Gun Tattoo In Maine Results In Police Raid


A gun tattoo in Maine spotted by a tree removal crew prompted police officers armed with assault rifles to descend upon Michael Smith’s home. Smith had previously told the workers from Lucas Tree Experts to clear off his property. After spotting what they believed was a real gun tucked in Smith’s waistband and not merely a tattoo, they called the police who arrived on the scene quickly.

Michael Smith, of Norrdgewock, has a life-sized gun tattoo on his stomach. The Maine man works at night and was asleep when the tree crew arrived at his Maine home. The workers were contracted by a utility company to trim branches away from power lines and arrived at Smith’s property around 10 am. Unhappy that the tree crew woke him up, a shirtless Smith got out of bed and yelled at the workers to leave. When not wearing a shirt, the gun tattoo appears to be sticking out of the waistband of his pants. According to Smith, the tattoo had never before been a problem.

The gun tattooed man returned to his home and went back to sleep after yelling at the tree crew. A few minutes later Michael Smith was awakened again, but this time by Maine State Police officers at his front door. The troopers carrying assault rifles stood in his driveway and beckoned Smith by megaphone to come outside.

Once the gun tattoo confusion was cleared up, the state troopers understood that there was no need for any charges to be filed. Mane State Police Trooper Scott Duff said:

“Obviously it was a misunderstanding and he didn’t have a weapon, but we had to respond to the initial report as if he did. We take all precautions when we don’t have the details. They weren’t 100 percent sure what he was saying, but he was yelling and they thought it could be some sort of a threat. They thought he was yelling something to the effect of doing harm, but when we got a hold of him, it ended up just being a tattoo. I think he had been sleeping and was wearing pajama pants. I’m not sure what his mindset was, but he wasn’t pointing to his gun or anything like that.”

The workers reported that as they backed into the driveway Smith told them not to cut the trees and the men said it was not a problem. When Smith turned to leave one worker thought he saw a gun in his waistband and called the police. “I got plans today. I didn’t want to get shot,” Michael Smith said about coming outside after being startled awake a second time.

[Image Via: David Learnng/Online Sentinel]

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