2 Charged After Selfie Video Of Armed Protest In Cop Shop Lobby

DEARBORN, MI — Two masked, heavily armed men who took a selfie video of themselves carrying assault-style weapons into the Dearborn police station lobby earlier this month, were arraigned Friday on charges Friday, authorities said. The men claimed in the widely shared YouTube video that they had been illegally pulled over by police and brought their weapons to the police station to demonstrate a point about gun rights.

Police said Brandon Vreeland, 40, of Jackson, and James Craig Baker, 24, of Leonard, entered the police station on Michigan Avenue on Feb. 5 with shoulder mounted firearms, handguns and recording equipment.

The arsenal, according to an earlier police report, included a loaded AP-14 firearm, rifle magazine containing 47 7.62 rounds, a loaded Glock 19 handgun with four additional magazines containing 66 rounds, body armor and ballistic vests, masks, gun belt, several pieces of camera equipment, an AR-15 rifle, and a AK-47-style rifle, according to a press release.

Vreeland was charged in 19th District Court with carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. Baker was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, brandishing a weapon, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace, police said in a statement Friday. Judge Eugene Hunt set Vreeland’s bond at $20,000 cash/surety and Baker’s at $50,000 cash/surety. The judge ordered GPS tethers as a condition of release.

Warning: Video contains strong language.

The 3-minute, 25-second video titled “Open Carry Dearborn Police Station” was posted on YouTube, where it has been shared hundreds of thousands of times. During the heated confrontation in the police station, a Dearborn officer can be heard shouting, “Dude, put that on the ground.” Later, he warns, “I will put a round in you, sir.”

Dearborn police Lt. Gary Mann told Patch earlier this month that the two men came to the station incensed about an incident from earlier in the day. They had been stopped after police received a report of two men in a vehicle wearing masks and tactical vests in a shopping district in the area of Ford Road and and the Southfield freeway, Mann said.

“Officers found them nearby and stopped them,” Mann said. “Most people would think that if you're acting suspicious with a mask on then police have due diligence to investigate, but not these individuals. They were arrested for several misdemeanor charges, and we're still looking into some other charges and looking up other laws.”

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said their behavior was “totally unacceptable and irresponsible.”

“This is not a Second Amendment issue for me,” Haddad said in a statement earlier this month. “We had members of the public in our lobby that fled in fear for their safety as these men entered our building.”

Dearborn officers received calls of support for arresting the men from across the community, as well as from the president of Michigan Open Carry, Inc., who made clear the organization’s members “stand with law enforcement and unequivocally condemn the actions that took place in our lobby,” Haddad previously said.

Vreeland and Baker are due back in court at 9 a.m. March 10 for a probable cause conference. Their preliminary exam is scheduled for March 17.

YouTube video via Rantwithjeff

Photos of James Craig Baker, left, and Brandon Vreeland via Dearborn police