Politics & Government

Lansdale Man, ACLU Suing Philadelphia Police for Retaliation Against Gun Rights

Mark Fiorino, of Lansdale, said his right to bear arms and right to free speech were violated by Philadelphia Police on three occasions. He posted audio of his alleged harassment on YouTube

Mark Fiorino is not an NRA card-carrying member. He’s not a radical right-winger (nor is he a liberal left-winger). He’s not some crazy with a vendetta either.

Fiorino is an American citizen, exercising his right to bear arms.

He and the American Civil Liberties Union are taking the Philadelphia Police to court for violating that right, as well as his right to freedom of speech.

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The 25-year-old grad and Lansdale resident carries on his left hip, at all times, a Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.

“Open carry is a lot more comfortable,” Fiorino said. “I’m sick and tired of a bruised hip from the gun wedged in the waistband of my belt. And it’s easier to get to in case there is an emergency.”

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There’s also the deterrant factor.

“I believe, and it’s been confirmed with issues around the country, somebody that’s about to commit a crime against someone, when they see a gun on them, they go to a different target,” he said. “We live in a very dangerous world. There are people out there who will take everything you have, including your life, because they want to. I will refuse to allow myself to be a victim.”

Fiorino has been mugged and robbed, including one time in Lansdale and another in Philadelphia.

“It stays with you,” he said.

He doesn’t need a license to carry it anywhere, except for first-class city Philadelphia; he is allowed to legally carry a gun, unconcealed, through the state’s Open Carry Law.

In fact, anyone legally able to do so can carry a gun without a license, unconcealed by clothing, in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia requires open carry with a license.

If he crosses the borders into Philadelphia, Fiorino would need a license to carry a gun out in the open.

No problem – he has a license, and he often visits his native Northeast Philadelphia.

“There’s no law saying you can’t do it. As long as it is legally in your possession, you can carry it openly,” Fiorino said. “You need a license to carry a concealed weapon or in your vehicle, or in a city of first class status. The only one is Philadelphia.”

Fiorino, in fact, walks the streets of Lansdale with his gun on his hip. Take Tuesday afternoon at the Lansdale Train Station where he met with Patch for pictures.

No one turned his or her head. No one batted an eye at Fiorino.

“Do you see all the people running around and screaming?” he said, coyly.

He said Lansdale Police are cognizant of the Open Carry Law.

“They generally ask if I have a license to carry, and I say yes, and that’s the end of it. If I’m asked to show it, I explain that you don’t need one,” he said. “A Lansdale officer walked up to me. He said, ‘I see you have a gun. You can open carry. You have a right. Be safe and have a nice day.’ That’s the way it’s supposed to happen.”

Fiorino said it didn’t happen that way on three occasions in Philadelphia.

Why aren’t Philadelphia cops even aware of the rules and rights of the Open Carry Law, Fiorino said.

Why has Fiorino been stopped, arrested and harassed for carrying a gun?

And why did misdemeanor charges occur after he posted audio on YouTube of his alleged harassment and civil rights violations?

He hopes to find out these answers through a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday morning by Fiorino’s lawyers McCausland Keen & Buckman and co-counsel ACLU.

“I was treated like a violent criminal because of their ignorance,” Fiorino said. “That is not acceptable behavior from a department enforcing the law.”

The lawsuit, according to Fiorino and the ACLU of Pennsylvania, alleges that the Philadelphia Police Department filed retaliatory charges against him after it learned that there was a YouTube recording of Philadelphia Police officers threatening to shoot and screaming profanities at an unresisting Fiorino in February 2011.

A judge dropped charges in October 2011.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania said Fiorino was repeatedly harassed by Philadelphia cops who erroneously believed it is illegal to open carry in city limits.

According to the ACLU, Philadelphia Police Internal Affairs investigated two of three Fiorino’s encounters with police.

In September 2010, Philadelphia Police approved a revised policy: holders of a License to Carry Firearms can legally carry an unconcealed weapon.

Fiorino said the Philadelphia Police did not train its officers on this policy.

“They weren’t aware of it before, but they are now,” Fiorino said. “Prior to this, it seemed the officers on the street, all the way up to the gun permits division of Philadelphia, were unaware of the legality of this. Lt. Lisa King went on record that she was unaware open carry was legal until the whole thing was going down. And she’s the person in charge of the gun permits unit.”

Fiorino said he has had three separate encounters with Philadelphia Police that were in varying degrees of severity.

The first incident, he said, was being stopped by police for 15 minutes.

“They said it was illegal. They called headquarters and said they were wrong and I went on my way,” Fiorino said.

The second encounter was in August 2010 on South Street, after Fiorino had filed an Internal Affiars complaint. He said officers in that incident said the same thing as the first incident. His gun was confiscated and he said it took him five months to get it back.

“When I got it back, all my ammo was gone. They destroyed $50 worth of ammo in the process,” he said. “They told me they destroyed it, even though they said they held it for safekeeping.”

According to an ACLU press release, five months after the new policy was in place, on Feb. 13, 2011, Fiorino had a third incident with police.

Fiorino was walking on Frankford Avenue with his gun holstered on his hip.

“Yo, junior, what are you doing?” Fiorino said he heard behind him.

He turned around to find Sgt. Michael Dougherty of Philadelphia Police allegedly pointing his gun at his chest, according to the ACLU lawsuit.

Fiorino said his offer to show his License to Carry was ignored. Dougherty allegedly ordered Fiorino to get on his knees or “I am gonna shoot ya,” according to the ACLU.

The ACLU said Fiorino was verbally abused and humiliated by several other Philadelphia officers who showed up at the scene. Fiorino told police several times he was legally allowed to carry a weapon and referred to the new policy, according to the ACLU.

After 45 minutes, with Fiorino handcuffed and face-down on the sidewalk, according to the lawsuit, Fiorino was released with no charges. Most of the incident was audiotaped.

Police discovered that Fiorino’s audio recording was on YouTube, and, according to police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers, Commissioner Charles Ramsey ordered a new investigation into Fiorino’s conduct, according to the ACLU.

The ACLU said Fiorino was seeking donations on the Internet to fund his potential civil rights lawsuit.

As a result of this investigation, Fiorino was charged with disorderly conduct and recklessly endangering another person.

Five Media officers came to his place of work in Delaware County to serve a warrant for his arrest, according to the lawsuit. Fiorino was on vacation.

He eventually turned himself in, according to the ACLU, and spent 16 hours in jail before being released on bail. Fiorino was arrested again a week later, according to the ACLU, because police failed to clear the warrant on his arrest.

“They arrested me at gunpoint and taser-point and I wound up spending 16 hours in a jail cell because I posted audio of the incident on YouTube,” Fiorino said. “They didn’t like that.”

The lawsuit seeks damages for Fiorino’s monetary losses, the violation of his rights and additional harm, according to the ACLU.

“My biggest issue is lack of training and the fact that I was harassed repeatedly and abused and treated like a criminal when I’m exercising my right as an American,” Fiorino said. “Not to mention the fact that frivolous criminal charges were brought against me in retaliation because Philadelphia Police were exposed for not knowing the law.”

In a Philadelphia Weekly article from May 17, 2011, writer Jon Campisi wrote that one city cop, who requested anonymity, said he was unaware carrying a firearm openly within the city limits was legal.

“This case is about public officials who retaliate against citizens who are merely exercising their First Amendment rights,” said Benjamin Picker in a press release, of the law firm of McCausland Keen & Buckman, one of the attorneys representing Fiorino. “Moreover, this case very clearly exemplifies why the police must know the laws they enforce, because when they don’t, the inexcusable result is the violation of the constitutional rights of those same citizens.”

Fiorino said he wants the case to go to trial. His attorneys are demanding a trial by jury, he said.

“In the long run, people should be able to not be harassed and treated like violent criminals because they are exercising their right to bear arms, or in my case, exercising their right to free speech,” he said.

He said Philadelphia Police have had many opportunities to make things right and they chose not to do that.

“I understand not knowing the law to a certain degree, but when the entire department is wrong on a law that governs the ability for people to protect themselves, and a law that’s in the Constitution that’s not a petty law, that’s a serious problem,” he said.

You can read a copy of Fiorino’s complaint at this link.

You can listen to the YouTube audio at this link.

Do you think Philadelphia Police were in the wrong? Tell us your opinion in the comments.

 


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