An odd story coming out of Ludington last night on TV 9&10 News

A strange discovery at 1:00 in the morning.

Video shows a man carrying a bag of swords.

According to deputies, Ricky Wilson told them he was there to drop the swords off early Friday morning since he thought they were illegal…

But then said he wanted to speak to a lawyer.

The video shows Wilson shake hands with a statue outside the sheriff’s department and hide behind it when a car drives by.

This is what deputies found on him; two swords, a dagger and a switchblade.

The sheriff says it’s not only bizarre, but alarming.

“When you look at the totality of everything, it paints a very troubling picture of what could have happened. He’s outside of an employee entrance that deputies passed in front of hundreds of times throughout the week at all times of day and night,” said Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole.

Wilson is now charged with one count of carrying a concealed weapon.

A couple things that piques my curiosity about this incident, after noting the fact that the swordsman shares his name with Ludington's City Attorney Richard (Tricky Ricky) Wilson.  Tricky Ricky isn't actually his middle name, oddly enough it's Merlin who was associated with his fair share of swords back in Camelot.  Other than the receding hairline, the crazy activities, and the immediate call for more attorneys, these Ricky Wilsons don't seem to be related.

First, you will notice that this happened early on Friday September 15, and wasn't reported anywhere until this blurb on a TV station more than an hours drive away.  It wasn't related to the sheriff-friendly local media on Friday morning, over the weekend, or even on Monday-- at least it wasn't reported on by them, and still hasn't.  Also, contrary to the usual policies of this sheriff who claim no parts of traffic accidents are subject to FOIA without a completed investigation, they release video of the incident to get them out in the public eye. 

Second, there is a major gap in this story which the TV reporters allow to go untouched.  We see Wilson acting out in front of the statue, and hiding behind the statue when a car passes, but the video fails to show the deputies confronting Wilson.  This is important because we learn that somehow, the deputies learn that there are weapons in Wilson's bag. 

Now either he volunteered that information, which seems unlikely since he reportedly asked to speak with a lawyer almost immediately, or the deputies searched or threatened to search his bag, when there was no good reason to.  He was not considered to be doing anything criminal at the time, perhaps acting a bit squirrelly, but he was on exterior public property and was not accused of anything else other than the felony of concealed carry with a potential 5 year sentence if convicted and $2500 penalty.

As typical for carrying a concealed weapon charges, Ricky Wilson's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizures should be exploited fully by his attorneys, and if his rights were not respected by the arresting deputies, he should capitalize on their inability to fulfill their duties lawfully.

EDITOR's AFTERWORD:  The Mason County Press also came out with a story on Monday concerning Ricky Ninja, and they included a sheriff-provided video of him cavorting around the statue area.  It does not show his interaction with the deputies, which leads me to believe that something may have been done inappropriately. 

Views: 776

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I blame the statue.

I blame the guy who pointed the statue light at the security camera.

Another case of the police cameras just stopped working for some reason and the news media didn't pick up on it.

What bothers me is reading an explanation in the news and then seeing a video that is shows absolutely nothing that was described. You have to wonder about what the press publishes and how they interpret the news. I saw noone sneaking around. What I did see is someone hanging around a statue in front of a spot light. If the man had ill intentions why would he stand in a brightly lit area. As far as shaking the statues hand. Everyone at one time or another interacts with statues, like the images below show.

I bet almost everyone who visits that statue does the same thing. The damn thing represents a person greeting people with a handshake. Your right X, where is the rest of the video showing the actions taken by the police. The police have nothing on this man. He very well may have been there to turn in the cutlery.

Well, I'd say that Ricky Wilson has some drug and mental issues right now. Wth was he doing? Anyone walking around the streets of Ludington with those swords and knives on his person is definitely a threat, whether real, or imagined, he's out of control. Lock the SOB up for now until we know more imho.

Using your line of reasoning, Aquaman, we need to immediately lock these other people up for felonies for carrying swords and knives on their persons and walking around the streets of Ludington:

These guys have been not only brandishing and carrying knives, swords, and firearms, concealed or not, but they have been shooting cannons off at Lake Jumps and parades for many years.  Put them in irons, arrrr, and haul them down to Cap'n Cole's brig to be prosecuted for felonies, matey. 

In my estimation dressing like a pirate and waving weapons around in broad daylight in the community is a bit more odd and concerning than carrying ornamental and unused-for-mayhem oriental swords in a bag, with likely no other reason than to transport them.  

I agree X. Not only is it odd that these Ludingtonians are dressing as pirates but they don't seem to recognize that they are masquerading as terrorists of days gone by because that's what old time  pirates represented. They were the terrorists of the open seas. They were murderers, kidnappers, rapists, thieves, slavers and just plain evil doers. Some of them were working for different governments to harass their enemies, those pirates were called privateers, but evil they all were.  It always seemed strange to me that people would romanticize these terrorists of old.

Did you know that the two 'iconic' pyrates that caper about are Phillip and Tom Riggs, who have passed down their piracy notions to the next generation?  Speaking of privateers working for governments, here the older Riggs' are with Spence Riggs, holding a concealed sword no less, a scurvy son of a biscuit eater that used his Ludington political office for his own personal gain and has yet to walk the plank for it.  Here's more about that in case you missed that scandal among all the other ones. 

That's a well known show now X, so the Pirates are now accepted "Arrs, walk the plank" type guys that habitat here in the quaint ol'e town. Ornamental and armed to the tooth with no known agenda for show are two differing debates imho.

So if these were cutlasses and scimitars and Ricky declared he was a Parrothead pyrate, the deputies would have had a good laugh and let Ricky leave?  What we have is nearly eight minutes of a guy hanging around a public place trying a handshake with a statue and doing nothing other than inadvisably loitering near the jail.  The cutlery in his bag looks like oriental swords more for show than business, likely purchased at either several local businesses that sell them or at a yard sale/flea market. 

Absent of any suspected criminal activity specifically uttered by the deputies that spoke with him, he should have been left to go on his merry way.  Likewise, if the search was legally performed absent a warrant or any probable cause, then Ricky would have had to give the officers consent to search his bag or would have opened his bag at their insistence, and it seems rather high-handed to then charge him with a felony of carrying concealed weapons, when he freely shows him what I would consider ornamental weapons displayed in their picture; these aren't heavy duty weapons they're more for hanging on the wall or in a display case.

Aquaman, you seem directed to deny Ricky his basic rights, which I find surprising given your past support of First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights in similar cases.

I totally agree with you X. Not only are the swords for show but when looking at the picture of them it clearly shows the blades are sheathed. Anyone with bad intentions of using the swords would not be carrying sheathed blades. 

I to am surprised at Aquaman for not siding with the Constitution and an individuals rights since no clear intent of wrongdoing was evident concerning this situation.

They put him in general population holding cell with others.

If he was such a threat, then why put a possibly violent person in with non-violent offenders?

RSS

© 2024   Created by XLFD.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service