Morning Sentinel, David Leaming / AP
Wednesday, March 19, 2014 | 10:47 a.m.
NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine — Police armed with assault rifles descended on a Maine man's home after members of a tree removal crew he'd told to clear off his property reported that he had a gun.
Turns out the "gun" the tree crew had seen on Michael Smith of Norridgewock was just a life-sized tattoo of a handgun on his stomach.
Smith, who works nights, was asleep when the tree crew contracted by a utility to trim branches near power lines, woke him up at about 10 a.m. Tuesday.
He went outside shirtless and yelled at the workers to leave. When he's not wearing a shirt, the tattoo looks like a gun tucked into his waistband.
Smith tells the Morning Sentinel the tattoo has never been a problem before.
Police didn't charge him.
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