On March 16, 2013, my son and I were hiking along country roads among pastures and fields with my 15-year old son to help him earn his hiking merit badge. I always enjoy these father/son hikes because it gives me time alone with my son. As I always do when we go on these hikes and walks, I took my trusty rifle with me as there are coyotes, wild hogs, and cougars in our area. In Texas, it is legal to openly carry a rifle or shotgun as long as you do so in a manner that isn't calculated to cause alarm. In other words, you can't walk around waving your rifle at people. I always carry my rifle slung across my chest dangling, not holding it in my hands.
At about the 5 mile mark of our hike, a voice behind us asked us to stop and the officer motioned for us to approach him. He got out of his car and met us a few feet later. He asked us what we were doing and I explained that we were hiking for my son's merit badge. He then asked me what I'm doing with the rifle, to which I responded in a calm manner, "Does it matter, officer? Am I breaking the law?"
At that point, the officer grabbed my rifle without warning or indication. He didn't ask for my rifle and he didn't suggest he would take it from me. He simply grabbed it. This startled me and I instantly pulled back - the rifle was attached to me - and I asked what he thought he was doing because he's not taking my rifle. He then pulled his service pistol on me and told me to take my hands off the weapon and move to his car, which I complied with. He then slammed me into the hood of his car and I remembered I had a camera on me (one of the requirements of the hiking merit badge is to document your hikes). This video is the rest of that encounter. Up to this point, I am not told why I am being stopped, why he tried to disarm me, or even that I'm under arrest.
We did not set out that Saturday morning to "make a point" or cause problems. Our goal was to complete a 10-mile hike and return home without incident. My son chose a route that away from populated areas but near our home.
The arresting officer is Officer Steve Ermis and the supervisor is Sergeant Minnicks of the Temple Police Department.
A decorated war veteran on a Boy Scout hike with his 15-year-old son was arrested alongside a Texas country road after a police officer accused him of "rudely displaying" a firearm.
Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham told Fox News he was illegally disarmed by members of the Temple Police Dept. -- even though he held the proper permits to carry his weapons.
Grisham and his son were on a 10-mile hike in a rural area populated by wild boars and cougars. He was carrying an AR-15 rifle and a .45 caliber pistol.
He was charged with resisting arrest -- even though video his son filmed of the incident clearly showed that Grisham did not resist arrest. Police later reduced the charges to interfering with a peace officer while performing a duty -- a class B misdemeanor.
"I'm still frankly and honestly 100 percent confused about what I'm being charged with," Grisham said.
Temple Police told local media that the Fort Hood soldier refused to hand of his weapon -- leading to his arrest. However, the video shows that Grisham complied with their demands.
One of the officers told Grisham that anyone holding a gun is considered dangerous, according to a 15-minute video obtained by Fox News.
"In this day and age people are alarmed when they see someone with what you have," one of the officers told a handcuffed Grisham. "They don't care what the law is."
At one point in the video Grisham asked the officers why they failed to ask to see his carry and conceal permit.
The video shows the arresting officer telling the Fort Hood soldier that he was "rudely displaying" the AR-15.
Grisham, who is a "huge Constitutionalist," then asked the officer if he cared what the law is.
"The easy wrong would have been to surrender my rights and allow the cops to disarm me," he said. "That's the easy wrong to me. The hard right is putting ourselves on the line knowing that something could happen."
Grisham told Fox News he plans on fighting the charges and suing the police department for what he considered to be an illegal arrest and violating his Constitutional rights.
"For the first time in my life, I had to sit in jail," he said. "I've never been in jail -- never been accused of a crime. I was treated like a street thug."
A pre-trial hearing has been set for May 29th.
Grisham, a well-known military blogger, is a decorated veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He's served in the military for more than 18 years and was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor. But he came under fire within the military for a blog posting that was critical of President Obama. Columnist Michelle Malkin once wrote about Grisham's plight.
The master sergeant, his wife and their three children live on a farm in Temple -- about two miles from where he was arrested.
Grisham's trouble with the law started in mid-March. His son Chris was working on one of the final merit badges he needed to become an Eagle Scout. Chris had chosen hiking.
Father and son grabbed their gear and headed out on a blustery Saturday morning to hike about 10 miles. They were midway through the trip when Grisham turned around and saw a police car.
"At that point I heard him tell us to hold on a second and he motioned for me and my son to come back," Grisham said. "He didn't have his lights on. Everything was calm and casual. He asked what we were doing."
Grisham had his AR-15 slung around the front of his body -- a rifle he's been using since he joined the military.
At some point the officer pulled his pistol on the father and son and grabbed Grisham's AR-15.
"He slammed me onto the hood of the car," he said. "I had my hands straight up and that's when I saw our camera -- and turned it on."
For the next 15 minutes, Grisham's son recorded the entire incident.
"I wanted to make sure that we had everything on film," he said. "Everything that happened that day was manufactured by the police officer. We weren't out there to make a statement. Our intention was to hike 10 miles and go home."
By all indications, Grisham was arrested just because he was legally carrying his firearms.
And as bad as he was treated, Grisham said he is furious over how the police treated his son.
Chris followed his dad's instructions to keep the videotape going -- even though it's clear the incident took an emotional toll on the boy. As the officers put Grisham in the back of the car, the video picked up sounds of Chris crying.
The officers told Grisham they would take the boy home.
"I told him not to answer any questions," Grisham said. "I told him not to answer a single question until his mother was there -- and she would answer the questions for him."
But that's not what happened.
Chris told Fox News that the police officer refused to let him out of the car until he answered a series of questions. The boy had not been arrested.
"The officer told me that I wasn't getting out of the patrol car until I answered his questions," Chris said. "He said I didn't have a choice. I was scared."
Grisham said his boy was traumatized by the incident.
"Every time he sees a police officer he has a panic attack," he said. "That's unfortunate because we always taught our kids to respect police officers. My wife and I are angry about it."
He said he explained to his son that they did nothing wrong on that day.
"My son has his own copy of the Constitution," Grisham said. "He understands his rights. He understand the concept of choosing the hard right over the easy wrong."
Chris told Fox News that he looks up to his father -- and admires him for what he did on the side of that road.
"When I grow up, I want to be like him -- he inspires me," the 15-year-old said.
Grisham said the events of last month have led him to question why he is still in the military.
"It doesn't seem like our rights are being respected," he said. "For me, it's a difficult turning point. I wonder what it is that I'm fighting for. If our basic rights are being violated this way -- what is my purpose?"
And as Grisham awaits his court date, Chris is gearing up to start his Eagle Scout project. The teenager will be working on a local historic cemetery -- repairing headstones and replacing signs.
But the young boy wonders what will happen to his dad.
-- Posted by Some Random Guy on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 8:23 AM
Dissident.
What are you talking about they take Guns away and drive him of to jail.
-- Posted by Some Random Guy on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 8:24 AM
Sure wish the video was started at the time the officer pulled up. I am not siding with the officer but a guy walking with a youngster and carrying a gun,legal or not,I don't blame him for checking it out. How the situation escalated to the point we see in the video is only one mans word so far. I'd like to see a dashboard video from the patrol car if so equipped. I had a similar situation once. No guns involved but was trespassing. Did not know I was somewhere I shouldn't have been,was p*ssed but polite when police showed up. Put up my hands,got patted,showed my ID,explained the situation and went on my way.
-- Posted by bothedog on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 9:01 AM
"In his own words , they were not taken to jail but let go , where are you getting " drive him off to jail " ??
It says the father was driven off to jail, the son was driven home. However, the son was told not to answer questions until he was home with his mother, but the officer did not permit that, and refused to allow him out of the car until he had answered the questions. Either the officer had never heard of Miranda rights, he didn't care about Miranda rights, or he didn't think they applied to juveniles. In any case, the officer appears to be in the wrong.
The curious thing is that this is Texas, where the open carry of firearms usually does not raise an eyebrow.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 10:19 AM
"Fox News" ?? ..geeezzzz
Shooting the messenger, again? Geeezzzz!
"Again , no mention of the hand-gun , just the open assault weapon ."
It was an AR-15, not an assault weapon.
"I would think anyone who has nothing to hide would just co-operate with the LEO's ,"
Gotta love that argument. If they were committing no crime, what right has the officer to stop them and seize their lawfully-carried weapon? The only crime with which they are charged has to do with resisting the officer, no mention of any crime which would have justified the officer's attempt to sieze the firearm in the first place.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 10:26 AM
Too many What-ifs about this whole thing.
-- Posted by bothedog on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 10:54 AM
This should give you clear meaning of current efforts to disarm the public. The second amendment was ratified so citizens would have means to protect themselves from a tyrannical government. So only a tyrannical government would seek to disarms it citizens. Quite an ironic situation. Gun control efforts have nothing to do with public safety as claimed.
-- Posted by jadip4me on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 11:13 AM
Been reading up on this incident a bit more. Apparently he has been creating quite a stir in Temple before this happened. Was he "cruisin' for a bruisin'"? Did the officer know him? Who called about him? Still too many what-ifs to make this a big 2nd amendment violation.
-- Posted by bothedog on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 11:21 AM
While some aspects of this are troubling, read up on Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) and it is not as clear cut as many might think.
You could not pay me enough to be a Police Officer, stop and question a guy carrying an AR platform rifle with a thirty round mag and catch heck for it or ignore the same guy and he shoots up a school or mall and catch heck.
I believe both the guy stopped and the Police could have handled this better and it wouldn't have gone that far.
As mentioned, we did not see this from the beginning for some reason.
-- Posted by 356 on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 11:30 AM
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 11:31 AM
"What happens next? "I still don't have my guns back and they took my concealed-carry license. I'm not accused of a gun crime, so there's no reason for them to have my guns right now and the problem is that, what's happened in the past with other soldiers is that the prosecutors will try and get the soldiers to agree to the police dropping the charges if they confiscate the gun -- to have the charges dropped at the expense of their gun. This is a workaround loophole for gun confiscation."
"Does this happen to soldiers a lot? I ask. "Yes, this has happened several times in this area. To Staff Sergeant Nate Samson, for example. He had to fight these guys for ten months. The charges were dropped, but he has no justice. He doesn't have a lot of money to fight them. I have a pretrial hearing on May 29. The police are dragging their feet, not releasing the video. They're waiting as long as they can -- playing hard to get. . . . The reason I'm aggressive on this is that, in the military, if this happens, they initiate a flag that halts your career. You can't take leave, you can't be promoted, can't receive awards or decorations. I am supposed to move to new base in July. I can't do that. I've been on active duty for 18 and a half years and it's got my career on a hold"."
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 11:41 AM
The curious thing is that this is Texas, where the open carry of firearms usually does not raise an eyebrow.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 10:19 AM
The world is is full of alarmists.
An example I thought I would never see in the sunny south. This winter in Foley, Alabama, a lady called in a cruelty to animals complaint on a man who raised horses on a small farm but within the city limits. The man had used his pickup truck to go to the pasture where he put bridles on 3 horses, hitched them to the tailgate and was idling back to the barnyard. The officer dispatched to the scene of this "crime" arrested him on a cruelty to animals charge and it took him 3 days to get out of jail. This was information given to me by a friend of the man arrested.
Where does common sense enter the picture on situations today?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 11:52 AM
Wheels
I remember that was the way my uncle moved his horses to different pasture down the road. Thank god the guy didn't have them hooked to a plow.
-- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 12:02 PM
Regrets,
Don't you dare mention hooking horses to a plow in my presence!
I still remember how long it too my Dad, my Uncle and a boy to plow 18 acres with 6 horses and 3 walking plows. I think the boy.... me, was about nine maybe 10 at the time
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 12:30 PM
Actually they were mules not horses.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 12:31 PM
"But it's on 'youtube.com' ??"
I think he's talking about the squad car video. Many police departments have them. The video on YouTube is the one his son filmed, and it begins only after the confrontation had begun.
If the squad car was equipped with a camera, then it would chronicle the entire event, beginning with the initial contact.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 12:42 PM
The decay of our society (nut cases, killers, gangs, etc.) is not a reason to begin harassing legal citizens. I know it happens all the time.
I remember in the small town I was raised in SE Missouri you would see people nearly every day walking around with a rifle and a few squirrels slung over their back or rabbits on a rope, etc. No one - not a single person - thought a thing about it. As a matter of fact we all knew each other.
In that same town I would venture if you open-carried a .22 rifle on your shoulder today you would get stopped. Why? Lawsuits.
Like one poster above said, if you let the guy go and he kills a dozen people down the street you will be sued, harangued, threatened and probably lose your job. The city would be sued as well. Today's nanny-state says that someone always must be at fault besides the perpetrator. I can just see the lawsuits against the city and police of Boston coming.
Apparently (jury still out) it sounds like he did not violate a single law. Let's face it, even if he was perfectly legal and acted calmly some LEO's will still violate your rights simply out of fear.
-- Posted by not_sorry on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 1:24 PM
Let's face it, even if he was perfectly legal and acted calmly some LEO's will still violate your rights simply out of fear.
-- Posted by Dug on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 1:24 PM
You are right on. Many years ago I was stopped because of the make and color of the automobile I was driving. It seems a similar car had been used earlier in the day in a bank holdup. In a matter of seconds there were cops everywhere.
I will never forget the image of Ms. Wyatt Earp standing in the ditch between the service road and the highway, facing the front of my car. She was absolutely ready to practice her fast draw if I had batted an eyelash in her direction, in my opinion.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 1:58 PM
Back in the 1990s, a friend and second-amendment rights activist set out to walk from Illinois to Washington D.C. to attend a second-amendment rally that was to be held there. He dressed as a minuteman and carried a old-fashioned flintlock rifle of the type commonly associated with the revolutionary war. I do not recall if it was a working model.
All went well until he arrived in Ohio. There, it was apparently reported that a man was walking through town brandishing a firearm, and he was stopped and questioned. He was told, in no uncertain terms, that he and his firearm were not welcome in that particular county.
In cities and small towns across America, there are statues and other images of the minuteman with his firearm and powder horn, standing at the ready to defend America's freedom. But, alas! That minuteman would no longer be welcome in parts of America. I find that rather sad.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 2:15 PM
People use to drive around with gun racks in their pick-up's back window too . I believe theft stopped this more then anything else .
-- Posted by Dissident. on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 2:40 PM
Diss,
I had a friend, now from Texas who bought a new Lexus and he and I would visit SEMO doing some Genealogy digging. I kept telling him, if he didn't put a gun rack in the back window people would think he didn't live in Bollinger County.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 17, 2013, at 3:17 PM
Menu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8r4MK3R4PI
Published on Apr 15, 2013
On March 16, 2013, my son and I were hiking along country roads among pastures and fields with my 15-year old son to help him earn his hiking merit badge. I always enjoy these father/son hikes because it gives me time alone with my son. As I always do when we go on these hikes and walks, I took my trusty rifle with me as there are coyotes, wild hogs, and cougars in our area. In Texas, it is legal to openly carry a rifle or shotgun as long as you do so in a manner that isn't calculated to cause alarm. In other words, you can't walk around waving your rifle at people. I always carry my rifle slung across my chest dangling, not holding it in my hands.
At about the 5 mile mark of our hike, a voice behind us asked us to stop and the officer motioned for us to approach him. He got out of his car and met us a few feet later. He asked us what we were doing and I explained that we were hiking for my son's merit badge. He then asked me what I'm doing with the rifle, to which I responded in a calm manner, "Does it matter, officer? Am I breaking the law?"
At that point, the officer grabbed my rifle without warning or indication. He didn't ask for my rifle and he didn't suggest he would take it from me. He simply grabbed it. This startled me and I instantly pulled back - the rifle was attached to me - and I asked what he thought he was doing because he's not taking my rifle. He then pulled his service pistol on me and told me to take my hands off the weapon and move to his car, which I complied with. He then slammed me into the hood of his car and I remembered I had a camera on me (one of the requirements of the hiking merit badge is to document your hikes). This video is the rest of that encounter. Up to this point, I am not told why I am being stopped, why he tried to disarm me, or even that I'm under arrest.
We did not set out that Saturday morning to "make a point" or cause problems. Our goal was to complete a 10-mile hike and return home without incident. My son chose a route that away from populated areas but near our home.
The arresting officer is Officer Steve Ermis and the supervisor is Sergeant Minnicks of the Temple Police Department.
If you agree this was a gross act of exceeded authority, please help me fight these charges: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/2nd-amendment-legal-defense-fund
Replies (20)