Ross: This is the most dangerous toy in America
Oct 17, 2018, 6:49 AM | Updated: 11:32 am
A 911 call was made on Saturday in Columbus Ohio – about two young kids.
“Two little kids and this guy brandished a gun, I know it had to be a gun,” the person told 911 dispatchers.
Keep in mind, two years ago – also in Columbus – police stopped a 13-year-old on suspicion of armed robbery. He pulled out his gun, probably to show police it was only a BB gun, and was shot dead.
Which was likely on the mind of Officer Peter Casuccio when he drew his weapon on those two kids in Columbus on Saturday.
“You see the gun leaving his hand and out of the corner of my eye I saw it bust into a million pieces once it hit the sidewalk,” he told local news. “That’s when I realized it was a BB gun.”
And he was ticked off, which can be heard from body-cam footage from the incident.
“This is getting kids killed all over the country,” he told the two kids.
Body cam rolling, he gave an abbreviated version of the talk to a couple of kids who tried to explain they weren’t showing off the gun, just holding it.
“I was just holding it, like this,” the kid can be heard on the body-cam footage.
“OK,” Casuccio replies. “You can’t do that dude. In today’s world, that thing looks real, bro.”
Most states restrict realistic-looking so-called “toy guns.” Ohio is one of the states that does not. Which is crazy. We banned those chocolate eggs with toys inside that could choke a child. But we tolerate so-called “toy guns” that could get a kid shot, even by a good cop.
“Do I honestly look like the type of dude who wants to shoot anybody?” Casuccio asks the kids on cam.
“No, sir,” the kids say.
“But do I look like the type of dude who will shoot somebody?”
“Yes sir.”
“Alright.”
In the see-something, say-something era, nothing that looks anything like a gun can be considered a toy.
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