Mike DiMauro: Of Groton, guns, kids and fullest extent of the law

May 15—GROTON — It is a few days removed now from an altercation between two men at Poquonnock Plains Park, the residual effect of which included one of the men waving a gun. What should have been a peaceful Saturday in the park at a youth flag football tournament resulted in what town police said was "hundreds of players and spectators fleeing from the park in all directions."

Mark your calendars and note the time. Because this is the time. This is the place. This is the opportunity to finally have our Peter Finch Moment, reminiscent of the cathartic scene in the movie "Network," when he opens the window and yells how he's mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore.

This is our time. This is our mad-as-hell, enough-is-enough moment. This is when we alert the local legal system that slaps on the wrist for terrorizing a bunch of kids in a park with a gun will not be tolerated. This is when we alert the local legal system that we are watching. This is when we bellow the words "fullest extent of the law" ad nauseam.

Randall Clark, 43, of Medford, Mass., was charged with risk of injury to a minor, carrying a firearm with intent to display, carrying a firearm without a permit, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree threatening and second-degree breach of peace.

Dustin Hibbert, 30, of Bridgeport, was charged with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree breach of peace.

So what happened? Details are often sketchy amid chaos. But here is a first-hand account from Varnaud "Red" Shamsideen, 23-year football official, former marine and semi-retired as the Operations Manager at Home Depot. Shamsideen, a respected and veteran member of the Eastern Board of Approved Football Officials, was officiating the semifinals of the kids' touch football tournament on the middle field.

"There was a disagreement of some sort on the sideline from people between teams that weren't participating in the current games," Shamsideen said. "An altercation between two men. One was allegedly harassing the kids. I'm not sure if it was a coach or a father, but I believe that coach or father punched the guy harassing the kids in the mouth. I did see there was a scuffle. We suspended our game to keep everyone safe. A few more fights broke out, but eventually everyone got separated."

More from Shamsideen: "The guy that got hit left and walked behind the concession stand, toward the swing set where some kids were playing. Everybody went back to their business. The (flag football) games on the upper field never stopped. I don't think they even knew what was going on.

"In our game, I had just signaled 'second down' and suddenly people ran past me across the field. I looked up and there must have been 300 people running at me. I'm thinking, 'My God, what's going on?' That's when my nephew, who had a son playing, said, 'Hey Unc, the guy that got hit has a gun.' I commend the police response more than anything. No question they were in control."

Shamsideen reiterated during a phone conversation earlier in the week the terrified looks on the faces of the people running, particularly mothers and their children.

"It's unfortunately the state of our world right now," Shamsideen said. "Was I scared? I'm a marine. No, I wasn't. While everyone was running away, I backed away slowly. I wanted to see it. But I did understand that people's lives were in danger. I could certainly see someone without a military background being terrified. Mothers and children were terrified. As they should have been."

And so I ask: What does risk of injury to a minor, carrying a firearm with intent to display, carrying a firearm without a permit, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree threatening, second-degree breach of peace and scaring the hell out of a bunch of kids go for in our courts these days?

And so I ask: How much longer will we allow people who cannot control themselves to walk between the raindrops after imperiling everyone's safety?

And so I ask: Are we going to allow two out-of-town yahoos to turn Saturday in the park into the OK Corral without the fullest consequences the law allows? We'd better not. We should not. We cannot.

Historian and philosopher Thomas Hobbes said, "the law is public conscience." Waving a gun in a public place offends the conscience. Surely mine. I'd guess yours, too. And let me just say that if we cannot agree on this premise — or you're about to embark on a cliche-ridden soliloquy about your Second Amendment rights — we have nothing left to discuss.

"Whatever the law says should be utilized to the full extent," Shamsideen said. "It was almost an act of terror with all those people running scared."

Remember: That's not an opinion from some guy in his recliner. That's from someone who was there and saw terror in their eyes.

There has been some dispute about the specific type of guns in question. Rumors fly about pellet guns, paintball guns or the real thing. Just remember the intent.

Clark and Hibbert, after being taken to Groton Police Headquarters and charged, were given New London Superior Court dates of May 20. Make examples of them. With an exclamation point. I've had enough. Have you?

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro