In this work, we calculate the solutions of the Rarita-Schwinger equation with the inclusion of the electromagnetic interaction. Our gauge and coupling prescription choices lead to Dirac-type solutions. One of the consequences of our results is that all inconsistencies related to noncovariance and noncausality are avoided, and the Landau level occupation of particles turns out to be quite different from the usual spin 1/2 particle system occupation numbers. Our results do not indicate that the well known results obtained by Velo and Zwanzinger in 1969 are false or incorrect; they rather indicate that there exists an alternative way to deal with this problem that should be further explored, since this is a matter of interest in recent results related to heavy ion collisions and nuclear astrophysics. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.