Another "Stand Your Ground" Case In Florida

[4chs]

I’m with Deuce on this one. That’s manslaughter. The guy is many feet from the one on the ground. It appears the gunman doesn’t look to back off the pusher with a warning. He just takes aim and shoots him.

 

I agree with your take. He didn't have to shoot him to protect himself if occurred the way I have heard. My guess she will sue him in civil court.

[TheDeuce]

There’s a video of the incident in the link found in the original post.

[PurplePride92]

This is why I tell my wife to chill when bad drivers frustrate her or when someone is rude in public. They’ll shoot me when I defend her and the other person will claim self defense and go home to their family.

 

The video of this situation is wild to watch. How that man isn’t charged with murder is crazy. Hopefully the DA will give the police a proper interpretation of the law.

[swamprat]

This is why I tell my wife to chill when bad drivers frustrate her or when someone is rude in public. They’ll shoot me when I defend her and the other person will claim self defense and go home to their family.

 

The video of this situation is wild to watch. How that man isn’t charged with murder is crazy. Hopefully the DA will give the police a proper interpretation of the law.

 

Under the law, physical confrontation can be interpreted as life threatening confrontation by the person under attack. It doesn't take degrees of physical confrontation into account.

 

As stated in the article, the legislature changed the law recently, moving the burden of the defendant proving the use of "Stand Your Ground" as justified, to the prosecution proofing the the used of "Stand Your Ground" as unjustified. That made it the responsibility of the State and law enforcement to determine if the law could be used as a defense.

 

I could be wrong, but I doubt the State Attorney, as the DA is called down here, will take action against the Sheriff or his department. Bernie McCabe has been the State Attorney (an elected position) for Pinellas and Pasco Counties for the last 26 years. I'm pretty sure Sheriff Gualtieri consulted McCabe, before making his statement.

[Bobby Axelrod]

I'm all for self defense but I don't know how one can justify that video. The guy who pushed the man not only backed away but there was a solid two seconds of him sitting there with his gun drawn before he fired. In that time the guy who pushed him was moving away from him. If he would have jumped on top of him and starting hitting him it would be a whole different story. But I don't know how he thought his life was in danger at that point. He could have easily drawn his gun and warned the man he would shoot if he attacked him again or something but to sit there and shoot without being approached again is not self defense imo.

[John Anthony]

But wasn't he already on the ground and he hadn't, in fact, hit his head? So the pushing was over, right?

 

Winner...

[swamprat]

I'm all for self defense but I don't know how one can justify that video. The guy who pushed the man not only backed away but there was a solid two seconds of him sitting there with his gun drawn before he fired. In that time the guy who pushed him was moving away from him. If he would have jumped on top of him and starting hitting him it would be a whole different story. But I don't know how he thought his life was in danger at that point. He could have easily drawn his gun and warned the man he would shoot if he attacked him again or something but to sit there and shoot without being approached again is not self defense imo.

 

Once Drejka drew his gun, if he had warned the guy before shooting and did not shoot, under Florida law, Drejka could have been arrested for brandishing a weapon.

[woodsrider]

Once Drejka drew his gun, if he had warned the guy before shooting and did not shoot, under Florida law, Drejka could have been arrested for brandishing a weapon.

Florida has some work to do on their laws.

[halfback20]

I just saw the video. Looks like murder to me, based only on what I've seen.

 

I think if the victim had continued after shoving him, the shooter might have an argument. However it looked like the victim stopped and even turned away when he saw the gun.

[halfback20]

This is why I tell my wife to chill when bad drivers frustrate her or when someone is rude in public. They’ll shoot me when I defend her and the other person will claim self defense and go home to their family.

 

The video of this situation is wild to watch. How that man isn’t charged with murder is crazy. Hopefully the DA will give the police a proper interpretation of the law.

 

Thats not true in all places.... but it's still not worth risking your life over a bad driver.

[Voice of Reason]

Florida has some work to do on their laws.

 

I agree with this in light of the posts above. It looks like there are some gray areas that need to be cleaned up. If the shooter has to worry about being charged with a crime by pulling his weapon in the situation, you're almost telling people that if they pull their gun they better shoot.

 

From what I saw of the video and the situation at hand, I am okay with the guy pulling his gun to defend himself if the guy who pushed him comes at him again. If there is no further aggression the situation is over and nobody needs to be charged. If the man who pushed the shooter down charges back at him, he is justified in shooting him because of that aggression and threat.

 

The problem here is with gun laws so loose there are going to be people with no training and an inability to handle a tense situation pulling guns and firing at each other. I want the onus of proof on the person with the gun. If you are going to take on that responsibility of gun ownership then you better know how to handle it.

 

Finally, under the laws presented in this thread and viewing this situation, I think the shooter should be charged. The man who was shot was a good 10 to 15 feet away and actually moving away from the shooter versus coming towards him. There was no imminent threat to the shooter when he pulled the trigger.

[TAC]

I just saw the video. Looks like murder to me, based only on what I've seen.

 

I think if the victim had continued after shoving him, the shooter might have an argument. However it looked like the victim stopped and even turned away when he saw the gun.

 

Love to hear the audio of what went down. If shooter was verbally threatened (talk to my GF like that and I'll kill you) in addition to being pushed to the ground, it may make a difference? Love to hear what the shooter was saying as well. All of the folks walking into the store heard him! He had harassed others before. Maybe looking for a reason.

[PurplePride92]

Thats not true in all places.... but it's still not worth risking your life over a bad driver.

 

Oh I know but I have zero intentions of figuring out which places it is true in and which places it isn’t.

[halfback20]

Oh I know but I have zero intentions of figuring out which places it is true in and which places it isn’t.

 

Smart plan. Because regardless of whether or not they prosecute your murderee, you are still dead.

[Bengal Maniac]

Absurd law, plain and simple.