Opinion ID: 149769
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Matthew R. Weasner

Text: Weasner describes himself as a citizen and resident of the State of Ohio. In early June 2004, however, he was employed by a defense contractor and was staying at a hotel in New Jersey. He had recently traveled to California and Arizona while awaiting a military transport to Iraq. Almost immediately upon checking into the New Jersey hotel, Weasner received a call notifying him of a family emergency. He purchased the cheapest plane ticket he could find, which departed from Long Island MacArthur Airport (LIMA), New York in route to Ohio, and, with all of his property, drove straight from New Jersey to the airport in New York. Included in this property was a Ruger pistol, purchased by his grandfather and given to him by his father, properly unloaded and packaged according to TSA regulations. Weasner had carried that firearm, apparently without incident, on his various trips to or from Ohio and California. When Weasner arrived at the airport ninety minutes before his flight, he informed the agent at the airline ticket counter that he had a firearm to declare. The agent made a call and soon after appellee Officer Passalaqua arrived and asked Weasner to accompany him to a TSA office, which Weasner did. Weasner explained to Officer Passalaqua that he was passing through New York on his way from New Jersey to his home state, Ohio, and showed Officer Passalaqua his plane ticket. Officer Passalaqua left for about thirty minutes, and when he returned told Weasner that there was no record of the firearm in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF) database. Weasner stated that the gun had been purchased by his grandfather before record keeping rules were in effect and thus would only show up in the database if he had used it to commit a crime. During the course of these interactions, Weasner did not alert Officer Passalaqua to Section 926A, though he did tell him that he had complied with the packaging regulations for transporting a firearm and had traveled with it frequently, noting that his gun case included a check tag from the TSA in California. At some point, Officer Passalaqua handcuffed Weasner and led him to a back room, where he was kept, handcuffed, for about twenty minutes. He was then taken to the police station, where he was fingerprinted, and subsequently charged with illegal possession of a firearm under New York Penal Law § 265.01. Weasner made bail that day and flew home to Ohio without his gun. The charges against Weasner were subsequently dismissed. [6] Weasner later filed suit, alleging that appellees violated: (a) his right to carry firearms under Section 926A, and (b) his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Weasner also seeks to hold the Town of Islip liable under a failure to train or deliberate indifference theory.