non-violent crimes, often related to entering a restricted location or other minor non-CCW-related infractions.
No information was provided in this story as to whether or not this courthouse voluntarily provides the ability for CHL-holders to secure their firearms, as described in R.C. 2923.123 (B)(6), nor where those services might have been located in relation to the metal detectors.
What is most interesting about this story is the fact that the Montgomery Co. sheriff's office is warning CHL-holders that they will not give warnings, but will arrest, anyone caught mistakenly carrying in a restricted area.
In neighboring Shelby County, it appears that Sheriff Kevin O'Leary may have been the first person in the county to violate the concealed carry law, by releasing confidential information about concealed handgun license-holders to the media. O'Leary says the release was an accident, caused by his misunderstanding the words "county of residence" to mean "street address".
Under 2923.123 (D)(1), illegal conveyance of a firearm in a courthouse is a fifth degree felony - just as is the release or dissemination of confidential records by sheriffs.
In a press release announcing the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the Shelby Co. sheriff, OFCC President Jeff Garvas was quoted as saying that "although our organization considers what O'Leary did to be a serious crime, we feel it is one of numerous instances where Ohio's concealed carry law has made a felony out of something that simply doesn't warrant felony charges."
With the limited information that is currently available, Mr. Douglas' arrest appears to be another example of the types of accidental felonies Mr. Garvas was referring to.
The Montgomery Co. sheriff's office appears ready to enforce ANY breach of this law by a CHL-holder, regardless of circumstances. Will the Special Prosecutor Gary Nasal treat Sheriff Kevin O'Leary as such, or will a double-standard be enforced?
Click on the "Read More..." link below for another story which raises questions about double-standards when law enforcement officials are accused of breaking the law.
June 16, 2004
Columbus Dispatch
ROAD-RAGE ALLEGATION
Deputy threatened him with gun, cabbie says
A Franklin County deputy sheriff with a history of angry outbursts is under investigation for an alleged road-rage incident toward a Columbus cabbie.
Chief Deputy Steve Martin said yesterday that the department’s internal-affairs unit is looking into a complaint that Deputy Tressa Brinkley threatened cab driver Steve Schumaker last month by pointing a handgun at him and shouting, "I’ll shoot you dead."
The 31-year-old deputy, wearing street clothes and driving a convertible, never identified herself as a law-enforcement officer, the cabbie said.
Martin said he couldn’t discuss the matter.
Brinkley also declined to comment yesterday. Her attorney, Mark Collins, said his client did nothing wrong and never pointed a gun at the cabbie.
Schumaker, however, said he knows what he saw and heard.
The alleged incident began about 2 p.m. May 17, while Schumaker was driving a fare through Berwick.
Brinkley’s convertible "shot by us and just cut right over in front of us," the cabbie said. "We slammed on the brakes."
Schumaker said he honked his horn and swapped obscene gestures with the convertible’s driver. The exchange continued for several blocks, he said, until the two vehicles stopped side by side at a red light near Livingston and College avenues.
"Next thing I know, she lifts up a gun, a black pistol, and she says, ‘I’ll shoot you dead.’ " the cabbie said.
"My passenger — he hits the floor. I ducked forward and hit the gas ’cause I was afraid I was going to get shot in the head or something."
Using his cell phone, Schumaker called police to report what had happened.
"Yeah, I got a lady in a car pulled a gun on me," he told a 911 dispatcher, according to a police tape of the call.
Schumaker then followed the convertible, giving police directions as the chase unfolded. Brinkley, he said, sped through several stop signs and, at times, approached 100 mph.
"You gotta get this lady," the cabbie told a dispatcher on the tape. "She’s got a 9 mm automatic."
About 16 minutes later, according to the tape, several Columbus squad cars stopped Brinkley’s convertible, not far from where Schumaker’s pursuit had begun.
Schumaker said the officers ordered Brinkley from her car and told her to place her hands in the air.
A few minutes later, however, the officers’ demeanor toward Brinkley changed dramatically, he said.
"She put her hands down, turned around and started laughing, and then that’s when me and the passenger were like, ‘That doesn’t sound too good,’ " the cabbie said.
"That’s when one of the police officers walked back and said, ‘Oh, by the way, that’s a Franklin County sheriff.’
"The gentlemen talked to her, then basically just let her go. Me and the passenger, we sat there for another 20, 30 minutes and filled out forms."
Schumaker’s fare, Daniel Irwin of Columbus, offered a similar account. He said he was taking Schumaker’s cab home when Brinkley’s convertible zipped past.
"She cut him off, and he slammed on his brakes," Irwin said. "He passed her and she cut him off again. He’s yelling. She’s yelling. She pulled the gun and yelled something. I said, ‘Oh, ----,’ and I ducked down in the seat."
Irwin said he’d be willing to testify.
The Franklin County sheriff’s office hired Brinkley in September 1994. She initially worked as a corrections deputy in the jail and then in the children’s-services unit. Three months ago, she transferred to patrol.
Brinkley’s personnel file contains several references to anger-management difficulties:
• In a performance review filed in October 1996, a supervisor wrote: "Dep. Brinkley seems to have a short temper and oftentimes esculates (sic) the situation instead of defusing it. . . . She sometimes lets her emotions override how she handles the situation."
• In a review in September 2000, a supervisor wrote: "Deputy Brinkley has a habit of trying to yell louder than an irate inmate. This has the potential to escalate an already bad situation."
• In December 2002, Brinkley was suspended two days without pay for failing to report for duty and for "shouting out during roll call that you hated Deputy Chad Bennett."
• In September, she was suspended three days without pay for unbecoming conduct, for "threatening to do physical harm to Columbus Police Officer W.A. Harris by stating, ‘I’ll kick your old ---.’ "
Schumaker said he’s frustrated that the sheriff’s office merely opened an investigation.
"I just know that if I pulled a gun on someone," he said, "I’d be sitting in jail, and I’d be doing some time for it."
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Other coverage of this incident (print and TV news report video):
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