Dress Up as a “Ninja” and…

…get arrested. Our nations finest at work. Apparently the University of Georgia student was coming from a party with the theme of “Pirates vs. Ninjas” and our brave men and women of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms are prepared for anything…including ninjas. So they drew their weapons, pointed them at the young party-goer then put him on the ground and knelt on his kneck even after he was handcuffed. Obviously because ninjas are so darned sneaky and he could have thrown a ninja-star at each and ever ATF agent…or something.

“Seeing someone with something across the face, from a federal standpoint — that’s not right,” McLemore said, explaining why agents believed something to be amiss.

PSA: If you are going to be around idiots…err I mean federal agents, be sure not to wear anything over your face. If you’re riding a motor cycle make sure the helmet does not have an opaque face plate. If you are painting or doing other similar work that requires some sort of mask, skip the mask. And if it is cold outside for God’s sake do not wear a scarf around the lower portion of your face with a knit-stocking hat. Your life may depend on it.

FILED UNDER: Uncategorized, ,
Steve Verdon
About Steve Verdon
Steve has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and attended graduate school at The George Washington University, leaving school shortly before staring work on his dissertation when his first child was born. He works in the energy industry and prior to that worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Division of Price Index and Number Research. He joined the staff at OTB in November 2004.

Comments

  1. Fersboo says:

    Steve, don’t be such an ass. If he ended killing somebody and it came to light that federal agents hed the ability to stop him before he committed the killing, you’d be braying with the rest of them about how the cops don’t do their job.

  2. Steve Verdon says:

    Right…exactly how many people were killed by ninjas last year? Oh yeah, none.

  3. Steven Plunk says:

    It all goes back to the type of training our law enforcement officers receive.

    No longer is a cop part of the community but now is a separate class of enforcer who must assume all are guilty and then treat them as such. Routine traffic stops often result in drawn guns and just try to engage a police officer in civil debate concerning law enforcement.

    Police today regard themselves as a private fraternity with secrets to be kept and outsiders treated as threats.

    As individuals they are usually polite, kind, and just like the rest of us. As a group they should frighten us to some degree. The photo of the arrested ninja, with the officers knee on his neck, shows us what could happen to any one of us.

    The training and police culture are the problems and that is the fault of management.

  4. Steve Verdon says:

    But Steve you’re being an ass…oopps sorry and ass.

    But in all fairness to Fersboo, ninjas are scary. Those ATF agents are lucky he didn’t flip out and cut of their heads.

    Oh and ninjas are mamals…I did not know that.

  5. floyd says:

    the steves are right on this one fersboo! this country needs less of this kind of “protection” and more personal backbone, or we’ll never get our freedom back.

  6. CWM says:

    Yep, Plunk, we are a different group. Not long ago I did damn near the same thing to two late teens wearing all black around the back of a McDonalds. Guess what? They had handguns in their jackets and were planning an armed robbery.
    You and Verdon sound like pompous asses making stupid generalizations so you can complain about the people laying their safety on the line so your sister doesn’t get raped, so your mother doesn’t get robbed, and so your wife doesn’t get shot while at work.
    Nobody believes the ATF stopped these kids because they thought they were ninjas who were going to hurt them with throwing stars.

  7. Fersboo says:

    When I first read about this story, I was under the impression that this had occurred at night(I saw this elsewhere, but can’t remember where). Given it is broad daylight, I think Steve, in his way, may have been right about ATF over-reacting. BTW Steve, detention is not arrest.

    I was never a law enforcement officer, nor was I a MP, but I have over 10 years experience in the security field and have worked closely with law enforcement. Things that are out of the ordinary must be investigated. So I don’t fault them too much for detaining the student until they could figure out what was going on.

    The ATF were probably out of their element, but they did seem a bit over-zealous.

  8. Steve Verdon says:

    CWM,

    Get off your high horse.

    Fersboo,

    I don’t mind checking out the suspicious, but geez, look at that picture. They have him handcuffed, on the ground and there is an ATF agent kneeling on his kneck/upper back. If I did something like that, as a private citizen, to somebody I thought was being suspicious I have little doubt I’d be arrested.

    The cops work for us. They should answer to us. Instead there is all too often a screen of secrecy and silence that falls into place when they screw up. That is unacceptable.

  9. floyd says:

    cwm; what used to be “police protection” is now “law enforcement”. if you don’t see the difference than i’m better off without you. though sore tempted, i’ll refrain from name calling![BTW my epithet’s are far more clever than yours].