Florida man guilty of manslaughter in test of 'stand your ground' law - reports

[rooster59]

Florida man guilty of manslaughter in test of 'stand your ground' law - reports

 

FILE PHOTO: Michael Drejka of Clearwater, Florida, U.S. is pictured in this undated handout booking photo obtained by Reuters on August 13, 2018. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - A Florida man has been convicted of manslaughter for a fatal shooting during an argument about a parking spot, local media reported on Saturday, in a case that made headlines when police initially declined to arrest the suspect due to the state's "stand your ground" self-defense law.

 

A jury found Michael Drejka, 49, of Clearwater, Florida, guilty after about six hours of deliberation late on Friday, according to media including the Tampa Bay Times.

 

The shooting on July 19, 2018, happened after Drejka became involved in an argument outside a Clearwater grocery store with a woman he accused of parking in a spot reserved for handicapped people without the proper permit, police said.

 

The woman's boyfriend, 28-year-old Markeis McGlockton, shoved him to the ground, at which point Drejka drew his licensed concealed handgun and shot McGlockton in the chest. He later told investigators he feared for his life, but security camera footage that appeared to show his victim retreating when Drejka pulled his weapon was widely shared online and triggered anger on social media.

 

Police initially declined to charge Drejka, citing a 2005 law that grants residents the right to use deadly force if they reasonably believe they are at risk of great harm or death. The state attorney's office later filed charges.

 

The "stand your ground" law, which removes legal responsibility to retreat from a dangerous situation, was cited as a factor in the fatal 2012 shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin by a volunteer neighborhood watch captain who was eventually acquitted.

 

The racially charged Martin case triggered national outrage and prompted criticism of the "stand your ground" law as a license to kill with impunity.

 

Drejka is white and McGlockton was black. The shooter in the Martin case, George Zimmerman, is a light-skinned Hispanic.

 

(Writing by Daniel Wallis in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-25

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[donnacha]

On 8/25/2019 at 6:59 AM, rooster59 said:

The "stand your ground" law, which removes legal responsibility to retreat from a dangerous situation, was cited as a factor in the fatal 2012 shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin by a volunteer neighborhood watch captain who was eventually acquitted.

Nonsense. Trayvon Martin was literally on lying on top of Zimmerman and smashing his head against a curb, he would have been unconscious within a minute and the attacker would have taken possession his weapon. If you carry a firearm you have a clear responsibility not to let an attacker get hold of it. Zimmerman was not "standing his ground", he was utterly <deleted>.

Having said that, personally, I would avoid any hostile interaction with an African American. No parking spot matters that much. The same goes for skipping queues, or talking incessantly in cinemas, or pretty much any situation where you would intervene in Europe. In America, just let it go, the normal rules do not apply. If you find yourself starting to go Rambo, move to a more civilized city.

 

[Tug]

I have mixed feelings on this one as well the black couple were behaving badly the black dude did knock him down but when he pulled his gun the black guy retreated so he should have held fire to bad definatly not worth it 

[scorecard]

18 minutes ago, Tug said:

I have mixed feelings on this one as well the black couple were behaving badly the black dude did knock him down but when he pulled his gun the black guy retreated so he should have held fire to bad definatly not worth it 

And if there was no handgun / gun present because it was against the law to carry handguns in daily life scenarios then there wouldn't be a dead person. Not rocket science.

[Banana7]

6 minutes ago, scorecard said:

And if there was no handgun / gun present because it was against the law to carry handguns in daily life scenarios then there wouldn't be a dead person. Not rocket science.

The guy on the ground may have died, since the other wouldn't be retreating, and could have continued the assault to the point of death.

[scorecard]

Just now, Banana7 said:

The guy on the ground may have died, since the other wouldn't be retreating, and could have continued the assault to the point of death.

May have..... could have......

[donnacha]

10 minutes ago, scorecard said:

And if there was no handgun / gun present because it was against the law to carry handguns in daily life scenarios then there wouldn't be a dead person. Not rocket science.

The reports say that the aggressor only backed off when he saw the handgun. He had already knocked the guy to the ground. How do you know that he would not have continued his attack?

It is surprisingly easy to kill or permanently damage someone in a normal fight.

[donnacha]

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

May have..... could have......

Well, in your experience, when one guy knocks another guy to the ground, does he then decide to lay off and go about his business?

Remember, you are talking about someone who became physically aggressive over a parking spot.

[Nyezhov]

Bad shoot. Good verdict. Real gun dudes know to walk away.

[donnacha]

12 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Yes, stay away from those nasty blacks, they're dangerous.

Statistically, yes.

My argument is that you should avoid confrontations with anyone who is likely to overact. You can spin that however you want, but if you want to frame it in a SJW context, I am saying that people walking around with "white privilege" should avoid remonstrating with people who are behaving badly but who do not have "white privilege" (same applies, of course, to "Asian privilege").

If he had just given the guy the parking spot, the guy would be alive and he would not be in prison. I believe that "stand your ground" is morally correct but it is more pragmatic to retreat in any situation involving race.

Happy?

 

 

[Berkshire]

48 minutes ago, Tug said:

I have mixed feelings on this one as well the black couple were behaving badly the black dude did knock him down but when he pulled his gun the black guy retreated so he should have held fire to bad definatly not worth it 

I'm the same.  I saw that video when it first came out and sort of sympathized with the shooter.  The black guy should not have shoved him to the ground.  But obviously, he didn't deserve a death sentence for that.  The problem is if Drejka had gotten off, everybody with a gun would be emboldened to use it.  Civilized society can't function that way.

[scorecard]

29 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Well, in your experience, when one guy knocks another guy to the ground, does he then decide to lay off and go about his business?

Remember, you are talking about someone who became physically aggressive over a parking spot.

Depends, doesn't it, whatever, you'll never convince me it's  reason why the public should carry guns.

[scorecard]

11 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

I'm the same.  I saw that video when it first came out and sort of sympathized with the shooter.  The black guy should not have shoved him to the ground.  But obviously, he didn't deserve a death sentence for that.  The problem is if Drejka had gotten off, everybody with a gun would be emboldened to use it.  Civilized society can't function that way.

Civilized society to me and I guess many others (but perhaps not to many Americans) means the public not carrying guns and heavy penalties for violence.

[scorecard]

27 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Statistically, yes.

My argument is that you should avoid confrontations with anyone who is likely to overact. You can spin that however you want, but if you want to frame it in a SJW context, I am saying that people walking around with "white privilege" should avoid remonstrating with people who are behaving badly but who do not have "white privilege" (same applies, of course, to "Asian privilege").

If he had just given the guy the parking spot, the guy would be alive and he would not be in prison. I believe that "stand your ground" is morally correct but it is more pragmatic to retreat in any situation involving race.

Happy?

 

 

Race... should that be the attitude to take?

[scorecard]

33 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Bad shoot. Good verdict. Real gun dudes know to walk away.

Then why do they carry guns?

[newatthis]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

I have mixed feelings on this one as well the black couple were behaving badly the black dude did knock him down but when he pulled his gun the black guy retreated so he should have held fire to bad definatly not worth it 

The question also can be asked: Why did Michael Drejka get involved over a parking spot? Was he the parking spot police? Or did he just decide to hassle a young black mother and her children who were alone in the car?

[stevenl]

1 minute ago, scorecard said:

Race... should that be the attitude to take?

If one is a racist, obviously yes.

[Nyezhov]

3 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Then why do they carry guns?

There are sheep and there are sheep dogs. One must be prepared. 

 

Ya walk away from a lot of bs when you carry. But when the real predator attacks.....

[sungod]

41 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Well, in your experience, when one guy knocks another guy to the ground, does he then decide to lay off and go about his business?

Remember, you are talking about someone who became physically aggressive over a parking spot.

Yep, agreed, anyway who pushes someone to the ground deserves to be shot.

[donnacha]

19 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Race... should that be the attitude to take?

Scorecard, I'm going to guess that you are a European.

I know this because you take about guns as if you can just magically make all the guns that are already in America disappear.

I have never once found a European who could explain to me how this would actually work. I mean, are we talking about raiding every single American home and pulling up the floorboards in search of weapons?

It just amazes me that so many non-Americans are certain they have the solution, but completely collapse when you simply say "Okay, how would that work? How would you actually remove guns from the equation?"

The same goes for the UK, where people are so snide about the silly Americans and their problems with guns while London is currently the knife death capital of the world.

Your attitude to race is every bit as delusional.

The current situation has very little to do with racism. The overwhelming majority of whites and asians are terrified of the whole issue and just want to avoid it. My advice - to avoid confrontations at all costs - is simply common sense for any human being in a potentially life-threatening situation. Say nothing. Get out of there. Give them the damn parking spot if they want it.

I would give the same advice to British people of any color dealing with white scumbags in any British city: extract yourself as rapidly as possible. This is simply a reality of modern life, it has nothing to do with race.

If you create a cultural situation in which everything is about race, the only sane response for those among us who genuinely do not give a damn about skin color is to avoid getting involved with people who cannot get past your skin color.

 

[donnacha]

5 minutes ago, sungod said:

Yep, agreed, anyway who pushes someone to the ground deserves to be shot.

 

He was right to pull his weapon at that stage. He was damn fool to fire it if the guy was backing off.

[quadperfect]

This guy just looks guilty. Bottom line the jurry has spoken. At least he got a jurry of people and not judged by a single man.

I might agree these days you are much better off avoiding any confrontation . Those days of settle this like a man are long gone. Kids are killing kids so its a world long gone.

[Ron jeremy]

57 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Yes, stay away from those nasty blacks, they're dangerous.

I can't beleive what I am reading here and it has not been deleted, where are the <deleted> mods on this site!

 any other races we should be worried about ?

[donnacha]

3 minutes ago, Ron jeremy said:

I can't beleive what I am reading here and it has not been deleted, where are the <deleted> mods on this site!

I believe it was an attempt at sarcasm.

 

[donnacha]

2 minutes ago, Ron jeremy said:

any other races we should be worried about ?

I've been keeping a close eye on New Zealanders.

[RJRS1301]

1 hour ago, donnacha said:

Having said that, personally, I would avoid any hostile interaction with an African American. No parking spot matters that much. The same goes for skipping queues, or talking incessantly in cinemas, or pretty much any situation where you would intervene in Europe. In America, just let it go, the normal rules do not apply. If you find yourself starting to go Rambo, move to a more civilized city.

 

No parking spot is worth any confrontation with any one irrespective of Race .

Should one find ones self turning into a Rambo,  addressing your anger management strategies in combination with investigating relocation IMHO 

[Bluespunk]

38 minutes ago, newatthis said:

The question also can be asked: Why did Michael Drejka get involved over a parking spot? Was he the parking spot police? Or did he just decide to hassle a young black mother and her children who were alone in the car?

drejka has been involved in a series of road rage incidents over the past few years and had produced a gun on three of those occasions as well. 

 

He sought confrontation. 

 

Florida car-park killing: Gunman guilty as 'stand your ground' defence fails https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49459855

 

[edwinchester]

37 minutes ago, newatthis said:

The question also can be asked: Why did Michael Drejka get involved over a parking spot? Was he the parking spot police? Or did he just decide to hassle a young black mother and her children who were alone in the car?

He had a history of threatening people with his firearm over what he considered parking infractions and got what he deserved.

 

Edit Bluespunk beat me to it 555

[donnacha]

Just now, edwinchester said:

He had a history of threatening people with his firearm over what he considered parking infractions and got what he deserved.

I actually just watched the video for the first time. Even without audio, it was clear that he was ranting aggressively towards that woman, and I am not even clear on what the problem was, the parking lot was pretty much empty.

I agree, in no way was that justifiable.

[Chomper Higgot]

33 minutes ago, newatthis said:

The question also can be asked: Why did Michael Drejka get involved over a parking spot? Was he the parking spot police? Or did he just decide to hassle a young black mother and her children who were alone in the car?

Perhaps having a gun on his person emboldened him to get into an argument in the first place.

 

And what, I wonder, would the outcome have been if the mother in this case had been ‘carrying’ and had shot an angry white man she perceived a threat to herself and her children?

 

Right verdict, one less killer on the streets.