TORONTO, Ontario, Canada - December 15, 2009 - If you were wondering what happens to 29-year-old men who still play with Lego, take Jeremy Bell as an example.
The partner at digital marketing company Teehan & Lax was surrounded by heavily armed tactical officers, cuffed and held against the wall of his Richmond St. W. office - until, that is, the cops found the gun he had been holding in front of the window about 90 minutes earlier was a pile of blocks.
The BrickGun Semi-Automatic gun (purchased online from BrickGun, “designers and builders of the world’s most realistic custom Lego weapon models”) arrived at Bell’s office Wednesday.
The lifetime Lego fan finished assembling his toy - complete with build-it-yourself magazine - at 5:40 p.m.
It was in one piece for about 10 minutes before it fell apart, he recalled yesterday.
But the tenant in an apartment about six meters across the way didn’t see that last part, so he called the cops.
At about 7 p.m., as Bell and some colleagues played a video game, the Emergency Task Force moved in.
“They were screaming in the hallway for me to come out,” Bell said. “When I went out there and I saw there was an officer kind of crouched down in the stairwell, it was clear what was going on.”
Despite the very real guns pointed at him, Bell said he didn’t fret.
“I’m not trafficking guns or selling drugs or anything like that, so as soon as I saw that these cops were legit, I was like, all right, this has got to be about this stupid gun.”
Pressed up against the wall, his hands thrown in cuffs, Bell directed the cops to the pieces of fake gun sitting in a box by the window. Moments later, he was free.
“At least you have a story to tell now,” he quoted one cop as saying.
The neighbor who called the cops tweeted an apology to Bell on Twitter and posted a note in his apartment window, Bell said.
“He’s like, ‘Sorry, dude, it looked real,’ ” said Bell.
No bad blood with the cops, either.
“A guy in an office with what appeared to be a gun, I get it, I appreciate it, I certainly cannot knock the way that they handled it,” Bell said. “The stupid toy was purchased certainly not expecting this kind of fallout,” he said. “I’m a sucker for Lego, always have been since I was a kid.”
Ed. Note: There should be bad blood over this with the cops! If you value freedom and the Rule of Law, then police and government officials should never take such demonstrative action against a Citizen without a further investigation. Based on the mistaken word of one person, a SWAT team invaded and assaulted this innocent man. That should cause outrage. This is another missed opportunity to speak out against oppression and for freedom.
The partner at digital marketing company Teehan & Lax was surrounded by heavily armed tactical officers, cuffed and held against the wall of his Richmond St. W. office - until, that is, the cops found the gun he had been holding in front of the window about 90 minutes earlier was a pile of blocks.
The BrickGun Semi-Automatic gun (purchased online from BrickGun, “designers and builders of the world’s most realistic custom Lego weapon models”) arrived at Bell’s office Wednesday.
The lifetime Lego fan finished assembling his toy - complete with build-it-yourself magazine - at 5:40 p.m.
It was in one piece for about 10 minutes before it fell apart, he recalled yesterday.
But the tenant in an apartment about six meters across the way didn’t see that last part, so he called the cops.
At about 7 p.m., as Bell and some colleagues played a video game, the Emergency Task Force moved in.
“They were screaming in the hallway for me to come out,” Bell said. “When I went out there and I saw there was an officer kind of crouched down in the stairwell, it was clear what was going on.”
Despite the very real guns pointed at him, Bell said he didn’t fret.
“I’m not trafficking guns or selling drugs or anything like that, so as soon as I saw that these cops were legit, I was like, all right, this has got to be about this stupid gun.”
Pressed up against the wall, his hands thrown in cuffs, Bell directed the cops to the pieces of fake gun sitting in a box by the window. Moments later, he was free.
“At least you have a story to tell now,” he quoted one cop as saying.
The neighbor who called the cops tweeted an apology to Bell on Twitter and posted a note in his apartment window, Bell said.
“He’s like, ‘Sorry, dude, it looked real,’ ” said Bell.
No bad blood with the cops, either.
“A guy in an office with what appeared to be a gun, I get it, I appreciate it, I certainly cannot knock the way that they handled it,” Bell said. “The stupid toy was purchased certainly not expecting this kind of fallout,” he said. “I’m a sucker for Lego, always have been since I was a kid.”
Ed. Note: There should be bad blood over this with the cops! If you value freedom and the Rule of Law, then police and government officials should never take such demonstrative action against a Citizen without a further investigation. Based on the mistaken word of one person, a SWAT team invaded and assaulted this innocent man. That should cause outrage. This is another missed opportunity to speak out against oppression and for freedom.