Here is the video.
Deputies said the argument started at the Circle A Food Store at 1201 Sunset Point Road Thursday afternoon when McGlockton’s girlfriend Britany Jacobs pulled her Chrysler sedan into a handicapped parking space.
After McGlockton and their 5-year-old son went into the store, Drejka approached Jacobs and the two began arguing about the parking space, authorities said.
According to a witness, when McGlockton came out of the store and saw what was happening, he shoved Drejka to the ground.
“It wasn’t just a push,” Gualtieri explained. “He really slammed him to the ground and he pushed him with great force. This was a violent push.”
Drejka then pulled out a handgun and shot McGlockton once in the chest. Gualtieri specified that Drejka took four seconds to fire his weapon.
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri: Clearwater shooting fits ‘Stand Your GroundSheriff Bob Gualtieri: Clearwater shooting fits ‘Stand Your GroundSheriff Bob Gualtieri: Clearwater shooting fits ‘Stand Your GroundSheriff Bob Gualtieri: Clearwater shooting fits ‘Stand Your Ground’
As usual, I am Not a Lawyer and this is my personal interpretation.
Let’s begin with Michael Drejka. he is an asshole. Yes, people are stupid and park in handicap spots, but getting all flustered about it solves nothing. That there is a history of him being an asshole does not affect what happened here.
The issue is that Markeis McGlockton blindsided Drejka with a powerful shove that sent him forcefully to the ground. McGlockton was not a party involved in the original argument nor he appears to try to deescalate with a shouted warning to back off or any other non-threatening way but he went for the shove. Drejka is arguing with a woman and the next thing he knows is that he is now painfully horizontal in the pavement with a large young man towering about him. Trying to say that he did not feel threatened by somebody younger, bigger and who already proven that he was willing to use physical force, might have been too much of a stretch for Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri who is no friend of SYG or the Second Amendment.
Lessons learned: Don’t be a dick. Everybody here behaved like one. Park where you are supposed to park. If you see somebody who is parking where he should not, tell him/her with extreme courtesy and back off if they get verbally aggressive. Just because you cab and have the body type, do not initiate physical violence because somebody is saying bad things to your loved one. Words don’t kill, bullets to the chest do.
Basically, if you seek out to be an asshole, somebody will try to outmatch you. Bad shit will ensue.
And I have not posted this in a while and it needs to be repeated
Avoidance, Deterrence, and De-escalation
Your number one philosophy for personal security should be a life long commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.Avoidance: The act of avoiding or keeping away from (Three Stupid Rule.) If you can safely retreat from the encounter, by all means do so. For instance, if you are out for a walk and feel threatened or intimidated by an occupant of a car, you should retreat in the opposite direction that the car is traveling.
Deterrence: The act of discouraging someone from taking hostile action against you by being aware of them and their possible intent.
De-escalation: The act of decreasing in intensity. To not let your ego or emotions get the best of you, to refrain from escalating the problem into more than it already is. As a CCW you may need to back down from non-life threatening, argumentative encounters in order to not allow things to spiral out of control.
When these things do not work, then and only then may you need to show or use the gun. Just because we are carrying does not mean that we need to use the gun. You want to do whatever is reasonably possible to avoid using the gun. But when your well researched, well thought out “line in the sand” has been crossed you need to act without hesitation.The “Three Stupid” Rule
“Do not go to stupid places, with stupid people, and do stupid things”
We all know that nobody wants thugs to dictate where they can or cannot go. Put there are simply some places, people, and things that you should avoid if you want to lower your risks. You can cut down on your risks by a good 95% if you just follow the three stupid rule.
Roger Phillips
I would also note that even after the gun was drawn, the big ape didn’t back off. Certainly a reasonable person would anticipate a kick to the head would be forthcoming. Plenty of Stupid to go around.
Some idiot commented on the story, saying (paraphrasing) “See how angry people start out straight away by shooting? That’s why angry people shouldn’t have guns.” No, dumbass, the only one who went straight to violence was McGlockton.
FWIW, Drejka isn’t so great at parking himself. He parked his truck where there isn’t even a parking spot.
“Gee honey, I have to run into the store for a minute. Can you circle the parking lot till I come back out?”
“Honey, don’t park in a handicapped space. I can walk the extra twenty feet and besides, it’s low class.”
“Honey, this guy seems awful upset so let’s just leave.”
Imo, it’s not even a matter of stand your ground. I think that this would generally pass muster even under duty to retreat.
Ie. You’ve been placed on the ground via a sneak attack from someone younger and stronger than you. Which doesn’t leave a lot of room of retreating.
The only difference between SYG and DTR being that without the protection of the law, the prosecutor will run you through the gears of the legal system.
Dialing 9-1-1 is a GREAT way to report handicapped parking violations. Or the local PD number if you don’t want to tie up the emergency line.
So is just telling the store manager.
My opinion.
I just don’t see the attacker backing off as the gun is pulled. I see him squaring up his feet and raising his hands to strike again. If he was actually going to disengage, he would be moving to put the car hood between himself and the man with the gun. At a minimum, he would raise his hands to shoulder height, “hands up” position. If it was me sprawled on the ground, I would fully expect another attack after he had already viciously shoved me to the ground without warning, and if I did not see his rapidly receding backside, or hear a strong indication that he was going to quit, I would likely do what the victim did.
Then again, I wouldn’t be jawing at the asshole parked in the handicapped spot.
“. I see him squaring up his feet and raising his hands to strike again.”
The pulling up of the pants prior to squaring up and right after the shove to me also indicates he probably was going for more violence or at least a display of power that could be perceived as threat..
Anyway, like I said I am not a lawyer.
Pulling at the waist line certainly qualifies as a furtive move for those more equal than us.
[…] Yup, the same event we already covered a couple of days ago. Now, we will wait for the inevitably “Stand Your Ground is unfair to black” and other BS. I a, gonna be so sorry to tell her that Floridians of all colors are pretty much in favor of the law and no to waste her time, but I know it will fall in deaf ears. […]
As a one-legged man without a handicapped permit, I get pretty torched when I see some roach without a permit park in a HC space and walk away. Happened the other day – at the hospital where there are many REALLY handicapped people who need those spaces. I saw one of Obama’s sons pull into a space near me with no HC plate and no HC placard. He walked into the hospital with no trouble.
I was packing (in the parking structure, not the hospital) but I still didn’t feel the need to put one in his chest. I don’t think the guy in the story needed to do that either.
Had you asked him not to park their and had he attacked or threatened you I bet you would have revealed that permitted weapon though.
Once on the ground and physically assaulted it is time to level the playing filed a bit, regardless of whether one throws any lead.
Why do all the media say that the shooting was over a parking spot? While true that these two in the car willfully committed an infraction and that Drejka called them on it…
The shooting was over a brutal blindside felonious attack against someone who OBVIOUSLY was no threat to anyone physically.
For the media to allow the comments of family and the girlfriend that SYG should not apply is ludicrous. SHE committed an infraction and HER accomplice in the infraction escalated this to a felony battery attack….The problem is that the MEDIA likes this kind of argument.
Instead of considering arresting Drejka, Under Florida Statutes I believe that the deceased and the girlfriend both decided to commit an infraction and that TOGETHER in their aberrant behavior they escalated this to a battery criminal action which lead to death. Therefore the Sheriff needs to arrest HER for the death of her boyfriend.
This death was never about a parking space, The parking space was ONLY the instigation of showing us these two people’s true colors. it was about infraction leading to criminal activity leading to a death. It was about TWO people that could not and would not change their aberrant behavior and SHE still refuses to accept that SHE caused the death of her boyfriend.
Is simple assault a felony in Florida? Anyway, the stand your ground law covered the shover’s behavior if it covered the killer’s behavior. Even if assault is a felony, the shover’s behavior was legal according to the same law that is protecting the killer. This case should be in front of a jury of his peers.
That is not a simple assault. Assault is defined as following under Florida Law:
“(1) An “assault” is an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to the person of another, coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such other person that such violence is imminent. (Chapter 784 Section 011 )
You are looking for this Statute:
776.08 Forcible felony.—“Forcible felony” means treason; murder; manslaughter; sexual battery; carjacking; home-invasion robbery; robbery; burglary; arson; kidnapping; aggravated assault; aggravated battery; aggravated stalking; aircraft piracy; unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb; and any other felony which involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual.”
If you cannot tell the difference between loud argument and the use of violence, you are bound to end up wearing orange.
And no, the guy was not defending his girlfriend in a legal way. To remain legal he had to use the same force the other guy was using which was none. The moment he chose to shove him witch such force that he landed on the pavement, the boyfriend used violence and escalated the situation. When you escalate any non-violent situation into violence, you lose any attempt to claim innocence and self-defense.
You should get Andrew Branca’s book The Laws of Self Defense. It will save you a lot of money in defense lawyers.
Miguel.GFZ.
Well stated and written. The real issue is NOT what happened, because every conservative honest upstanding citizen sees easily that Drejka was brutally attacked from his blindside and had the right to use any force available to him as protection.
The issue is the liberal freaks that want us all to have to depend upon the police after the fact and not have our Constitutional and GOD given right to protect ourselves from harm using force if necessary.
The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has already ruled that the police have NO DUTY to protect anyone. SCOTUS defined the role of police as to investigate and make arrests as required. That is their ONLY function and any statement on their vehicles such as “serve and protect” is a lie designed to harm the public at large.
This means that the people by definition are left to PROTECT THEMSELVES and their loved ones and friends. When you talk to any officer, remember that their ONLY duty and job is investigation and arrest….and remember that when answering or deciding NOT TO ANSWER anything.
What are you talking about. It is NEVER legal to even touch another person without their permission. That is called “simple battery” and can get you SIX MONTHS to ONE YEAR in jail, a fine or both in almost EVERY state. This includes touching another in a grocery line! This battery was a felonious battery with obvious intent to do bodily harm to its victim (Drejka). It was unprovoked by definition and from the blindside (meaning that Drejka had NO knowledge he was about to be attacked and could NOT defend against the attack). This kind of attack is meant to be a debilitating attack, to do actual harm. In Florida this brings the charges to aggravated battery which is a felony. Depending upon actual injuries caused this can result in up to 15 years in prison.
THE REQUIREMENT that you wholly misquote for self protection is fear of life or limb, yours or another’s. Drejka was standing about 8 feet from the car window when his attacker approached him. His body stance and arms did NOT denote any animosity. You have no idea what you are talking about, Drejka’s attacker had NO RIGHT to do anything except talk and or stand between his girlfriend and Drejka, until something physical happened by someone else.
No state allows a person to make a blind side attack against someone who is doing no violence and not a threat. Your attitude is part of the entire problem and in fact from your statement it is obvious that you see nothing wrong with physically attacking someone over words.. You want so badly for the “guy with the gun” to have to go to jail or pay something that you can’t even think logically and don’t even care about LAW and ORDER.