Roselle Park police in New Jersery wrongfully arrested a security guard with a concealed handgun permit. He was charged for allegedly improperly transporting a firearm and being in possession of illegal hollow point bullets.
The defendant, Roosevelt Twyne, was heading home from work on February 8, 2020, when he was pulled over for supposedly having tinted windows. He explained to the officers that he had a handgun on him because he is an armoured securty guard and had a concealed handgun permit.
After inspecting Twyne’s firearm, the police officers insisted the bullets he had were considered hollow points under New Jersey law. His bullets are not considered hollow points by the New Jeresy state police, though.
According to the NJ police website,
“Ammunition lacking a hollow cavity at the tip, such as those with polymer filling, are not considered to be hollow point ammunition. An example of this can be seen with the Hornady Critical Defense #ad / Critcal Duty….”
Twyne was carrying Horandy Critical Duty ammunition, one the very examples stated by NJ state police as a bullet not recognized as a hollow point.
The cops also insisted that Twyne had unlawfully transported his weapon under New Jersey Statute 2C:39-9D. This is also clearly false because that exact statute exempts those who have a permit to carry handgun in New Jersey.
Twyne’s attorney, Evan Nappen, went on the bearing Arms Cam & Co Podcast to discuss the incident. Nappen argues that the charges are obviously absurd stating,
Mr.Twyne is a licensed armored car security guard…. He has one of the rare New Jersey carry licenses…. He has a SORA card, which is the certification for security officers.
His handgun was acquired with a pistol purchase permit from New Jersey and registered in New Jersey. The ammunition he had was issued to him by his company and is completely legal.
He’s coming home directly from work, and he’s stopped by…police officers for allegedly tinted window…. He’s completely cooperative, you know, total law abiding, 100% good guy. And he gets arrested….
Twyne and his attorney have been waiting almost a month to hear if the prosecutor is going to go ahead with the indictment. They hope the obviously dubious charges will be thrown out.
Even if the charges are thrown out, Nappen believes we still need to see some major changes in police training and attitudes towards law abiding gun owners in New Jersey.
