VB shooting survivor arrested after telling boss he didn’t want to work in Building 2

[HCM]

Is there more to this story or is it as ridiculous as it sounds on the part of the city ?

The message I see is People who put you in gun free zones consider you expendable.


VB shooting survivor arrested after telling boss he didn’t want to work in Building 2

https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/virginia-beach/vb-shooting-survivor-arrested-after-telling-boss-he-didnt-want-to-work-in-building-2/


VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) It's been one month since the mass shooting inside Building 2 at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center. One of the employees there that day spent a night behind bars this week for allegedly disturbing the peace after he refused to return to the building.

"It's a nightmare," said John McIvor.

That nightmare for Jon McIvor began May 31. He was in Building 2 when a gunman killed 12 of his co-workers.

"I can't believe somebody would do something like that," McIvor added.

McIvor works in the IT department. For the past month he has been in Building 17. This week he was told he was going back to Building 2.

"People lost their lives in there and right now I wasn't ready to get back in there and work," McIvor said.

Tuesday, he met with a supervisor about having to go back to Building 2. According to court records, McIvor became agitated and angry. He then began yelling and stormed out of the office.

"I don't want to be coerced to go back in there," McIvor said. "I wanted to talk with HR and see what my options were."

HR told McIvor they would find another position for him so he didn't have to return to Building 2. Wednesday at work, police showed up and arrested him. His supervisor Darrell Riddick went to the magistrate and took out a warrant against McIvor for disturbing the peace. He ended up spending 24 hours in jail.

[Sensei]

At first pass, it sounds like the supervisor and officers failed to exercise common sense. However, there may be more to the story. Time will tell...

[KellyinAvon]

At first pass, it sounds like the supervisor and officers failed to exercise common sense. However, there may be more to the story. Time will tell...

I miss Paul Harvey, quite often we need "the rest of the story."

[BehindBlueI's]

At first pass, it sounds like the supervisor and officers failed to exercise common sense. However, there may be more to the story. Time will tell...


His supervisor Darrell Riddick went to the magistrate and took out a warrant against McIvor for disturbing the peace.

Virginia allows non-LEOs to swear out misdemeanor warrants in front of a magistrate without requiring an officer or prosecutor to sign off on it.


If a private citizen believes that you have committed a crime, she can go to the magistrate and can file a sworn statement (called a criminal complaint) that states what her evidence is to support a criminal charge. The magistrate may ask her some questions to clarify or to supplement what is on the criminal complaint, and then the magistrate will have to decide what crime to charge you with. The magistrate can then issue a warrant charging you with a misdemeanor. If the private citizen wants you to be charged with a felony, the magistrate cannot issue a felony arrest warrant without first getting the authorization of the Commonwealth’s Attorney or by “a law-enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the alleged offense.” §19.2-71. When such a warrant is issued, it is given to a police officer so that they can come arrest you and bring you to the magistrate’s office for a bond determination. - https://www.snookandhaughey.com/criminal/criminal-charges-get-brought-virginia/

It doesn't appear from the article that any officer was involved in the process other than serving the warrant. Warrants don't come with the back story, and police generally don't get to second guess court orders. As such, not sure what officers you believed failed to exercise common sense.

[JodyH]

His supervisor Darrell Riddick went to the magistrate and took out a warrant against McIvor for disturbing the peace.
Do you want a disgruntled employee showing up at your office with a gun?
Because this is how you end up with a disgruntled employee showing up at your office with a gun.

[RevolverRob]

Do you want a disgruntled employee showing up at your office with a gun?
Because this is how you end up with a disgruntled employee showing up at your office with a gun.

I think that's how you end up sued for "mental anguish".

Like seriously, that's how you end up sued for mental anguish. Hope the supervisor got HR approval for this move. If he didn't he'll be shit-canned by tomorrow morning.
___

If it went like described in the article. I expect the supervisor did not clear this with HR or it would have been HR who said, "No damn comment." - Meanwhile I would not only want the charges dismissed (with prejudice), I would want the supervisor charged with filing a false report and perjury on a sworn statement. Chances of that happening are very low, but that's the appropriate response for this kind of stuff. If you have the ability to request a misdemeanor warrant be issued against someone. You have the responsibility to get that shit right or risk the consequences.

[Lester Polfus]

Do we want to get a betting pool started to see how much money the civil settlement is for this guy?

[RevolverRob]

Do we want to get a betting pool started to see how much money the civil settlement is for this guy?

7-digits. But I'd guess less than 3 million, probably 2'ish. Just for this incident right?

Because I would ASSume there will be a class action against by the survivors against someone else. No idea where that will go, but that's a different settlement.

[olstyn]

Do we want to get a betting pool started to see how much money the civil settlement is for this guy?

Set it up as multiples of his current annual salary. ;)

[Stephanie B]

Do we want to get a betting pool started to see how much money the civil settlement is for this guy?
Or how long until "Darryl Riddick the Snowflake" is trending.

Richard Riddick can see in the dark and tell if a knife is half a gram out of balance (https://riddick.fandom.com/wiki/Irgun_Knife).

Darryl Riddick goes to the cops if somebody is mean to him.

[CWM11B]

Way to little information for me to form an opinion. Nothing mentions the behavior that led to the supervisor seeking a warrant, I'd need to review the charging affidavit. Additionally, I wonder what the "workplace violence" policy is. Citywide policy where
I worked it was zero tolerance for and had to be reported. The pure letter of the policy was termination for all offenses. Uttering "I'm going to kick your ass" was cause for firing, as was failure to report it (wasn't enforced at the PD, or we'd have had about ten officers out of 600 left ten minutes after implementation). I can also see managers being as sensitive due to the recent incident and a bit on edge too. I'm going to guess the arrestee's supervisor was probably in building 2 on that day as well.

On warrants...yeah, cops dont have a choice when one is issued. NC is the same as VA in this regard. Joe citizen can go to the magistrate's office (24/7 in my city) and swear out misdemeanor warrants. I regularly arrested folks on outstanding warrants after running checks on them from field contacts, traffic stops, MVA investigations, etc. When they asked what the charges were, frequently I'd tell them (and not in a smart ass way) we'd both find out when we got downtown. If I didn't draw the charges or was actively seeking the person for service, I had no clue what it was for.

[JTQ]

On the other hand, perhaps after the VA Beach shooting, the managerial staff meetings included discussion/direction that when you have a disruptive employee, you need to document it and take action - and here are some suggestions of such actions - to prevent having a crazy guy/gal show up at work with a gun and shooting up the place and our paper trail says he was a model employee.

Some aftermath over reaction, and subsequent unintended consequences.

[BehindBlueI's]

I would want the supervisor charged with filing a false report and perjury on a sworn statement. Chances of that happening are very low, but that's the appropriate response for this kind of stuff.

Based on what?


took out a warrant against McIvor for disturbing the peace


“The allegation is that he was agitated, that he was annoyed and that he raised his voice,” said attorney Taite Westerndorf. “Those things may be true, but they are not criminal.


Virginia Beach ordinance 23-10. Disturbing the peace generally

It shall be unlawful and a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person to disturb the peace of others by violent, tumultuous or obstreperous conduct or by threatening, challenging to fight, assaulting, fighting or striking another.


Definition of obstreperous
1 : marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness

While it strikes me as a rather petty thing to pursue, with the information available what exactly leads you to believe the report is false?

[HCM]

Virginia allows non-LEOs to swear out misdemeanor warrants in front of a magistrate without requiring an officer or prosecutor to sign off on it.

- https://www.snookandhaughey.com/criminal/criminal-charges-get-brought-virginia/


This ^^^ explains a lot.

How many states allow this ?

[Clusterfrack]

Any time I have an employee acting in any way threatening, I will call it in.

The reasons why the person is angry don’t matter.

[BehindBlueI's]

This ^^^ explains a lot.

How many states allow this ?

I don't know for sure, but I think only Virginia and North Carolina. Many more states allow for citizen's outright arrest, including mine, but have no provision for swearing out warrants without some sign-off prior to presentation to the judge/magistrate.

[Josh Runkle]

Do you want a disgruntled employee showing up at your office with a gun?
Because this is how you end up with a disgruntled employee showing up at your office with a gun.

But...it’s a gun free zone. So, they can’t bring guns there.

*rolls eyes*


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MD7305]

As others have said, in Virginia, members of the public can go to a Magistrate, complete a criminal complaint, swear to that complaint, and if probable cause is found by the Magistrate a warrant is issued, it's literally the same paperwork and process by which officers file charges. This is only true for misdemeanors though. In my experience this was very common. Say for example an officer was dispatched to a misdemeanor that didn't occur in their presence they might advise the complaint to obtain their own warrant. In my former jurisdiction a lot of calls were cleared as "10-8, warrants advised."

What surprised me about this situation is the person was physically arrested. I know all individual jurisdictions operate differently but Virginia misdemeanor warrants can be classified as either permitted or non-permitted. Permitted classified warrants allow the officer/deputy to decide whether the subject is physically arrested or allowed to serve the warrant as a summons by allowing the party to sign, promising to appear in court. Non-permitted means the person must be brought before the Magistrate. From my experience this was largely determined by the type of charge, circumstances around the incident, and the person's likelihood to appear. On permitted warrants the decision to physically arrest depended largely on the cooperation of the subject and officer discretion. According to VA Beach city statute, Disturbing the Peace is a Class 1 Misdemeanor.

The officers were without doubt obligated to serve the warrant. I'm curious if the warrant was permitted, and if so, why the man was arrested instead of being allowed to simply sign it.

I'm also curious to see more details on this though. According to a search of the Virginia General District Case Information website the fellow has two Disturbing the Peace charges listed, with the same offense date but different complainant names? The article doesn't address that from what I can tell.

[Sensei]

Virginia allows non-LEOs to swear out misdemeanor warrants in front of a magistrate without requiring an officer or prosecutor to sign off on it.

- https://www.snookandhaughey.com/criminal/criminal-charges-get-brought-virginia/

It doesn't appear from the article that any officer was involved in the process other than serving the warrant. Warrants don't come with the back story, and police generally don't get to second guess court orders. As such, not sure what officers you believed failed to exercise common sense.

When I was in Richmond (~20 years ago), disturbing the peace was a misdemeanor leaving the option of arresting the suspect or presenting a summons to the discretion of the officer. Perhaps things have changed or my memory is incorrect.

[john c]

There must be more to the story. I don't see how this rises to the level of disturbing the peace. If a guy gets into a verbal-only altercation with his boss, and then storms out, I'm not seeing disturbing the peace. Generally, there has to be an element of reasonableness in determining the level of the altercation. In my area, that's either challenging another to fight, or otherwise not leaving when asked/told and continuing the disturbance.

The next issue is that it sounds like the supervisor did this of his own accord, rather than the city doing this to an employee. It will be difficult for the city to defend against this not being a job action. Did the supervisor follow the proper procedure of verbal/written warnings, etc? Can the supervisor even take personal action (getting the warrant) against a subordinate for a work-related incident?

My guess is the city attorney is not happy about this little incident, which is sure to hit his/her desk.

[HCM]

When I was in Richmond (~20 years ago), disturbing the peace was a misdemeanor leaving the option of arresting the suspect or presenting a summons to the discretion of the officer. Perhaps things have changed or my memory is incorrect.


As noted up thread, VA and NC apparently allow citizens to go directly to a magistrate and swear out a complaint for an arrest warrant. That seems shady as hell to me and an invitation for abuse but, hey, not my state.

The IT supervisor went directly to the magistrate and swore out a complaint resulting in the magistrate issuing an arrest warrant.

MD7305 explained the VA process. If I’m understanding him correctly the magistrate can determine on the warrant whether the person can be summonsed or must be arrested.

[TGS]

When I was in Richmond (~20 years ago), disturbing the peace was a misdemeanor leaving the option of arresting the suspect or presenting a summons to the discretion of the officer. Perhaps things have changed or my memory is incorrect.

Let's not forget what's behind curtain #3, in the possibility that the officer may have only wanted to serve a notice but then found cause during the interaction with the individual to arrest him.

In any case, none of us have enough information to be passing judgement one way or the other at this point.

[Sensei]

As others have said, in Virginia, members of the public can go to a Magistrate, complete a criminal complaint, swear to that complaint, and if probable cause is found by the Magistrate a warrant is issued, it's literally the same paperwork and process by which officers file charges. This is only true for misdemeanors though. In my experience this was very common. Say for example an officer was dispatched to a misdemeanor that didn't occur in their presence they might advise the complaint to obtain their own warrant. In my former jurisdiction a lot of calls were cleared as "10-8, warrants advised."

What surprised me about this situation is the person was physically arrested. I know all individual jurisdictions operate differently but Virginia misdemeanor warrants can be classified as either permitted or non-permitted. Permitted classified warrants allow the officer/deputy to decide whether the subject is physically arrested or allowed to serve the warrant as a summons by allowing the party to sign, promising to appear in court. Non-permitted means the person must be brought before the Magistrate. From my experience this was largely determined by the type of charge, circumstances around the incident, and the person's likelihood to appear. On permitted warrants the decision to physically arrest depended largely on the cooperation of the subject and officer discretion. According to VA Beach city statute, Disturbing the Peace is a Class 1 Misdemeanor.

The officers were without doubt obligated to serve the warrant. I'm curious if the warrant was permitted, and if so, why the man was arrested instead of being allowed to simply sign it.

I'm also curious to see more details on this though. According to a search of the Virginia General District Case Information website the fellow has two Disturbing the Peace charges listed, with the same offense date but different complainant names? The article doesn't address that from what I can tell.


As noted up thread, VA and NC apparently allow citizens to go directly to a magistrate and swear out a complaint for an arrest warrant. That seems shady as hell to me and an invitation for abuse but, hey, not my state.

The IT supervisor went directly to the magistrate and swore out a complaint resulting in the magistrate issuing an arrest warrant.

MD7305 explained the VA process. If I’m understanding him correctly the magistrate can determine on the warrant whether the person can be summonsed or must be arrested.


Let's not forget what's behind curtain #3, in the possibility that the officer may have only wanted to serve a notice but then found cause during the interaction with the individual to arrest him.

In any case, none of us have enough information to be passing judgement one way or the other at this point.

There are a couple of other things about this arrest that seem odd to me. Notably, the article mentions that he spent 24 hours in jail. Again, it’s been close to 25 years since ending my brief sent in Richmond, is it the experience of current VA LEOs that suspects spend 24 hours in jail waiting to see a magistrate for a disturbing the peace Class 1 Misdemeanor in a city like VA Beach?

My gut tells me that there is a lot more to this story. Perhaps, he made vague threats of violence which would explain a lot.

[JodyH]

My gut tells me that there is a lot more to this story. Perhaps, he made vague threats of violence which would explain a lot.
My gut tells me that like most cities of that size the city government is staffed from top to bottom with a certain personality type that tends to emotionally overreact in many stressful situations.
"When emotional assholes collide".

[BehindBlueI's]

My gut tells me that there is a lot more to this story. Perhaps, he made vague threats of violence which would explain a lot.

Whatever it was, it was enough to get two complaints. I looked him up in the Virginia court records online and he has a second case from the same date for the same thing under a different cause number. GC19007980-00 and GC19007981-00 with "Jamie Weaver" being the complainant on the second one.

[Lester Polfus]

My gut tells me that like most cities of that size the city government is staffed from top to bottom with a certain personality type that tends to emotionally overreact in many stressful situations.
"When emotional assholes collide".

So I want to tread very carefully here because I think walking into someplace with a gun and shooting people is an absolutely chickenshit thing to do, and there is absolutely no excuse for it.

BUT, last time I paid attention to it, there was some evidence that workplace shootings are more common at certain types of workplaces. If the management style is "It does what we tells it or it gets the hose" a guy who might otherwise be just sort of a jerk at work goes full postal. We had a supervisor at work who had multiple screaming matches with GOOD employees and I wouldn't have been surprised if somebody just knocked her the fuck out one day.

So yeah, it's possible the employee is a threat here, but it's also possible management is a big bag of dicks too.

[eaglefrq]

Whatever it was, it was enough to get two complaints. I looked him up in the Virginia court records online and he has a second case from the same date for the same thing under a different cause number. GC19007980-00 and GC19007981-00 with "Jamie Weaver" being the complainant on the second one.

I wonder if Jamie Weaver was the police officer? If he went to serve him on the initial complaint and the guy got loud or agitated with the officer, could that be the second charge? Would they list the officer by his name only?

[MD7305]

I wonder if Jamie Weaver was the police officer? If he went to serve him on the initial complaint and the guy got loud or agitated with the officer, could that be the second charge? Would they list the officer by his name only?

In my experience it depends on how it's entered by the court or even the clerk doing thr entry but it's usually whatever is listed on the complainant line of the warrant. After looking up the info online, the offense dates for both are 6/25 and both have arrest dates of 6/26. I would imagine if it was a charge placed by the arresting officer the offense date would be 6/26, the same as the arrest. That's just a guess.

[eaglefrq]

In my experience it depends on how it's entered by the court or even the clerk doing thr entry but it's usually whatever is listed on the complainant line of the warrant. After looking up the info online, the offense dates for both are 6/25 and both have arrest dates of 6/26. I would imagine if it was a charge placed by the arresting officer the offense date would be 6/26, the same as the arrest. That's just a guess.

Ok, I didn't look anything up, I just went by what I remember reading. From what you looked up, I agree that it does not sound like the second offense was from the arresting officer. I definitely think there is more to the story.

[BehindBlueI's]

I wonder if Jamie Weaver was the police officer? If he went to serve him on the initial complaint and the guy got loud or agitated with the officer, could that be the second charge? Would they list the officer by his name only?

No. Date of complaint was the same for both and cause numbers are only one apart, meaning they were sworn out back to back. Day of arrest was a few days after.

[TGS]

Charges and protective orders against both McIvor and Mann were dismissed by the judge: https://www.wavy.com/virginia-beach-mass-shooting/charges-dropped-against-vb-employee-accused-of-disturbing-the-peace/


The employee was also fired after telling a supervisor that the mass shooter probably snapped because of supervisors like her.