commentary by Patrick H. Moore
In those parts of America where crime rates are high, everyday citizens lock their doors and are careful to keep their powder dry. The fear of home invasion runs high and I have little doubt that a great many Americans sleep with their firearms conveniently close to, although hopefully not under, their pillows. Even the most heavily armed among us probably don’t want their guns going off unexpectedly, which happens all the time, as is attested to by the phenomenally high rate of accidental gun deaths.
But surprise, surprise! The purpose of this post is not to bitch about how huge numbers of Americans look forward, with a mixture of fear and trepidation, to that much anticipated day when they too will have to “stand their ground.” The purpose of this post is to describe a “clear and present danger” Americans face in various unruly neighborhoods all across this “land of 
broken dreams”, specifically, that law enforcement will confuse them with a neighbor and wrongfully invade their property, thus putting all and sundry in danger of getting shot by mistake by men in uniform.
Brandon Watson, a resident of Portsmouth, Virginia was recently faced by this problem and responded by grabbing his gun and defending himself against what appeared to be a home invasion, but was really a reconnaissance mission perpetrated by the local “men in black” who were unfortunately reconnoitering IN THE WRONG BACKYARD which just happened to be Watson’s.
Lina Batarags of Opposing Views writes:
When a man heard noises in his backyard and heard the back door handle click, he ushered his family upstairs, grabbed his gun and prepared to defend himself.
Brandon Watson remembers his wife seeing “guys in all black” approaching the house; when he couldn’t immediately find a phone to call 911, he instead ran back downstairs with his legally purchased gun.
Watson recalls warning the intruders, “Who is that? I have a gun,” and immediately finding “two red laser beams” trained on his chest.
He then fired a warning shot through a window, and ran across the street to get help from his neighbor, a Virginia State Police deputy.
To Mr. Watson’s surprise, however, as he ran out of the house, he was appalled to discover that he had just shot a police officer.
“As I came out of the house…they said, ‘Who just fired the shot out the back window?’” “I said I did…and I was holding a gun, and they said, ‘put down the gun.’”
It turns out that the shadowy “men in black” camouflaged in his backyard were Portsmouth police officers who, apparently believing that they were busily investigating a home invasion, had naturally not announced themselves.
“I said, ‘An officer? Nobody came to my door. What do you mean an officer? I didn’t know there were any officers in my backyard.”
This incident occurred on January 3, 2013. Nine months later it was finally revealed that police had been in the wrong backyard. They should have been in a nearby neighbor’s backyard, but through some miscalculation, they had sly-dogged into the wrong backyard which just happened to be Watson’s. The reason they were on their nocturnal mission was because a neighbor had called 911 because she heard scary noises in the downstairs of her own home; in attempting to respond to her 911 call, the officers had mistakenly approached Watson’s house instead of hers.
The Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Earle Mobley admitted that Watson did not know the people in his backyard were police; nevertheless, he prosecuted him for misdemeanor reckless handling of a firearm.
Watson was found guilty but appealed the decision. (Note: Because his charge was a misdemeanor, chances are his case was originally decided in something resembling a bench trial). Based on Watson’s objection, a second judge, who reviewed the case, declared a mistrial. At that juncture, Watson exercised his legal right to a jury trial.
“This can’t be doing your job,” Watson argued. “You come into my backyard, try to open my door, open my window and flash red laser beams on my chest because you thought I was the burglar, and I thought you were the burglar.”
All for the sake of security, my friends…
The seven-person jury deliberated for only 47 minutes and found Watson not guilty, stating that Watson had showed restraint by firing only one shot. The jury also noted that officers’ claims that “they had their weapons pointed at the ground at all times” were contradicted by the red beams Watson claims had been focused on his chest.
Although a strong argument can be made that Watson should never have been prosecuted, to their credit, as a result of this case, Portsmouth police have changed their policy and have removed the red gun laser sights from their weapons.
Watson was considerably damaged by the incident. After the misdemeanor charge was filed against him, he spent 10 months unemployed.
“I begged them not to charge me. I knew what it meant…I got no jobs…no one would hire me after they ran the criminal background check, because I was charged with reckless handling of a firearm.”
Although Watson is undoubtedly feeling good about the fact he was acquitted of the “reckless handling of a firearm” charge, he is far from mollified and is now looking into claiming negligence or gross negligence in a lawsuit he aims to bring against the city of Portsmouth.