Found this one in reddit as :Would you have used deadly force in this scenario? If so, at what point?
There is no doubt that the black male was acting like a USDA certified a**hole, but being loud and obnoxious does not rate the use of deadly force. The white males, specially the guy in black shirt and shorts, did nothing but escalate the event till the black male pulls out what appears to be the blade of a nail clipper or a very small knife. When Egos collide, shit will happen. In this case nothing much did and probably just because of dumb luck.
Do notice that it took eight minutes for the cops to arrive.
About the only person that demonstrated some sort of common sense was the lady in the orange shirt who left the premises. I am still amazed at the amount of people who decided to stay and record rather than exit what could have been a potentially dangerous situation.
Personally I would have searched for a rear exit and GTFO. Hopefully there was one. I do make it my personal objective to find out alternative means of escape of the stores and locations I patronize. It only takes a quick look around.
And by the way, I am almost sure that wearing socks and flip-flops is against the law in Florida.
Yeah, GTFO is what I would have done here (and have in similar situations). I, too, look for alternate exits, and also make sure to put my head on a swivel while exiting in case the ruckus is a pretense and there are compatriots outside.
Ain’t my circus- I’m outta there.
Note the reaction to the bystanders when the dude with the socks got involved.
Evil prospers when good men do nothing. Running from those situations is the wrong call IMHO. If he had begun injuring people after you fled, imagine the heyday libtards would have by claiming the good guys with guns turned their backs on people who needed help.
Those two fellas did the right thing.
@ Joe in PNG
I noticed their reaction too
I’m going to disagree.
First, the law is not on my side in this situation, even under Florida’s Stand Your Ground. By a reasonable man standard, the angry guy is not a threat that requires the use of deadly force. The law allows you to use deadly force to defend yourself, not play cop.
Second, use deadly force, and the bystanders aren’t going to be on my side. Which means I’d probably suffer the same fate as George Zimmerman- crucified in the media, and his marriage and life ruined.
Third, because I am not a cop, I don’t get goodies like qualified immunity, or a good lawyer paid for by my union. Should something bad happen, and I need to stand up in front of a judge, it all comes out of my pocket, and it isn’t going to be cheap.
Fourth, from a tactical point of view, socks dude acted really stupid. Angry guy may have a gun or knife, and socks dude was way to close to deal with either.
Finally, playing cop on a dude having a psychotic break in the dollar store is going to have about the same effect on our societal problems as pissing on a house fire. At best.
Given the racially charged nature of the confrontation, that would probably just make things that much worse.
^^What he said. I’m not a cop, I’m not an enforcer. The absolute most I’d do is hang around out of the way to make sure Screamy Guy didn’t pull a Rudy Eugene… but that’s the max, and depending on the crowd I’d probably not even do that.
When the Samaritan laws start getting applied to self defense, I might change my views.
PS- just because you only see Screamy Guy, doesn’t mean a couple of his homies aren’t standing around. He may embarrass them but if you mix in physically they pretty much are gonna have to jump you… and probably from behind.
Joe hit all the required points. Paraphrasing Jim Cirillo who was a true gunfighter: “You are not a cop, nor paid to be one.”
it does bother me that “not my monkeys, not my circus” has to be the mantra. I wish there was a fix.
Sometimes, there is quite honestly nothing you can do except get out of the way, and try to not make things worse.