A judge has ordered the Evansville Police Department (EPD) to keep the ten guns officers confiscated last week without a warrant.
According to an order from Vanderburgh Superior Court Judge Robert Pigman, 67-year old Kenneth Haynie, Jr. is "dangerous" as defined by state statute. Indiana's Red Flag Law, which allowed officers to take the guns, required the judge to hold a hearing within two weeks of the date the weapons were seized to determine whether they had to be returned.
In addition to allowing police to keep the guns, the judge's order takes away Haynie's handgun license and disqualifies him from getting a new one.
Officers took Haynie's firearms after arresting him for misdemeanor false informing. He allegedly told emergency dispatchers that he was holding his wife at knifepoint. Police say officers found his wife at another address and believe he was instead planning to ambush officers. He was arrested two days later while taking out the trash.
That type of arrest normally wouldn’t give police the legal grounds to confiscate guns, but under Indiana’s Red Flag Law, officers can remove firearms without a warrant if they believe the owner is an immediate threat to themselves or to the public.
EPD believes this is the first time they’ve used the almost 15-year-old state law.
