Playing golf can be dangerous....looking down the barrel of a rifle!

[FlYFiShErMaN]

What DG said above....some of them can sling more power than the PoPo. All that a strong HOA needs in some cases are complaints from its owners......plus add in the picture idea as posted above and they may be looking for another place to live(?)

 

[feralmerril]

Didnt you ask her what her problem was? I just might also be wondering if she had something against one of your buddys. If she is that far off the beam there has to be other complaints in the past or comeing up. I also would be raiseing hell with whoever at the dept why your buddys wasnt interviewed.

 

[G.T. Smith]

On a golf course in Mexico two golfers showed up at the club house, one of them with a 1" hole through him, and they called 911 to report it.
The 911 operator asked what happened and the caller replied that his friend had been shot with a "golf gun".
The 911 operator then asked how he knew it was a "golf gun", to which the caller replied, "because it made a hole in Juan"!

Peace,
gordon

 

[Capt Steve]

Didnt you ask her what her problem was? I just might also be wondering if she had something against one of your buddys. If she is that far off the beam there has to be other complaints in the past or comeing up. I also would be raiseing hell with whoever at the dept why your buddys wasnt interviewed.

To the best of my knowledge none of us had ever spoken to her before. I think she may have been "just fooling around" with no, zero, nada, concept of the consequences of her actions. Frankly if she had wanted us dead we would be. Pretty hard to miss a couple old fart golfers from 40 yards with a rifle. I do plan on talking to someone up the ladder at the Sheriff's department to ascertain whether charges will be filed and if not, why not. I'll post back here with the results of my efforts....if any.

 

[venomballistics]

best of luck with that course Cap.
something about this account reminds me of some of the chicks I knew in my career. In each case of one of "those" ... they need to go down hard and mercilessly. Might call me a meaniehole for that philosophy but its soundly based upon the fact they they are as they are because they have never been held accountable and when the time comes that you can ... ya gotta make it count. period.

 

[m1gunner]

Call the Sheriff and tell him you need a 4th, his "T" time is 0730 tomorrow. Don't take no for an answer.

 

[The Big D]

QUICK reply...before I read the rest of this. YEAH, I am gonna call the pro shop when someone is pointing a gun at me!!!! Come on!!!

 

[DeathGrip]

Call the Sheriff and tell him you need a 4th, his "T" time is 0730 tomorrow. Don't take no for an answer.

Hole in one.

DG

 

[The Big D]

And in what jurisdiction does a 911 call require an address? Not in my town or in any place I have ever worked.

Something is very wrong with this story...

Customary sign off again omitted...

 

[Capt Steve]

And in what jurisdiction does a 911 call require an address? Not in my town or in any place I have ever worked.

Something is very wrong with this story...

Customary sign off again omitted...

Big D, Nothing wrong with this story unless you don't like facts. Two years ago I tripped and fell in the parking lot of our community pool. Crushed my nose, fractured my skull and lay unconscious bleeding like a stuck pig. 911 was called but would NOT respond without the specific street address of the pool. They were told it is the xxxx Pool here in xxxxx, the fire/paramedic station was one mile away but they would not dispatch a unit without the address. Bystanders had to go into the pro shop and get the street address and call it back in before paramedics were dispatched.

I got clear of her field of fire and called the shop and told them to call the sheriff. What was I suppose to tell 911 - she lives in the house next to the tee box on hole #7??? Yeah, that would have got them right over. Given the response time we got for a call that reported a felony aggravated assault I doubt 911 would have been much of an improvement. Sorry (not really), if I seem a tad cranky. Having a rifle pointed at my head does that to me.

 

[m1gunner]

I thought putting 911 GPS in all cell phones fixed that street number problem.

BTW, this very thing is what caused the death from the Olympic Bomber during the Atlanta Olympics. Bomb threat didn't have a street address (Said bomb was at Centennial Olympic Park) and dispatch didn't happen till AFTER the Ka-boom. The 911 tape was played ad nasuem in the aftermath of the bombing.

 

[Bullseye 2620]

Capt Steve,

The more I read this thread and think about what happened, the more PO'd I get. Here's an idea:

The law varies from state to state, but I am sure you can check to see how it is done in Arizona. Google "Arizona mental health commitment law," and see what you find.

In many states all it takes for a 72-hour mental health hold and evaluation is the signature of two adults on a petition to the local court. In some places, it has to be one physician, of any specialty. In others, it takes the signatures of two psychiatrists. I am hoping that in Arizona all it takes are the statements of two adults. That's you and any one of your golf buddies.

If you go this route, check with an attorney first to see if you are opening yourself to any civil liability. It seems to me that you and your friends have reasonable grounds to wonder about this woman's sanity, so you're doing this can't be considered vindictive or abuse of process. I do not think that is the case; then again, I am not a lawyer, and I do not live in Arizona.

If this works, once the magistrate issues the order for her to be detained and transported to an in-patient mental health facility for a mandatory 72-hour evaluation, the local LE agencies will be required by the judge to go pick her up. The LEOs will know what happened and so they will go prepared and ready. She will then have 72 hours on an inpatient unit to prove that she is not whacko. If she is as unstable as she sounds, she will fail, big time. The great thing about inpatient psychiatric units is that there in no limit on how long they can hold someone they consider to be a imminent threat to themselves or others. If you are fortunate, she will be there for much longer than 3 days, you will have the satisfaction of having removed a dangerous person from the streets (or fairways), and the right to tell the LEOs who failed you so miserably "see, toldja so!."

I can understand if you don't want to go this route, but I am trying to come up with a way to take this woman off the streets regardless of what your local LE agency does, or in this case, doesn't do.


Bullseye

 

[jkc]

This is a tricky situation --- technically, I believe that had you had a rifle or etc., you would have been justified under AZ law to shoot and kill the nutcase woman, who, by all indications, was threatening you with impending deadly force (same as the *ssholes who view other hunters through their riflescopes...). But, since that was not among your options, and, since she hadn't verbally or otherwise communicated any malicious intent, I suppose it could be argued that this literally myopic woman was just waving her gun around, and didn't see you, or etc. ...
I think you dealt with this as best as could have been done, under the somewhat ambiguous circumstances. If you can't get the authorities to straighten her out, and are required to pass by her home in the course of your work, I think I'd at least be prepared to shoot her in self-defense if push comes to shove. This is easier to say than do , of course, considering the risks and ramifications of acting in self-defense. Good luck getting this resolved without having to resort to use of force on your part.

 

[DeadAye]

No satisfaction from the investigating officers?
I believe I would have left the golf course and IMMEDIATELY took myself and the 3 other witnesses to see The Sheriff.
Then again - I know The Sheriff here in our county. His deputies would have NOT left without doing a thorough investigation.
DON'T DROP THIS!

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

I always make it a habit to have a point n shoot camera with a long optical zoom(10:1 or more)

There are also cameras with longer zooms, which look like smaller versions of DSLRs

According to a Judge friend, photos, videos, recording are admissible in any court in the country.

The P n S camera will easily fit in a golf bag or pocket.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Aloha,

I always make it a habit to have a point n shoot camera with a long optical zoom(10:1 or more)

There are also cameras with longer zooms, which look like smaller versions of DSLRs

According to a Judge friend, photos, videos, recording are admissible in any court in the country.

The P n S camera will easily fit in a golf bag or pocket.

Recording the commission of a felony - just the thing to be doing when the felon is pointing a rifle at you. Now, it's certainly possible that that was a 39A or BL-22 or some other .22, but a .30-.30 seems just as likely. I'm not sure, I'll have to check with somebody's deer, but I think that getting shot with a rifle is a whole different thing from being shot with a handgun.

A sane person would stay out of sight of this nut case and do his talking with the sheriff and with lawyers until she's locked up like she's supposed to be. And that means driving the long way around the block to get home, if that's what it takes.

 

[n4zov]

As several have already suggested, getting the golf course management involved seems like a wise course of action. They have a very big financial stake in seeing that none of their patrons are threatened or shot! In addition, when this story makes the rounds a lot of golfers may decide they really like another course better - one out of rifle range! I think meeting with the management is a good idea and telling everybody I knew what happened would make others aware there is a new "hazard" on the course. The management has some legal obligation to deal with known dangers on their property and a crazy lady with a gun threatening to shoot their customers would seem to fall under that category.

 

[bitstream]

I used to live next to a golf course; the neighbors across the street had backyards bordering the fairway. They constantly told me stories of the problems they had; balls hitting their house/shed/yard decorations, golfers urinating in their yard, cart tracks on their grass, etc. I'll guess that this crazy woman has had some issues with the golfers and was expressing her frustration. That, however, is NO justification for what she did, just a possible explanation.

Had you been armed and drawn, it probably would have turned out badly. As you handled it, nobody was harmed. That's a very good thing. Descalation is a good thing whenever possible. Once a shot is fired, the law gets involved and they don't always see things the way you expect them to.

As has been said, the single most powerful weapon you can bring to bear in a case like this is a camera. Even a grainy cell phone pic would be better than nothing. Keep your cell phone on you and perhaps bring along a small digital camera with you in case anything more happens. Also warn the other golfers to keep cameras ready. As soon as somebody catches her on camera doing something wrong, she'll get taken care of. Until then, it's he said/she said and nobody, especially the law, wants to believe a female could possibly be bad.

 

[venomballistics]

...........and a crazy lady with a gun threatening to shoot their customers would seem to fall under that category.

if she falls into the category that comes to mind, and all probability dictates that she does ... I must object to the use of the word Lady in your statement and encourage the use of more colorful nouns befitting the subject.

Ladies are refined blossoms of unfading charm and beauty.
The subject in discussion does not fit this description and hence is more weed or fungus in nature.
Keep the lady distinction pure.

 

[DeathGrip]

if she falls into the category that comes to mind, and all probability dictates that she does ... I must object to the use of the word Lady in your statement and encourage the use of more colorful nouns befitting the subject.

Ladies are refined blossoms of unfading charm and beauty.
The subject in discussion does not fit this description and hence is more weed or fungus in nature.
Keep the lady distinction pure.

I'm not to picky about language but you just hit on one that I've always thought.In other words I totally agree.

DG