NM - Alamogordo police pay $21,000 to settle open carry lawsuit

[Dial 1911 for Help]

As reported in the Alamogordo Daily News today, the Alamogordo, NM Police have paid $21,000 to settle with Matthew A. St. John whom police detained for open carrying a holstered handgun at a movie theater. This settlement follows a host of settlements by police departments around the country with plaintiffs who were detained by police for openly carrying a holstered handgun, including Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Virginia (see another settlement here), and Georgia. More cases are still pending in Ohio, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Link to DC Gun Rights Examiner Article (http://www.examiner.com/x-2782-DC-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m9d29-Alamogordo-police-pay-21000-to-settle-open-carry-lawsuit)

[Aguila Blanca]

Excellent!

[d90king]

Yeah, this was a pretty silly theatre manager... "He has a gun and is watching a movie about killers"... Keep hitting them in the wallet until they learn to respect freedom...

[Dial 1911 for Help]

I'd call this more of a love pat than "hitting them in the wallet". If he had actually done something wrong, it would have cost him a lot more than $21K to get out of it, and acting under color of authority, the standards should be higher and the penalties harsher for police officers if they do something wrong (obviously immunity should apply for honest understandable MISTAKES). Then there is the fact that multiple individuals were involved, each of which should face substantial liability. I would have expected, and been much happier with a settlement at least in the low six figures. Civil rights violations under color of authority deserve more than a slap on the wrist. The cops who beat Rodney King faced far worse (in double jeopardy!), and King was actually guilty of something -- not that he deserved what he got.