You are viewing this article in the AnnArbor.com archives. For the latest breaking news and updates in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area, see MLive.com/ann-arbor
Posted on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 5:56 a.m.

Ann Arbor man faces charges for sparking taser during argument

By Kyle Feldscher

A 20-year-old Ann Arbor man will face a preliminary hearing Thursday after being accused of sparking a taser during an altercation in December outside a city home.

Ibrahim Yusif Ibrahim is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a taser and carrying a weapon with unlawful intent, according to court records. He’s scheduled to face a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m.

Ann Arbor police Lt. Renee Bush said Tuesday that officers responded to a report of an altercation at about 3:15 p.m. Dec. 19 in the 3000 block of Birch Hollow Drive.

Bush said Ibrahim and the man involved in the altercation had ongoing issues. The man had posted pictures online of Ibrahim’s sister smoking, which angered Ibrahim. Ibrahim told police the man came over to his house and tried to start a fight with Ibrahim’s brother.

Bush said Ibrahim and the man got into a verbal argument before Ibrahim took out the taser and "sparked" it — turning the taser on to show the electric charge. There was no indication that the taser was ever used to assault the man, Bush said.

The taser was recovered from the scene. Ibrahim maintained he was acting in self defense, Bush said.

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Comments

Sallyxyz

Thu, Feb 9, 2012 : 1:53 p.m.

Where is the photo of Ibrahim Yusif Ibrahim?

nowayjose

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 4:23 p.m.

I'm always leery of a man who's first and last name are the same.

cornelius McDougenschniefferburgenstein jr. 3 esq.

Thu, Feb 9, 2012 : 4:42 a.m.

like sirhan sirhan.

Belgium

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 5:36 p.m.

I'm always leery of people who brandish tasers.

Tru2Blu76

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 3:55 p.m.

He should have claimed that he was sparking his taser as an experiment to discover the nature of lightning. ;-) It may help some to consult the Michigan State Police website on Michigan's pistol laws (there are several) and wikipedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Michigan" rel='nofollow'>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Michigan</a> But basically, it's illegal to &quot;brandish&quot; a pistol to intimidate. Also basically, the law is directed toward restricting &quot;use&quot; of pistols to situations where a gun may legally be used to defend oneself and others from threat of death or bodily harm. The central proposition is that no one may - initiate - the use of force or threat of force. Except, that is, when it's necessary to preempt an action which threatens human life. The plaintiff in this case did the right thing: they summoned police to deal with a threatening individual. The accused might not be convicted of &quot;assault&quot; but certainly could be convicted of possessing &amp; brandishing an illegal &quot;assaultive device / dangerous weapon&quot; - and trespassing. These matters must be decided in court.

Tru2Blu76

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 4:04 p.m.

Oops!! I skimmed the article too quickly - it's Ibrahim who &quot;sparked&quot; the taser! My bad. In that case, he simply &quot;possessed&quot; an illegal weapon. That he used it defensively won't be considered because it's illegal to possess in the first place. He might or might not have been better off to show he had a pistol or other firearm,depending on what he did with it. He obviously should have called police first - to report a trespasser who was behaving in a threatening manner. Again: sorry for my own errors here. I was too rushed and got side tracked.

cornelius McDougenschniefferburgenstein jr. 3 esq.

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 2:48 p.m.

`ive heard chatter about legalizing tazers in michigan,but there doing it for all the wrong reason,it is a natural god given unalianable right,lawmakers will make us pay big $ to carry taser simmilar to recent changes in fireworks,helmet,marijuana+the cpl itself.

smokeblwr

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 1:23 p.m.

If everybody had just &quot;sparked&quot; something else and relaxed this whole situation wouldn't have happened, if you catch my drift, and I think you do.

Belgium

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 5:35 p.m.

I'm not sure, but if Ibrahim was mad about his sister being depicted smoking, he's probably not going to partake.

smokeblwr

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 3:03 p.m.

It's 4:20 somewhere!

JGS

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 2:50 p.m.

It was an hour and 5 minutes early for that. ;) 4:20

pvitaly

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 1:01 p.m.

Don't tase me, bro!

Belgium

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 5:33 p.m.

Enforcement of the rules at AA.com is consistently inconsistent.

pvitaly

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 3:20 p.m.

You just never know...

Major

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 2:59 p.m.

I made this same comment a few stories back and it was censored? Guess I've pissed off A2 dot com

trespass

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 12:42 p.m.

It is ironic that he is charged with assault with a DANGEROUS weapon when the police keep claiming that when they use a Taser it is completely safe (BTW the Tasers police use are much more powerful than the kind this guy had).

kraiford12

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 3:58 p.m.

Wrong on many points there, trespass. Law Enforcement tasers are not &quot;much more powerful&quot;. For one, there are different ways of measuring the effectiveness (a more appropriate word than &quot;more powerful&quot;) of the taser. For one, I am willing to bet this was a stun gun, not a taser like law enforcement use. Main difference being a taser has projectiles that can launch from the device, keeping the user a safe distance from the target. These projectiles also allow the taser to get a larger spread of the energy to create N.M.I. Neuro-muscular incapacitation, you lose control of your body. The stun guns (the ones with the 2 metal prongs on the end, can not produce a N.M.I. effect, they will only produce the pain that comes with getting all that juice dissipated on your skin. So I would say... it's not so ironic.

Jimmy McNulty

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 12:28 p.m.

Tasers are illegal to possess in Michigan for the average Joe. This is why MI does not issue &quot;concealed weapons&quot; permits, but rather a CPL- &quot;Concealed Pistol License.&quot; MICHIGAN: Illegal The Michigan Penal Code Act 328 of 1931. Chapter 750.224a Portable device or weapon directing electrical current, impulse, wave, or beam; sale or possession prohibited; testing. (1) A person shall not sell, offer for sale, or possess in this state a portable device or weapon from which an electric current, impulse, wave or beam is designed to incapacitate temporarily, injure, or kill. (3) A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony. SUMMARY: Possession and sales of Stun Devices are banned in Michigan. Includes stun guns, TASERS,stun batons and the cell phone stun gun. Alternative non-lethal self defense products include personal alarms which can also be used for home protection.

Evergreen

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 11:31 a.m.

So the man could have a registered weapon, even a concealed weapon permit, both of which could easily kill at close range. But if he has a taser which would only stun [in most cases] for self defense that we have determined is wrong? Sorry law makers, I don't get it.

EyeHeartA2

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 5 p.m.

I was under the impression you needed training to carry a firearm. Is this correct, Evergreen? Did the suspect have training for the taser? If he had, would this have been incucluded in the training as &quot;acceptable use&quot;, or are you just blowing smoke?

Mike

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 2:36 p.m.

Simon is correct, it is legal to carry but illegal to brandish..........

Simon Green

Wed, Feb 8, 2012 : 12:25 p.m.

It has nothing to do with having a registered or concealed weapon. Brandishng a weapon to coerce someone to do something is assault with a dangerous weapon. Carrying and brandishing are two VERY different things.