Helicopter, cruisers dispatched in response to man open carrying, taking pictures of federal courthouse

Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse Phoenix, AZ image credit: Florian/Flickr

Madison Ruppert
Activist Post

A police helicopter and two patrol cars were dispatched in response to Jordan McManus of Phoenix, Arizona photographing a federal courthouse while open carrying a .45 caliber pistol, as seen in a video uploaded on August 6, 2013.

It’s quite surprising that, as McManus wrote, “Nothing dramatic ever really happened,” especially given the some officers’ response to being filmed, as I thoroughly outlined in a recent article.

McManus reportedly decided to conduct the “1st and 4th Amendment test” on August 5 after reading about the troubling experiences of Raymond Michael Rodden after he took pictures of the federal courthouse and state capitol in Phoenix.

He arrived at the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse around 11 pm, according to the description accompanying his YouTube video (embedded below).

McManus parked his truck nearby and walked around the perimeter of the courthouse towards the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) headquarters while taking pictures.

He circled the PPD building and was heading back towards his truck when he saw two officers about a block away from him, at which time he activated his cell phone camera.

A spotlight from a low-flying police helicopter illuminated him, as seen in the video below, and he quickly realized that he was “being swarmed from every angle by PPD officers.”

The officer who initiated contact with McManus attempted to disarm him, though McManus refused to allow the seizure.

“Now I know I could have just kept my mouth shut and not played along with their game and not answered any of their questions, but I guess I have to admit it was kind of fun, as you can tell from some of my answers to the PPD questions,” McManus wrote.

“Nothing dramatic ever really happened but I must say they sure did have one hell of a show of force with 15+ officers and an Air unit,” he wrote.

McManus seems to admit that his attitude was a little bit different from what the officers probably hoped for.

In the clip he said that, “the only thing in my backpack is not a pressure cooker,” which he said “because I overheard one of the officers behind me state that ‘we need to search his backpack.’”

“I felt like responding with a smart ass answer. This has changed my mind,” he wrote.

Some of the YouTube comments also noted some of the answers McManus provided to the police, including the statement that his birthday was, “Every year.”

What do you think of his attitude? Was he just looking for trouble or was his response to being “swarmed” by officers and a helicopter reasonable? Should police respond to a man open carrying a pistol with such a show of force?

Let us know what you think in the comments section of this post or by leaving us a note on our Facebook page or Twitter.

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This article first appeared at End the Lie.

Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on UCYTV Monday nights 7 PM – 9 PM PT/10 PM – 12 AM ET. Show page link here: http://UCY.TV/EndtheLie. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at [email protected]