Regular readers of this website will both know that we don’t hold the police to any higher gun safety standard than anyone else who owns a firearm. Not pointing your gun at people you don’t want to kill is an excellent rule for law enforcement and civilians alike. Actually, hold on a mo. Maybe I should say that a gun owner should never point his or her gun at someone they aren’t going to kill, as opposed to wanting to kill. As Hannah Montana reminded me some 4,345 times, nobody’s perfect. “Prosecutors accused [off-duty San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy Richard Charles] Heverly, who is assigned to West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, of confronting the tow truck driver on Aug. 10, 2008, after encountering the accident scene about 50 miles east of Indio,” the redlandsdailyfacts.com reports.
According to the tow truck driver, Roger Gilstrap of Blythe, Heverly flashed his badge and said it entitled him to “do whatever the (expletive) I want to do,” then ordered Gilstrap to move his truck. Gilstrap refused Heverly’s demands, and told Heverly he was on the phone with the California Highway Patrol. When Gilstrap refused further demands from Heverly, the off-duty sheriff’s deputy allegedly handcuffed the driver, drilled the barrel of his pistol into Gilstrap’s ear, and said he would kill him.
Which he didn’t, apparently. Note to responsible gun owners: don’t try this at home.
