The sight of a toy M16 rifle being played with in a family's minivan on the freeway was enough to send seven police and sheriff's units in pursuit of the vehicle.
The false alarm began when a motorist reported seeing a person brandish a rifle out of the green minivan in Walnut on Friday afternoon. When authorities caught up to the vehicle in a park-and-ride in Chino Hills, they saw two boys in child safety seats. On the lap of one of the boys was the plastic green-camouflage rifle, its orange tip flagging it as a replica.
With no real weapon to worry about, the responding officers gave the parents a lecture about how their children need to be careful when playing with a pretend firearm.
"We take that pretty serious," said Deputy Warren Toy, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "We definitely educated [the parents] not to point even a toy gun at somebody because you never know if the other person had a real gun and would seek to engage."
ALSO:
L.A. police shoot man in downtown Los Angeles
Occupy Oakland raid: Protesters chant they'll 'never be defeated'
96-year-old accused of killing wife had been "confused": neighbor
-- Matt Stevens
No comments:
Post a Comment