Klein’s “I didn’t point it at him” excuse doesn’t hold up

by David Safier

The episode with state senator Lori Klein pointing her pink .380 Ruger at Republic reporter Richard Ruelas has gone national and viral. So naturally, Klein says, it didn't happen. Well, it did, but it didn't.

She was demonstrating the laser sight for Ruelas by pointing it at the wall, she said, and he just kind of plopped himself down on the couch right where she was pointing. That's how the gun's laser beam ended up on his chest.

Let's begin with the smell test. If someone is pointing a gun at a wall, demonstrating the laser sighting for you, do you walk right into the line of fire? It's possible, but not very probable.

Then there's the tape. Unfortunately, the incident happened before Ruelas turned on his tape recorder and when the photographer was out of the room, so we don't have an audio or a witness of the moment, but the tape afterwards is pretty clear — though, I have to admit, not 100% conclusive.

Here's a text of the audio. Henle, I assume, is the photographer.

Klein: A friend of mine said, it looks like a water pistol. I'm like, yeah, wait until you see the laser pointer.

Henle: It has a laser on it?

Klein: Yeah. Yeah. I showed it to you.

Henle: I didn't see the laser part.

(Simultaneous) Klein: I pointed it at him.

(Simultaneous) Ruelas: She pointed it at me.

(laughter)

Ruelas: With the safety on, you pointed it at me.

Klein: No, there is no safety on that.

Ruelas: OK.

Klein: I just didn't have my hand on the trigger, god.

Ruelas: Oh no, but it does look, I mean, if I could see it again, it does look like a, like a, makeup bag . . .

Henle: There's no safety on that?

Klein: Yeah, no. There is no safety.

Ruelas: … it looks like you're carrying sunglasses in there, I mean . . . actually, yeah.

Klein: I won't point it at you.

Ruelas: I have sunglasses. It's about that size . . .

Klein: So OK, this is the laser. Look, look, that's the laser. But see this gun is basically for self protection.

You're really accurate 20 feet away from you. Do you know what I mean? That's basically … now, notice, I don't have my hand on the trigger. There is no safety on this gun. But you have to really pull the trigger, to you know, it's a harder trigger. That's part of your safety.

The audio of the moment isn't clear to my ears, but according to the transcript, Klein said "I pointed it at him" the same moment Ruelas said "She pointed it at me." I guess Klein could argue that what he meant was, the gun was pointed at Ruelas when he walked in front of it, but she volunteered she pointed it at Ruelas, then didn't correct him about the pointing when he said, "With the safety on, you pointed it at me."

Klein has a shred of deniability, but only the tiniest of shreds.

Here's the audio.