By John Wisely
Detroit Free Press
DEARBORN, Mich. — Dearborn police arrested two gun rights advocates who walked into police headquarters Sunday afternoon wearing body armor and one of them carrying a rifle slung across his chest while wearing a black ski mask.
James Baker, 25, of Leonard carried a short-barrel rifle in a sling across his chest and a Glock handgun holstered on his hip. Brandon Vreeland, 40, of Jackson was unarmed but both men also had several cameras with them, including cell phones to livestream their interaction with police.
“We audit police to see how well they honor the Constitution and people’s rights,” said Vreeland, who was free after posting $1,500 bond late Sunday night. “We showcase police abuse and abuse of police power in the totalitarian police state that we live in.”
Baker couldn’t be reached for comment today. Vreeland said both men are legal gun owners and Michigan law allows them to carry their weapons openly. They went to the police station to complain about officers stopping them earlier in the day.
Dearborn police said this morning that they were working on a statement about the incident but wouldn’t comment before the statement is released.
Vreeland said he left his own rifle in his car.
“No laws were broken,” he said. “If we had to defend ourselves in a gun battle, I’d rather be armed.”
The video, which was live-streamed on the internet, shows a tense stand-off between officers and the two men inside the lobby of the Dearborn police headquarters on Michigan Avenue. It begins with the two men in the parking lot of the police department. Baker is wearing a ski mask that covers his mouth.
“We’re going to file a complaint because we were illegally pulled over,” Baker says on the video. “We felt a little afraid we were pulled over so we figured we better protect ourselves.”
Vreeland told the Free Press that he and Baker planned to audit Dearborn police to guage how well they respect the rights of gun owners to openly carry weapons. They stopped in a store parking lot near police headquarters to put on their body armor.
“Someone saw us putting on the body armor and called the police,” Vreeland said. “Because of the reaction we saw yesterday, we always wear body armor.”
In the video, police can be seen with their guns drawn as they order Baker to place his weapon on the ground. He initially refuses and argues with officers before the video goes dark. Audio recording continued after the video goes blank and the confrontation ends without gunshots.
Vreeland said he and Baker were arrested by multiple police officers and later held for about eight hours in the police department lockup.
The lobby confrontation followed an earlier encounter on the street, which was recorded in a separate video. Dearborn police stopped the men in their car and asked to search it after the reports of them suiting up in body armor.
In that the pair refuse permission to search and Vreeland is heard saying “go **ck youself” as he pulls away from the officer.
Baker is charged with breaching the peace, failure to cooperate with police and masking his identity by obscuring his face when he walked into the station. He has not been arraigned on the charges, which are misdemeanors.
Vreeland is charged with breaching the peace, obstructing police and failure to cooperate. Both men are free on $1,500 bond while they await arraignment on the charges.
Vreeland said police confiscated his car and its contents, including his rifle. Police also confiscated his cameras and phone.
Copyright 2017 The Detroit Free Press