Unarmed does not mean “not dangerous.”
Video shows Berkley man beaten to death after early morning car crash on Detroit’s west side
A 24-year-old man from Berkley was brutally beaten to death after a seemingly minor car crash on Detroit’s west side early Monday morning. The crash and beating were caught on surveillance video from a nearby gas station.
Look how that first punch to the head sent Mr. Wingate to the ground. The subsequent beating killed him.
DPD Chief Craig: kick to head fatal blow in beating death of Berkley man
While the city is showing support to Wingate’s heartbroken family, Detroit police are on the hunt for his suspected killer: 23-year-old Lawrence Davis.
Detroit police say Monday at 2 a.m., Wingate and Davis got into a car accident outside a gas station on Davison and Livernois.
“This young man did nothing and it appeared that he was trying to cooperate,” Craig said.
But surveillance video shows Davis walking right up to Wingate and punching him in the face.
“The suspect became enraged and unprovoked, began to strike this victim several times, knocking him to the ground,” Craig said.
Much of the video is too graphic to show. Police say it appears, with witnesses standing by, that Davis continued to punch, kick, and even stomp on Wingate.
The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office says the young man died from blunt force trauma to his head and neck.
“It may have been the final kick by the suspect to the victim’s head that may have been the fatal blow,” Craig said.
Punched in the face then kicked and stomped in the head until he died, and it only took a few seconds.
Unarmed does not mean “not dangerous.” A young man is now dead because a thug with fists and feet had murder in his heart.
Always obey the law when it comes to concealed carry and use of force.
I just think it is time that the law recognizes the reality of the dangers that a barehanded beating can present.
When a grown man throws a punch to the head, that can be lethal. The law should respect that and allow the use of lethal force in return.
In civilized states, the law does recognize this. NH law says that deadly force is justified in response to unlawful deadly force; whether that unlawful deadly force involves weapons or not is irrelevant. http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/LXII/627/627-4.htm
(Also 627:7 which authorizes deadly force against arson, though in other cases defense of premises only authorizes non-deadly force.)
I just think it is time that the law recognizes the reality of the dangers that a barehanded beating can present.
When a grown man throws a punch to the head, that can be lethal. The law should respect that and allow the use of lethal force in return.
Careful here. There’s a large difference between “a punch” and “a beating”. Yes, a punch can be lethal (usually due to extenuating circumstances), but typically isn’t by itself. As an analogy, pepper spray is classified as non-lethal, even though it could be to someone with a severe pepper allergy or someone who stumbles around blindly until falling or getting hit by a bus (again, extenuating circumstances).
If you make punches “lethal force” worthy — in and of themselves — of a lethal force response, then any swing to the face/head/neck area becomes attempted murder under the law. Even if the person is too weak/drunk/untrained/whatever to land it, or land it solidly enough to cause any harm, it’s legally the same as shooting someone.
And you know there are prosecutors who will go after otherwise-law-abiding people for that.
A beating, on the other hand — especially one that continues once the victim is down (as in the video) — can and should be considered a lethal force attack worthy of lethal force response (or attempted murder charges), and in most places it already is. Think: Trayvon Martin on George Zimmerman.
In the case above, legally, the initial punch was not lethal force. The continued kicks and stomps to the head are, and rightly should be.
To change the law to say otherwise is a slippery slope with unintended consequences.
We have covered too many one punch kills on this blog. That is why this is a bee in my bonnet.
I’d rather err on the side of protecting self defense. Make the prosecutor do his job and prove that the 200 lbs man was not in fear from his life from a 110 lbs, 80 year old woman when he shot her so the guy who shoots the 180 lbs thug taking swings after a car accident has the benefit of the doubt.
Unintended consequences? My view is that any number of attacks that are currently waved off as not a big deal, or as a prank, are actually potentially deadly and the law must treat them that way.
It is clearly true that a punch to the head, or a sucker punch that knocks the victim onto the pavement, are potentially deadly. That being the case, what possible argument is there for not charging them as attempted homicide? And even more so, what possible argument is there for rejecting deadly force in defense against such assaults?
It may well be that people are too stupid to understand that these assaults can be deadly, and that therefore such a charge may come as an unwelcome surprise to them. So what? Ignorance of reality is no excuse. If assault were taken somewhat more seriously by the law, perhaps we’d have less of it. You seem to be concerned that people might be charged with attempted manslaughter “just for one punch”. Yes, they might be, and should be. Why do you think this is a bad thing?
Here is another. It was shown on the national ABC Evening News on Thursday. Fortunately the Victims survived.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-searching-teens-viciously-beat-men-washington-dc/story?id=64570303
If I get in a bumper-thumper can I demand that the other guy sign a statement regarding whether or not he intends to give me “a punch” or “a beating”.
It seems that after the fact is a lousy time to have it pointed out to me that I guessed wrong.
IMHO
If zi get in a bumper-thumper can I demand that the other guy sign a statement regarding whether or not he intends to give me “a punch” or “a beating”if that’s a matter of concern.
It seems that after the fact is a lousy time to have it pointed out to me that I guessed wrong.
IMHO
[…] Yesterday I covered a murder in Detroit that happened when a man beat another man to death over a minor traffic accident. […]