Florida 'stand your ground' shooter Michael Drejka charged with manslaughter

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I was disappointed to see this. I thought the prosecutor had already decided there would be no charges.

If the wife had backed out of the handicapped space and moved, maybe the whole situation could have been avoided.
 
After watching the video, it appeared he had the right to defend himself and he felt
threatened.
 
7_Sorrows said:
After watching the video, it appeared he had the right to defend himself and he felt
threatened.
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But threatened with what? That’s the question. Does being threatened with non-lethal force give one the right to respond with disproportionate, lethal force?

Especially when the shooter is the one who appears to have started the fight by appointing himself as a vigilante meter maid.

And even more especially when, as the story says:
Rayner pointed out that the security video shows McGlockton retreating from Drejka after he pushed the man down in an effort to protect Jacobs and his children.
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(emphasis mine)
 
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That didn’t look like non-lethal force to me.

There have been many fights where one person is knocked to the ground and their head hits the pavement and it is over.

He was forcefully shoved to the ground.
The wife had also exited the car and I wondered if she did so afraid her husband would hurt the man or if she was encouraging him. There is no audio.

I bet she will think twice before parking in a handicapped space again.

The victim looked away when the gun was pulled out - he broke eye contact. All of a sudden the tables had turned and he no longer had the upper hand. That doesn’t mean the threat was gone. He was not shot in the back.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I bet she will think twice before parking in a handicapped space again.
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And his children will grow up without a father. And the rest of this man’s family will grieve his untimely death for the rest of their lives… Do you think that’s what his wife should expect for stopping in a handicapped space?
 
7_Sorrows said:
I bet she will think twice before parking in a handicapped space again.
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A man was killed. So I don’t care wjether you think it was justified or not, that comment is disgusting. A $250 fine is “think twice” territory. A woman’s husband and father to her children dead is something entirely different.
 
7_Sorrows said:
The victim looked away when the gun was pulled out - he broke eye contact. All of a sudden the tables had turned and he no longer had the upper hand.
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Which is why he raised his hands and backed up in obvious concern not only for himself but his children. Three children no longer have a father and you demonstrate more concern over their mother’s parking than the murder of their father.
 
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HCTC said:
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7_Sorrows:
I bet she will think twice before parking in a handicapped space again.
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And his children will grow up without a father. And the rest of this man’s family will grieve his untimely death for the rest of their lives… Do you think that’s what his wife should expect for stopping in a handicapped space?
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If he was concerned for the safety of his
wife and children, he shouldn’t have shown aggression against the man. Why didn’t he just tell his wife to move the car?

If that would have been a woman of the same age he pushed down, would you still
be defending his actions?
 
7_Sorrows said:
If he was concerned for the safety of his
wife and children, he shouldn’t have shown aggression against the man.
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Concern for the safety of his family is why he showed aggression. He came out of the store and a strange man was accosting his family. His reaction showed immense concern for the safety of his family.

Yet again you try to shift the blame to this black family. You wonder “Why didn’t he just tell his wife to move the car?” instead of “Why did this guy kill a man over a parking space?”
 
If you don’t understand by now that it is just plain wrong to instigate a confrontation about parking and subsequently shoot and kill an unarmed human being, you never will. Sad.
 
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The strange man was not accosting his family. He kept his distance from the car.
Why didn’t she roll the window up and ignore him or move.
Evidently this man frequented the convenience store.

Why are you bringing race into it?

I ask the same question to which you did not reply - would you support the actions of the dead man if he had shoved a woman instead of the man? Also, I can not tell the age of the man who was violently shoved to the ground. He did not look young though.

The man who was killed was twice the size of the man he pushed down.

Am I happy the woman now has no husband and her children have no father?
NO!

However, she and her husband could have made different choices also that could have led to a peaceful outcome.
 
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If you don’t understand by now that complaining about someone parked in a handicapped parking space would never have ended in murder if the man had not
exited the store and violently pushed the man to the ground.
The shooting was the result of the man being violently shoved to the ground and
feeling threatened and was not about
instigating a confrontation about parking in order to shoot somebody.
 
7_Sorrows said:
If you don’t understand by now that complaining about someone parked in a handicapped parking space would never have ended in murder if the man had not
exited the store and
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I’m glad to see that you recognize that it was murder.

I think we’re on the same page here.
 
7_Sorrows said:
he shouldn’t have shown aggression against the man
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No doubt he would be alive if he had not gone and shoved the man to the ground. I dont have a problem with him being charged though and i think it was the right call to do so. The video made it look like the situation was over by the time he fired.
 
I for one am glad that the man was charged with at least manslaughter. While I believe one has a right to defend themselves, and with lethal force if necessary, that doesn’t mean you just get to shoot people willy nilly every time you have an argument. Not charging this guy initially was a miscarriage of justice imo.
 
7_Sorrows said:
After watching the video, it appeared he had the right to defend himself and he felt
threatened.
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He may have felt threatened when he was first pushed down, and if he had shot him immediately right then I might have agreed with you. But it is clear from the video that some time elapsed during which McGlockton took no further action and was in the act of backing away when Drejka pulled out his gun. You can see McGlockton raise his hands and continue to back away calmly while Drejka held a gun on him. There was no need to fire the gun at that point. Drejka has secured his safety that he thought was threatened. At that point, after pausing for a while, he fired anyway. Was it out of carelessness? Was it out of anger? I don’t know. But it sure wasn’t out of self-defense. Thus the charge of manslaughter is entirely proper. Note that manslaughter included death by negligence. The prosecutor didn’t even go for the charge of murder. So I don’t see how anyone can fault the prosecutor for this decision.
 
That guy had been in trouble before for accosting people and using racial slurs at that same place…he’s not some poor little old shrinking violet…I hope he gets thrown in jail for a long time…that’s just a knee jerk reaction killing…I think the Sheriff who said he wouldn’t be initially charged was making the point how pathetic the stand your ground law is here in Florida…the Trayvon Martin case was another classic example of a senseless killing by someone who thought he was a law unto himself
 
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