Jury To Decide Case Of Rifle-Toting Troy Teen

BIRMINGHAM (WWJ)  -  A jury has begun deliberations in the trial of a young Troy man who carried a gun in downtown Birmingham.

The 18-year-old Sean Combs no longer faces resisting police, however, after a judge in Bloomfield Hills' 48th District Court dropped that charge on Wednesday.

Birmingham police said Combs refused to cooperate when officers confronted him along Old Woodward Avenue on the evening of April 13.

The City Attorney said police were trying to determine if Combs was the proper age to carry a weapon when they requested his ID, even though he told them he was 18.  By not providing ID, police said he was interfering with their investigation.

The case has drawn the attention of gun advocates including Dan Meadows of West Bloomfield. He said Combs acted responsibly and within the law.

"He did nothing wrong. He did uphold his rights ... In the state of Michigan ... we do not have an obligation to ID ourselves to the police simply upon their request for ID," Meadows said.

"Many of us, including myself, would not be at a trial if we felt there was something suspect or something wrong with that the person did.

Police testified that Combs was being loud and boisterous, trying to get attention, which drew a crowd of teens.

An attorney for Combs said his client merely had the M1 military rifle strapped to his back and was not waving it around or pointing it at anyone.

The defense maintains it is a case of freedom of speech and expression.

The gun charges Combs is facing are 90 day misdemeanors.