General Prosecutors overrule sheriff and charge man with manslaughter in "stand your ground" case

[MachidaKarate]

I'm guessing at least some if you have heard about this, but if not, long story short one man shot another after being pushed to the ground. The sheriff decided it was self-defense under Florida's "stand your ground" law but state prosecutor's disagree and are bringing manslaughter charges.

According to USA Today:

Florida’s contentious “stand your ground’’ law is under scrutiny again.

Prosecutors on Monday charged a white man with manslaughter in the July 19 shooting death of an unarmed black man outside a Clearwater, Florida, convenience store, Pinellas County State Attorney Bernie McCabe said.

Michael Drejka, 47, who’s being held at the county jail on $100,000 bail, initially wasn’t arrested after shooting Markeis McGlockton, a 28-year-old father of three, following a brief altercation over parking in a handicapped spot. The encounter was filmed by the store’s video cameras.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri had declined to arrest Drejka citing the state’s “stand your ground’’ law, which allows citizens to use deadly force if they fear “imminent death or great bodily harm.’’

McCabe said his office’s inquiry determined manslaughter charges were warranted.

“Law enforcement does investigations; we determine who to charge,’’ McCabe told USA TODAY. “We conducted our own investigation, reviewed all their reports, interviewed the witnesses, looked at all the tapes and film, and I made the decision legally that this is a charge that we should file and we can prove.’’

Florida’s “stand your ground’’ law, which says people have no “duty to retreat,’’ first drew widespread attention in the 2012 shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. The case hich evoked a national uproar.

Full article: Manslaughter charge filed in Florida's latest 'stand your ground' killing

Video with security camera footage of the shooting:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAUrLpmOQVk

View: https://youtu.be/-c0jzumV9iE

 

[Robbie Hart]

What happens when you allow people to carry weapons......unreal, that guy needs to go to jail for 50-100 years for being a bitch

 

[MachidaKarate]

What happens when you allow people to carry weapons......unreal, that guy needs to go to jail for 50-100 years for being a bitch

LOL @ "allow people to carry weapons."

Sure, disarm the common man and who is left with all the guns? Criminals and the government.

The last thing I want is to be an unarmed citizen in a world of weaponized criminals and government agents. All that does is open the door for violence and tyranny to be unleashed upon an unarmed populace.

I was just watching something last night about the migrant situation in Sweden and the criminality a significant portion of the migrants have brought upon the country.

Guess who has guns there? The migrants. Guess who is left unarmed and largely unable to defend themselves? You guessed it.

 

[Robbie Hart]

LOL @ "allow people to carry weapons."

Sure, disarm the common man and who is left with all the guns? Criminals and the government.

The last thing I want is to be an unarmed citizen in a world of weaponized criminals and government agents. All that does is open the door for violence and tyranny to be unleashed upon an unarmed populace.

I was just watching something last night about the migrant situation in Sweden and the criminality a significant portion of the migrants have brought upon the country.

Guess who has guns there? The migrants. Guess who is left unarmed and largely unable to defend themselves? You guessed it.

Goodness gracious

Fat old white guy kills guy who pushed him.....learn your place in the pecking order if you’re a bitch....pulling a gun and shooting someone in that confrontation means you’re a bitch

He’s a boring old man with nothing better to do than check license plates?

Though he has his trusty weapon to back him up

He’s a fucking piece of shit.....let’s see how busy bodied he is without his gun

 

[Ted Williams' head]

Sorry, you can't just assault people like that. Keep your hands to yourself.

I don't buy this "trying to protect his girl" bullshit. You see an argument with a guy and your girl, you go over and see what's going on, you get in the middle of them, you can cuss the guy out, but you don't just run over and assault someone.

I'm not a busybody but I've confronted and cussed people out for parking in handicap spots, it's a real pet peeve of mine as I have a handicapped person in my family (physically handicapped, not mentally handicapped like myself ).

But of course the right three keywords are there for outrage: white, black, unarmed.

Because, you know, it's impossible for a large 28 year old man to inflict serious bodily harm on a small 50 year old man unless he has a weapon. You can't go on YouTube and see people getting seriously hurt in street fights...

It's not your responsibility to be able to fist fight you have a cross word with. It's IS your responsibility to keep your fuckin hands off people.

It's heartbreaking to see that guy die, especially in front of his girl and kid. But this should be an open and shut "stand your ground" case. Now this guy has to go through a crazy lawsuit and become the face of "racism" in America for a time, because the media likes to whip the public into a frenzy.

 

[MachidaKarate]

Goodness gracious

Fat old white guy kills guy who pushed him.....learn your place in the pecking order if you’re a bitch....pulling a gun and shooting someone in that confrontation means you’re a bitch

He’s a boring old man with nothing better to do than check license plates?

Though he has his trusty weapon to back him up

He’s a fucking piece of shit.....let’s see how busy bodied he is without his gun

The guy may very well be an asshole, but ultimately this is a legal question.

Florida has a "stand your ground" law. This means that in Florida a citizen is allowed to (this comes from Wikipedia) "use force without retreating, in order to protect and defend themselves or others against threats or perceived threats. An example is where there is no duty to retreat from any place where they have a lawful right to be, and that they may use any level of force if they reasonably believe the threat rises to the level of being an imminent and immediate threat of serious bodily harm and/or death."

So the question ultimately here should be if, in that moment, he felt threatened enough by his attacker's actions that there was a perceived threat of serious bodily harm or worse. Was his reaction an overreaction? I feel like it was. How many people expect to get shot because they push a guy? But my feelings don't really matter. What should matter legally are the defender's feelings in that situation and what his perception of the threat was.

You could make the argument that the guy who got shot was himself dealing with a perceived threat, and that does muddy the waters.

It's a tragic situation all around and one that I'm sure everyone involved regrets happening. But once you make the choice to put your hands on someone else, you have to understand that that can go a lot of ways and some of those ways may not be favorable to you. That's why it's really best to just not touch people unless you're fully prepared to accept the consequences of a strong reaction.

 

[MachidaKarate]

Now this guy has to go through a crazy lawsuit and become the face of "racism" in America for a time, because the media likes to whip the public into a frenzy.

Not a lawsuit. He's now facing manslaughter charges and, if convicted, could be facing up to 30 years in prison.

 

[Ted Williams' head]

Not a lawsuit. He's now facing manslaughter charges and, if convicted, could be facing up to 30 years in prison.

Criminal case sorry, very early in the morning here.

Point is, even if he is found not guilty, he's likely going to spend hundreds of thousands to even millions on lawyer fees to win his freedom.

And if he wins, there will be huge outrage and he'll have to go into hiding. So either way he's losing big.

Like George Zimmerman - they never had a case against him to begin with, they just tried him because of the public outrage.

 

[member 3289]

This is a Florida case so I've been following it. Tbh I wasn't comfortable with the no charge against the guy. You can clearly see McGlockton turning the other way when Drejka pulls out his gun. Drejka then shoots him anyway.

McGlockton was wrong to park in a handicapped parking spot and he was wrong to push Drejka to the ground, but he wasn't going after Drejka when shot.

Lessons have been learned since Zimmerman. That's why Drejka was charged with manslaughter and not murder.

 

[Disciplined Galt]

Looked like there wasn't any aggression after the push, shouldn't have fired. On the other hand don't put your hands on people unless they're an immediate threat. Two cowards I reckon.

 

[HEATH VON DOOM]

Why anyone in Florida is stupid enough to put their hands on anyone they dont know is mind boggling.

Too bad Drejka will be ruined regardless. Its not like he got up and chased McGlockton before he defended himself. McGlockton is a fucking idiot regardless of the law because whatever happens he wont be around to see it. All because he couldnt keep his hands to himself.

 

[kaladin stormblessed]

imagine it was a middle aged black guy. And a Connecticut yuppy big young white guy that pushed him and got shot

I'd bet that if both situations were polled, the difference would be statistically significant, which if true, sadly shows that racial biases are still real, if only on a subconscious level

This man shouldn't have pushed the other dude. But the worse mistake was him being shot. Kids will grow up without a father now. Very sad

 

[Disciplined Galt]

imagine it was a middle aged black guy. And a Connecticut yuppy big young white guy that pushed him and got shot

I'd bet that if both situations were polled, the difference would be statistically significant, which if true, sadly shows that racial biases are still real, if only on a subconscious level

This man shouldn't have pushed the other dude. But the worse mistake was him being shot. Kids will grow up without a father now. Very sad

They weren't married? Not sure herem

 

[kaladin stormblessed]

They weren't married? Not sure herem

regadless of marriage, the point is kids. or rather, the kids is an indirect way of framing the true tragedy which is that a man's life was taken from him

but as far as marriage, or kids, i didnt rewatch video. too sad. when it first happened, i thought they said this couple had kids (weren't the kids there watching?)

 

[Disciplined Galt]

regadless of marriage, the point is kids. or rather, the kids is an indirect way of framing the true tragedy which is that a man's life was taken from him

but as far as marriage, or kids, i didnt rewatch video. too sad. when it first happened, i thought they said this couple had kids (weren't the kids there watching?)

If the old guy was threatening I reckon the guy did right. If it was a simple parking issue you should probably eat.

 

[Disciplined Galt]

regadless of marriage, the point is kids. or rather, the kids is an indirect way of framing the true tragedy which is that a man's life was taken from him

but as far as marriage, or kids, i didnt rewatch video. too sad. when it first happened, i thought they said this couple had kids (weren't the kids there watching?)

Dude, and I don't know. I have never pressed charges.

 

[Splinty]

Drejka is a piece of shit who should have had his gun taken away after he was implicated in at least three other situations in which he threatened to shoot somebody or wave his gun at them. Each case individually lacked full evidence but circumstantially they point to a completely irresponsible ass.

Mcglockton had no right to push him but that doesn't make a Justified defense against homicide.

Mcglockton pushed once and was backing up.

In the end, don't push people or you might get killed. If not by a gun, by the other guy kicking your ass and Justified self-defense.

Mcglockton is dead and drejka will probably go to jail.

 

[Disciplined Galt]

Drejka is a piece of shit who should have had his gun taken away after he was implicated in at least three other situations in which he threatened to shoot somebody or waive his gun at them. Each case individually lacked full evidence but circumstantially they point to a completely irresponsible ass.

Mcglockton had no right to push him but that doesn't make a Justified defense against homicide.

Mcglockton pushed once and was backing up.

In the end, don't push people or you might get killed. If not by a gun, by the other guy kicking your ass and Justified self-defense.

Mcglockton is dead and drejka will probably go to jail.

I like mob jule

 

[Disciplined Galt]

@Splinty c'mon man, you flash your gun. Google is banning ey.

 

[Splinty]

imagine it was a middle aged black guy. And a Connecticut yuppy big young white guy that pushed him and got shot

Then what?
There be National outrage at the lack of charges?
The NRA and conservative pundits would say it's a travesty of justice that the shooter wasn't charged?



McGlockton Shooting: Gun Owners Should Be Outraged | National Review

N.R.A. Joins Questioning of Florida Sheriff in ‘Stand Your Ground’ Case

I'm not sure what you think the difference would be really?

Predominantly people think it was a bad shoot and the prosecutors have overruled the sheriff. There's simply delay due to sheriff interpreting the law a certain way. The person that died was clearly the initial aggressor and that throws in some ambiguity. And in the end the prosecutors have decided to levy charges where there will be a jury trial.

 

[La Paix]

Drejka is a piece of shit who should have had his gun taken away after he was implicated in at least three other situations in which he threatened to shoot somebody or wave his gun at them. Each case individually lacked full evidence but circumstantially they point to a completely irresponsible ass.

Mcglockton had no right to push him but that doesn't make a Justified defense against homicide.

Mcglockton pushed once and was backing up.

In the end, don't push people or you might get killed. If not by a gun, by the other guy kicking your ass and Justified self-defense.

Mcglockton is dead and drejka will probably go to jail.

Reading quickly through it all I was on team old guy. Reading he has a habit of threatening with his gun I'm now in the middle. Not sure why anyone who is with their kids nearby would purposely start a fight with a stranger, way too risky of an escalation from just an arguement.

 

[SuperPig]

If I see someone yelling into my car at my wife/girlfriend and small children then I'm going to intervene.

That old diabetic fuck was looking for trouble and he found it . He's lucky the guy didn't follow him to the ground to actually attack. THAT would have been a reason to pull his gun and defend himself. Being a bitch and getting checked for picking a fight with a woman and her kids is not.

 

[Splinty]

Reading quickly through it all I was on team old guy. Reading he has a habit of threatening with his gun I'm now in the middle. Not sure why anyone who is with their kids nearby would purposely start a fight with a stranger, way too risky of an escalation from just an arguement.

None of the people involved seem like very good people.

the parking space was handicapped and even after the fact the justification from the girlfriend is "I'm free to park wherever I want".
Just pretty trashy of a response in light of everything. And I'm sure that was her response the guy pointing out that she was in a handicap parking space.

The old guy has a habit of confronting people over parking spaces. I get it. I think it's super trashy and annoying that people Park in handicap parking spaces when they're not supposed to.

But also I'm a gun owner and if you conceal carry you have a significantly higher responsibility to deescalate and minimize conflict that could involve you. You brought the trump card in the way of deadly force, permitted by the state and society, and there's a certain way you have to act with that. Old guy has a habit of violating that expectation of responsibility. It's guys like him that make gun owners like me have a hard time.

I think it was an inappropriate escalation of force at that time. I think there are times that responding to an assault with a gun it's Justified. If the guy that pushed him had kept coming after him I might think differently.

 

[La Paix]

If I see someone yelling into my car at my wife/girlfriend and small children then I'm going to intervene.

That old diabetic fuck was looking for trouble and he found it . He's lucky the guy didn't follow him to the ground to actually attack. THAT would have been a reason to pull his gun and defend himself. Being a bitch and getting checked for picking a fight with a woman and her kids is not.

Standing beside a car with your hands down is picking a fight with a woman and her kids? She opens the car door and gets out to confront him then the dude decodes to pick the actual fight infront of his family and gets killed for it. He and the wife realize quick they can't be tough guys the hard way.

 

[Splinty]

If I see someone yelling into my car at my wife/girlfriend and small children then I'm going to intervene

Are we sure that's what happened?
I had read something like that initially but watching the video it doesn't seem like the guys yelling at them or being very aggressive. That is just a silent video