Gun Tattoo Gets Maine Man a Visit From Armed Cops

Talk about a bad morning: First, a tree removal
crew was working outside Michael Smith’s Norridgewock, Maine, home
while he tried to sleep. Then,
cops armed with assault rifles were showing up at Smith’s
door. 

It seems the police had been tipped off to Smith’s potential
dangerousness by the tree removal crew. Earlier that morning, a
shirtless Smith had gone outside and yelled at them to leave. Some
of them noticed that Smith had a handgun tucked into the waist of
his pants. Or thought they noticed a handgun. 

What the crew had really seen was Smith’s life-size gun
tattoo. 

“Obviously it was a misunderstanding and he didn’t have a
weapon, but we had to respond to the initial report as if he did,”
Maine State Police Trooper Scott Duff
told the Maine Morning Sentinel. “We take all
precautions when we don’t have the details.”

The Associated Press notes that
“police didn’t charge him.” Charge him with what?
What charge could they have possibly drummed up here? (Don’t answer
that.) Let’s just be glad Smith put a shirt on before opening the
door to the cops, or things could have played out much more
tragically. “I got plans today. I didn’t want to get shot,” Smith
said.