An investigation by KABB News in San Antonio reveals that police in China Grove, Texas seized guns from lawful citizens four years ago and still have not returned them.
In August of 2018, Brandy Napier and her husband Franklin were visiting family and shooting at a gun range in the city when her husband was pulled over for a minor traffic violation on the way back to their home in Seguin.
The responding officer noticed three guns in the back seat of the vehicle and proceeded to confiscate them despite the fact that no arrests were made.
Since the original encounter, Brandy has tried numerous times to retrieve the seized property but the China Grove Police Dept. has deflected the Napiers to the District Attorney’s office and it has been dragging its feet.
SEE ALSO: NYC’s New Anti-Gun Unit Arrested 25 People Last Month. 11 Are Back on the Street.
Again, it does not appear that a crime was committed. Moreover, no police report has been filed, and no charges are pending against Brandy or Franklin.
Patrick Hancock, an attorney representing the couple, said “If they (the police) haven’t filed a criminal case against the person by now, the statute of limitations has run. A lot more than two years has gone by, so I don’t think the DA can file anything against him and I don’t believe there’s a case sitting in the DA’s office by China Grove on this matter.”
Hancock also indicated it may be time to turn up the pressure.
“If they can’t produce the guns that were taken, the personal property of the individual that was taken and they can’t produce a public police report to even verify that a China Grove officer stopped them and took an individual’s property, then they need to be investigated by the Texas Rangers,” said Hancock.
Hopefully, continued media coverage of this injustice will move the needle and compel the authorities to return the firearms to their rightful owners. Help spread the word and, as always, stay tuned for updates.
I have 30+ years in Law Enforcement (25+ years Federal 6 years Sheriffs Dept.). These actions of the stopping officer, the China Grove P.D. and the District Attorneys office do not pass the smell test as presented by this article. Some one, or many, are covering up for mistakes made by some departmental person, These guns are missing either through theft, mistake (having them destroyed by mistake or intentional personal actions), or they have been catastrophically damaged while they were being held by China Grove P.D. Being the statute of limitations has expired this property should be returned immediately, and if they are damaged, or missing the C.G.P.D. should be held to full restitution for this lost personal property at today’s value, being there was evidently no real probable cause to confiscate them, being there was no criminal arrest made. A major investigation should also be conducted for loss of evidence and a complete inventory be done by the investigating department of evidence within C.G.P.D.
Back when I was a kid I saved up for a Daisy bb target gun. One day the police chief came by and demanded I give it up, that a neighbor said her window was shot with a BB. I hadn’t even been around for weeks as I was working on a farm for the summer. Didn’t matter. I never got it back and found out later he gave it to his grandson.
https://www.justice.gov/crt/deprivation-rights-under-color-law
But in reality it’s all just a sophist con game, the courts have no reasonable standard of accountability.
Sounds like time to file charges for property theft against the police
My letter to the Mayor of China Grove: [email protected] Dear Mayor Hajek:
I recently came across an article concerning one of your municipal police officers. The name
was not mentioned but you might be familiar with the case. It involves confiscation
of firearms by the China Grove officer from Brandy and Franklin Napier during a minor traffic stop
four years ago. The article goes on to say there seems to be no pending charges, nor a criminal case filed.
My interest in the case is recently my wife and I traveled to San Antonio, TX for the second time in two years from xxxx. While not in China Grove, we did travel in the surrounding environs. I would
not appreciate what that couple is currently going thru and you can rest assured we will NOT travel thru your town due to the apparent hostile environment your officer displayed. Maybe if the case is readily resolved with sufficient apology it might be different.
It sure would be the right thing to do to make that couple whole in regards to their three firearms being returned in good order and same condition as taken.
Hello, DWB w/Arms, in TX.
Who is confused?
So why hasn’t this attorney filed a lawsuit?
As a prior LEO from the ‘80s, it would have been common to run a firearm Want/Warrant check at the traffic stop to insure they haven’t been reported stolen or wanted in the commission of a crime. It takes as much time as running a drivers license or vehicle check. Moreover, my department would never have allowed any Officer to use a ‘form’ that improperly lists the reason for confiscation of an item. If the Officer really wanted to do it properly, he’d have requested an additional Officer to bring out the proper form to his location, or, instructed the gun owners accompany him back to his station to obtain the correct form. BTW, this traffic stop HAD BETTER have been documented on an official department approved Face Sheet with accompanying Supplemental Form and/or Property Form listing property taken into Police custody. AND, the report should have a ‘DR’ number assigned to it for official record of the reason for the stop and confiscation of said weapons. I was a LEO in AZ, a small department, but this incident doesn’t sound acceptable. Moreover, sounds like a large civil suit is brewing. Maybe criminal charges too. IMHO
If a private citizen had government property, would the government petition them to hand it back?
Over the years I’ve read and heard about the common practice of police officers stealing guns they run across during criminal encounters to be used as “throw-downs” when they need proof that a bad guy was illegally armed. I’ve heard about police actually laughing about how easy it is to ‘frame’ someone in order to avoid the legal consequences of planting false evidence.
The law-abiding citizen has little chance against a system that promotes and ignores unlawful behavior from criminals and police.
Here is their email address and the chief’s name is Ralph Sramek
[email protected]
Phone: (210) 837 – 3700
Let blow up their inbox!!!!! mine is already sent !
DONE!
Sounds like the cop or the chief took these weapons home. Arrest warrants should be issued by the Texas Rangers for the cop who took the legally owned weapons, the Police chief for assisting and abetting the theft and the DA for conspiracy. The couple should also file a federal civil rights charge against the entire PD.
Remember folks, the police are our allies and would never attempt to disarm law abiding citizens. We should trust them unquestioningly.
Tell all your friends.
Yep. But let’s BaCk ThE BluE! Many cops don’t even know the laws they are supposed to enforce. At best you will come across an ignorant but a nice tax collector (cop). At worst an ass on a power trip. They should not be trusted.
What kind of drugs are you on?
There is no police report, no evidence tag or receipt for property seized. Plaintiffs may not even be able to identify the police officer who stole their guns. So all they will hear from the PD is “what guns?”
Has an independent, third party verified visually that these firearms are still in the possession of the China Grove PD? I’d hate to think what shape those firearms are in now if they are still there.
“Again, it does not appear that a crime was committed. Moreover, no police report has been filed, and no charges are pending against Brandy or Franklin.”
I disagree. It does appear that a crime was committed. Three firearms were stolen from this couple by a police officer and the city has been covering it up. That’s multiple crimes.
Now they’ll wait until the statute of limitations runs out for the theft before admitting that the guns were never turned over to evidence and were actually sold by the officer who won’t face justice.