Still gonna go with 'plausible' on this one.
It seems various news outlets have been checking up on Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson's story of being held at gunpoint at a Baltimore Popeye's and
nobody has been able to verify that such a thing ever happened.
A Carson spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment Thursday or for more details as to when and where the incident occurred.
Baltimore Police said Thursday that they could not find any report related to the incident based on the little information that Carson had provided.
That said, I'm inclined to give Carson the benefit of the doubt on this one. Carson's story is that a man held a gun to his ribs in a Baltimore Popeye's and Carson told him "I believe that you want the guy behind the counter," upon which the gunman apologized and proceeded to point his gun at the guy behind the counter. Telling people that you were once assaulted at gunpoint and told the gunman to go maybe shoot that guy over there is not the sort of thing a person would invent to make themselves look good. In an invented story, you'd talk the gunman down, or keep the gunman's attention focused on you while five burly guys behind him prepared a tackle, or wrestle the gun out of the man's hand using your superhuman manly man strength, and so on. "Go shoot that other guy" is not the version you'd tell people when you wanted to convince them that you're leadership material.
Which is not to say his campaign isn't selling it as such.
When asked why Carson is just telling the story now, [Carson business manager Armstrong Williams] explained it’s simply not Carson’s nature to talk about himself like a hero. Carson probably just didn’t want to “seem braggadocios.”
So yes, I believe Carson's telling the truth on this one. I for one can perfectly envision a scenario in which a cool-as-a-cucumber Ben Carson tells an obviously confused and rattled gunman that he'll have more success pointing his gun at the minimum wage guy. I'll even rank it as among the most plausible claims he's made recently.