A Wayne County Department of Public Service groundskeeper (Detroit - which should say a lot for this story) is fired with just 2 years left until retirement. Why, do you ask? Did he steal something? Did he commit a horrible atrocity?
No.
He found a loaded snub-nosed revolver in the bushes while he was mowing. He secured the handgun and called the police and waited. And waited. And waited. Now, if you haven't heard the Detroit PD isn't exactly snappy on response times. If you're getting assaulted with a deadly weapon and you're lucky they'll show up the next day to take a report. If you're actually shot, they might show up later that day. Not wanting to leave something like a loaded handgun laying around in a public park, he took the firearm to the police station near where he lived and turned it in.
The gun ended up being reported as stolen. The police said he did the right thing. Of course they did. It means they will not have to make a trip out there the next day to look around.
But here is where it gets stupid. This guy did the right thing. I wouldn't want to touch a found gun and if I had to I would take it straight to a local station, but what do you do when the police never show up? You have to understand the mindset of people that have probably not even seen a gun and really do not understand anything about them or how to handle them. So, of course, happy ending, gun of the street with no one injured and the county fired him.
Wait, what? You got it. The county fired him. Policy violation for not reporting it, you say? Nope. Sleeping on the job while waiting for the police? Nope.
Get this: the county says employees aren't allowed to possess weapons on work property. The very act of taking a dangerous firearm and securing it so that some random child playing in the park will not shoot themselves just isn't ok with Wayne County. Touching guns = bad. Period. Stupid attitudes breed stupid decisions. I wonder if the supervisor that made this decision is the product of a "zero tolerance policy" public school? I hope the employee has any kind of attorney (doesn't even need a good one) because he's going to mop up the Wayne County Department of Public Service.
Go to court, get a judge that has kids and say one thing: "So, your child is playing in the park..."
Ruling: Plaintiff - for whatever he wants.
Classic Govthink. here is the thing- If he had just done the WRONG thing of picking it up and putting it in his pocket, and going "hey... free gun!" he would still have a job and no one would care.
ReplyDeleteThis is what Zero Tolerance and Zero thought gets us. It's better to do wrong and get away with it, then to do the right thing.
I guess you're right. This falls squarely into the "no good deed goes unpunished" column.
DeleteStupid assed government idiots...no wonder this country is in such a mess. Then again, like you said, Detroit....
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel, Stephen. If there is a solution, government has a problem to fix that.
DeleteDang. Now, see, its this sort of story that makes me want to get picked for Jury duty! "Found a gun by a public park...called the cops...cops didn't show...took gun TO the cops....got fired. Hmmm. Gimme about 2 microseconds to process this one...." Dude would end up (at the very least) rehired as the supervisor, if he didn't outright retire on what the county was forced to pay him.
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