Regardless of what you THINK the officer heard, the issue will come down to this: DID the officer have a reasonable belief to believe you were in a stolen vehicle? Or, did he have some other reasonable cause to draw a weapon? If so, his actions were justifiable. You do not know what the officer heard, or whether what you heard was cop-speak for something else or not.

Again, it comes down to a reasonable belief by an officer of similar training and experience, not whether he comprehended the information properly. This is referred to as "the reasonable officer" standard.

Report it to the agency and see what happens. If they find that he had reasonable cause to draw his weapon and did so within the law and agency policy and no discipline is forthcoming, you are free to spend a good deal of money on an attorney ... though, without real damages, it is unlikely that an award will be forthcoming, but it will be your money to spend should you wish to do so.

The purpose of this site is to explain the law, not what you would like it to be or what you think the situation was or should have been. If the officer drew a gun on you for NO reason, I would agree with you that the officer should be tossed into the ash can at the very least. But, since you have absolutely no idea what the officer heard or thought he heard, you really have no idea why he did this.

The key will be the officer's justification for the act and whether his action was reasonable based upon what he believed at the time. The action can be lawful even if the belief was based upon faulty information.


- Carl