Pistol pinhead
Tourist busted for leaving loaded gun in hotel
RIKERS ISLAND wasn’t to be on the itinerary.
A North Carolina man’s weekend trip to New York City to do “touristy stuff” ended with him locked up on Rikers — for leaving a pistol behind in his Brooklyn motel room.
“That’s my gun,” 23-year-old Torrie Flock told detectives after he was arrested Monday, according to court papers.
“I left it in the room, didn’t know it was such a big deal.”
Flock, a forklift driver from Charlotte, was in town visiting Times Square and the Statue of Liberty with his girlfriend to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend, his attorney Dara Hebert said at his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Tuesday.
But at checkout, Flock forgot to pack his .45-caliber pistol — with seven rounds of ammo — which he supposed had left under the mattress in Room 218 at the Harbor Motor Inn in Gravesend, according to the criminal complaint.
Flock called the motel and let them know he’d come back to pick up the weapon. A housekeeper wrapped it in a towel — and handed it to authorities, who were waiting to arrest him when he showed up. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
“North Carolina is an open gun state. You don’t need a license to buy a gun once you’re 21,” his lawyer told Judge Alison Hamanjian. “There’s no information from the people that he did this illegally.”
Flock, who officials said has a prior arrest for resisting arrest and two misdemeanors, quickly learned that packing heat in the big city can be a pretty big deal. Hamanjian set bail at $7,500, and if convicted, Flock faces up to four years in prison. His girlfriend and her father declined to comment when leaving court.