Unlawful Arrest of Murdoch Pizgatti – Come and Take it Texas Member
Murdoch Pizgatti has been arrested on bogus charges. Below is the story straight from CJ Grisham. CJ you will remember is the one that was unlawfully arrested last March. His whole court case is still ongoing, but Murdoch and a few others helped throw together the COME AND TAKE IT Temple event this last June. We had a VERY large turnout. CJ and Murdoch and a few others helped get Open Carry Texas started (link at the bottom of this post), which helps educate the public (and officers) on the legality of Open Carrying a Rifle in Texas.
Story of the incident that happened today (the 7th of August):
THIS IS PRIORITY CALL TO ACTION. READ AND SHARE THIS EVERYWHERE YOU CAN!!
One of our founding members, Murdoch, has just been arrested and booked for “criminal trespass” and “weapon in a prohibited area” in McAllen, Texas. He was on public property. He went to the police station to inform them that he was going to take a picture with his rifle in front of the police department as we have done in several other cities around the state. They immediately and illegally searched him and confiscated his legally possessed K-bar (only 5 1/4 inches long) and told him to leave, which he did. He then decided to return to file a formal complaint and called the police department to let them know he was coming back to do so. When he arrived at the police station, officers immediately drew on him, forced him to the ground, and arrested him. HE NEVER ONCE OPENLY CARRIED HIS FIREARM; IT WAS IN HIS TRUCK THE ENTIRE TIME. He will be at the McAllen jail overnight and then is getting transferred to County in the morning.
OCT board members did a conference call with the Lieutenant to explain that they are violating the law and illegally detained our member. He said that Murdoch couldn’t “alarm” people and that the courthouse and jail were attached to the back side of the police station. This is not a crime as long as there isn’t a capital offense being tried, which there wasn’t. When we explained the law to the Lieutenant and explained that we would bring down as many members as we could to open carry on their doorstep if they didn’t release him, he hung up on us.
McAllen Police Department Chief of Police Victor Rodriguez
McAllen Police Department Chief of Police Victor RodriguezWe need as many people as we can muster to rally at the McAllen Police Department at noon on Saturday to put the police department there on notice that our rights will not be infringed. I will create an event page and share in both forums. I know this is way out of the way, but if we don’t stand up where we can, we have no business being here.
THIS IS WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD. THIS IS WHAT WE DO. WE CANNOT AFFORD TO SIT IDLY BY.
If you’d like to contact the police department, here is their contact information:
Police Department
1601 N. Bicentennial Blvd.
McAllen, TX 78501 (Map)Phone: (956) 681-2000
There you have it. This cannot be tolerated. Anyone who can show up, please do so. I can’t make it all the way down due to personal constraints. We will still be walking Denton, Texas with our rifles in support… as far as I am aware. This will all be on Saturday.
PLEASE CALL THE DEPARTMENT. EMAIL THEM. FAX THEM.
Fax number: 956-681-2081
Help out in any way you can. Spread the word. The PR alone will help take these LEO’s down a peg, if they don’t know the law yet… they will learn.
-Matthew Pizgatti
LINKS:
http://opencarrytexas.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/mccallen-texas-call-to-action
http://thelibertyzone.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/some-tyranny-for-your-wednesday-night
The police need to be educated on the law & stop over-stepping the law and their own authority!. The LT should be disciplined for very poor handling of this situation and very bad PR!
Indeed. They need a large lawsuit and a mob of patriots on their doorsteps. 😉
The police doesn`t know the Law , or doesn`t care and They Need to be Educated .
The Purpose of the police is to Serve and Protect ; their Paycheck comes from our Taxes , I wonder if They know that ; what do they teach at the Police Academy ??????Do they take a Refreshing Course on New Laws ????? Now Because of all these Problems , We the People , We the Polite Citizens have to become their Instructors . I participated in many Open Carry and I always insisted on a Courtesy call to the police informing them of our actions , but now because of events such as this one in McAllen , I guess we have to Follow on a different Common Courtesy , on Writing , about our Right to Carry Openly and , in my opinion we should send this message to every police department in the State of Texas. This action by the McAllen police is * Abuse of Power and over-stepping the law and their own authority *
I agree. We should all start writing to all of the police departments across the state. Let them know that this is their warning. If they don’t know…they will now.
Was this this the the 10th on Sat.?? or Next Sat. on the 17th ?? I can post this on my facebook page.
The arrest was on Wednesday. The 7th? I believe.