Police in Norridgewock, Maine, descended on a man’s home armed with assault rifles. They were responding to a report from a tree removal company that the homeowner ‘had a gun’.
Alas, the “gun” the tree crew had seen on Michael Smith of Norridgewock was just a life-sized tattoo of a handgun on his stomach.
Smith tells the Morning Sentinel the tattoo has never been a problem before. Police didn’t charge him. “Obviously it was a misunderstanding and he didn’t have a weapon, but we had to respond to the initial report as if he did,” Maine State Police Trooper Scott Duff said. “We take all precautions when we don’t have the details.” Norridgewock resident Michael Smith, with a tattoo of a gun at his waistband, stands beside a Somerset County sheriff’s deputy Tuesday morning Trooper Scott Duff points his rifle toward the home of Michael Smith on Tuesday morning as other police call for Smith to come out of the home in Norridgewock. Tree workers called police earlier after they mistook a pistol tattoo on Smith’s stomach for a real firearm Source: Connecticut CBS Photos: Portland Press HeraldSmith works nights and was asleep when the tree crew contracted by a utility to trim branches near power lines, woke him up at about 10 a.m. Tuesday.
He went outside shirtless and yelled at the workers to leave. When he’s not wearing a shirt, the tattoo looks like a gun tucked into his waistband.
The guy’s an idiot, but it didn’t require SWAT.
People in Maine aren’t allowed to have guns in their homes?
Problem is, Mike, the cops had to act on the initial report. And that tattoo does look like a handgun.
Too bad being an ignorant hoplophobe isn’t a crime. Tree morons should be paying some bills,,,
Larry I can go to the door with a gun! It’s not against the law! I am allowed to own one , an he didn’t threaten or pull a gun on anyone! I’d be suing the c**p out of the tree company!
good for the home owner
and yet another case where the police overreact
With his finger on the trigger
Police state
glad he didn’t have to use it…lol