College Students in Fargo, North Dakota Set Up a Telescope, Police Threaten to Shoot Them

On the evening of August 24, 2015, Levi Joraanstad and Colin Waldera decided to set up an approximately 14” inch diameter telescope to, well, look at the sky. Not that one needs a reason to set up a telescope in the United States. The North Dakota State University students were on private property that they rent and were not conducting any unlawful activities. However, Joraanstad was wearing a dark colored sweater with white lettering and that made a Fargo, North Dakota cop suspicious. According to the cop the sweater could have been a tactical vest due to its color scheme, and the telephone pole width telescope could have been a rifle. Seriously.

The officer reported that he first radioed dispatch to make sure that no law enforcement operations were being conducted. Apparently two college age males using a telescope behind a garage on private property can pass for a law enforcement operation in Fargo, N.D. After being told by dispatch that no operations were taking place the officer decided to call for back up and an additional two to three officers arrived, as the telescope needed to be surrounded.

The officers then approached the students while shining blinding lights at them and ordering them to stop moving and to put their hands up. At first the pair thought that fellow students were playing a prank on them as the officers did not initially identify themselves and they were unable to be seen as a result of the blinding lights. The officers then immediately yelled that they would shoot the two students if they did not immediately obey the officers’ commands.

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