went out earlier today to shhot some water solablable paintballs at the local park had a target. we missed a few times and hit a sign maybe 50 feet away. thinking nothing of it i packed upa dn left. police show up as im backin up, and tell me to put both hands outside the vehicle and keep them there. then slidke around so they could pat me down. i had my picket knife on me and told em about it. we ends up the tottal damage was between 50 and 500 dollars. wtf water soluable paint caused between 50 and 500 dollars worth of damage to one sign. bs. 5 seconds with a water hose would take it right off. but no i now have a record. this is great.


so i got drunk off my *** and probably wont remember this post

ya they dont like it when ya shoot at stuff anymore... i member back inthe day we usta shoot stop signs and the swings and the slides and i member taking the 22 to the stop sign ( way out in the middle of nowhere) a few times.. and no one ever said anything... yes i got busted a few times and all the police said was go home... even when we got busted shooting the real gun and signs all they would say is go home...
but in 2007 if you even show a paintballl gun in public they will arest you for posestion of a wepon.... times have changed thats for sure....

Heh, back home the township maintenance crews would be known to take a few shots with .22s and pellet guns at stop signs. Although they did this because people would keep stealing the signs (middle of nowhere), and they got sick of replacing them. They figured none would want a damaged sign, and they were right. No one touched 'em.

Back on topic, did you explain to the fuzz that there was a target at the park and you simply missed? Seems to be a bit of an overreaction for target practice with a legitimate target and missing.

yeah i did tell em that it was a target. they said it was legal but the signs werent. they said we perposly did it and said it was an accident. i just about **** myself i was so pissed.

they siezed everything and searched my car. im really pissed but im ganna say guilty. no money for a lawer and im bad at fightin the law

yea i have to be supercareful with my bb gun, our yard isnt very big and all that seperates my yard from school property is a tree line

lol, last time I went outside with my bb gun to shoot (to stun, not to kill) a weird acting groundhog my neighbor called the cops on me.

there is zero tolerance today. Times have changed my friend.

DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY! You were using water-soluble paintballs? Then you haven't damaged anything, and that $$$ value means jack sh*t.
You don't need a lawyer for a misdemeanor. The only reason to hire a lawyer is if you want to argue a point of law. Talk to the prosecutor, tell your side of the story, maybe offer to do a few days of community service in exchange for dropping the charge. It'* fairly likey that they will go for that. If they don't, then go to court and explain it to the judge.
There'* no reason for you to have a record over some chessy crap like that.

Also, if they drop it, ask to have your property returned.

X2 on the DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY advice.

Cops can get a bit overzealous, I'm glad you were using a paintgun instead of a bow or that no people/cars were hit. If your going to go target practicing you have a responsibilty to account for your 'misses' too. Where was your deadstop?

I can also see the cops view on it being intentional. How exactly do you hit a stopsign 50ft away unless you were aiming way to high for your target? "I'm sorry we were aiming at hte target 3ft off the ground but the ball actually curved up and hit the stop sign 6ft off the ground 50 feet down the road.." Stranger things have happened but usually no one beleives them either. If the DA office lets you off, and I think they will - they have real criminals to prosecute, consider yourself lucky.

Go wash to paint off and tell them you don't know what the h*ll the cop is talking about.