Retired police officer kills fellow movie-goer over texting dispute

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    H

    Huck Hound

    Member
    Mar 8, 2020
    84
    The whole Justice system is corrupt....the FBI, DOJ and Supreme Court pretty admitted that over the last year or two that they are all a corrupt POS with salaries paid by US Taxpayers . They know longer even attempt to hide it.
     
    Nobody

    Nobody

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 15, 2009
    2,845
    From what i saw on the video, the former leo was assualted and reacted by shooting the assaulter.


    Over reaction, maybe but i will never convict anyone who reacts to a situation. It may be an overreaction, buy he did not start the physical altercation.


    Nobody
     
    L

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,737
    Nobody said:
    From what i saw on the video, the former leo was assualted and reacted by shooting the assaulter.


    Over reaction, maybe but i will never convict anyone who reacts to a situation. It may be an overreaction, buy he did not start the physical altercation.


    Nobody
    Click to expand...

    If you listen to the witness testimony and police reports that have been made public, the cop overreacted and was an overbearing A-hole to the guy texting, who overreacted and threw some popcorn at him.

    It was a series of overreactions, but from throwing popcorn to "shooting the guy" is quite the escalation.

    By your logic, if someone says something mean about my mom or maybe makes me a little scared, it would be just fine for me to punch them in the face and then kick them in the ribs a few times just to make sure they stay down.

    An overreaction is just that, a response out of proportion to the situation.

    I certainly wouldn't be reaching for murder 2 on this, but manslaughter seems absolutely justified.

    Even if the retired cop is 100% being honest and that he had some actual fear for his life and not just angry and reacted by shooting him (which is 100% not a reason to shoot someone), the fear has to be REASONABLE for it to be acceptable. There are plenty of unreasonable people in the world. We shouldn't start treating them like their unreasonableness is acceptable.

    The retired cop started the situation. Then escalated it. Then further escalated it. Then shot the guy. I'd agree maybe his fear might be reasonable if the retired cop maybe said one thing to the guy and the guy became aggressive, overbearing, acting totally irrationally, throwing popcorn right into his face from inches away.

    But that is not how it went at all.
     
    D

    delaware_export

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 10, 2018
    3,230
    Iirc the retired cop also left the theater after the initial confrontation. Then came back.

    Edit: report says to complain to employee.

    Upon return, the final confrontation started.

    Let’s see what happens to Curtis Reeves.
     
    Nobody

    Nobody

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 15, 2009
    2,845
    lazarus said:
    If you listen to the witness testimony and police reports that have been made public, the cop overreacted and was an overbearing A-hole to the guy texting, who overreacted and threw some popcorn at him.

    It was a series of overreactions, but from throwing popcorn to "shooting the guy" is quite the escalation.

    By your logic, if someone says something mean about my mom or maybe makes me a little scared, it would be just fine for me to punch them in the face and then kick them in the ribs a few times just to make sure they stay down.

    An overreaction is just that, a response out of proportion to the situation.

    I certainly wouldn't be reaching for murder 2 on this, but manslaughter seems absolutely justified.

    Even if the retired cop is 100% being honest and that he had some actual fear for his life and not just angry and reacted by shooting him (which is 100% not a reason to shoot someone), the fear has to be REASONABLE for it to be acceptable. There are plenty of unreasonable people in the world. We shouldn't start treating them like their unreasonableness is acceptable.

    The retired cop started the situation. Then escalated it. Then further escalated it. Then shot the guy. I'd agree maybe his fear might be reasonable if the retired cop maybe said one thing to the guy and the guy became aggressive, overbearing, acting totally irrationally, throwing popcorn right into his face from inches away.

    But that is not how it went at all.
    Click to expand...

    Particular to paragraph 3, say what you want about my family, IMHO words only hurt if they are true. With that said words are words, when one person makes it physical then the other person has a right to respond. That response may be an over reaction to some but not to others. Was the former cop ( don't know what that has to do with the situation) supposed to wait until he was knocked down and kicked in the face to react? I think not.

    Further down you said the cop escalated, while not against the law to text during a movie, conversely it is not against the law to call that person out. I do it at movies regularly. The true escalation came with the physical assault of the shooter. I go out of my way to go to the movies during of peak times and sit far away from others. I detest movie takers, loud popcorn chewers and texters. People are rude. I hate people.

    Nobody
     
    L

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,737
    Nobody said:
    Particular to paragraph 3, say what you want about my family, IMHO words only hurt if they are true. With that said words are words, when one person makes it physical then the other person has a right to respond. That response may be an over reaction to some but not to others. Was the former cop ( don't know what that has to do with the situation) supposed to wait until he was knocked down and kicked in the face to react? I think not.

    Further down you said the cop escalated, while not against the law to text during a movie, conversely it is not against the law to call that person out. I do it at movies regularly. The true escalation came with the physical assault of the shooter. I go out of my way to go to the movies during of peak times and sit far away from others. I detest movie takers, loud popcorn chewers and texters. People are rude. I hate people.

    Nobody
    Click to expand...

    That’s still making an assumption that throwing popcorn at a person is going to immediately lead to an attack.

    I can’t say I’ve heard of that before.

    The defendant also claims that the victim also throw his cell phone at him. However no witness saw that happen and the physical evidence at the scene contradicts that statement.

    I won’t disagree that throwing anything at a person is likely a physical assault under the law. I think it strains credulity to think that throwing popcorn in someone is the presage to the victim starting to swing at the former cop/defendant. Especially when the defendant effectively wouldn’t leave the guy alone.

    He reacted inappropriately, however there is a pretty strong argument to make he was being harassed by the former cop.

    I think you’d have an argument to make it the victim said something to the defendant like “shut up or I’ll shut your mouth for you” or “I’ll knock your head off” or something else indicating that throwing popcorn to get the guy to shut up and stop bothering him was just the first move before he attacked.

    The video in the theater sucks. But it sure looks like the former cop was already to shoot him. The guy throws his popcorn in the former cops face, takes a step or so back as soon as he does that and about half a second after the victim takes a step back the cop snap shoots him.

    Yeah, I think the cop overreacted. I think his actions lead to the confrontation and he escalated it. No, I don’t think his actions should have lead to a physical assault, no matter how minor. But the cop was ready to shoot him. If he’d had even an ounce of sense, he would have deescalated before that if he felt he needed to be ready with his gun. But he escalated instead.

    Even most stand your ground states have found that minor assaults like pushing someone, even hard, is not legal grounds to use deadly force.
     
    B

    Bean Guy

    Active Member
    Apr 4, 2013
    433
    Eldersburg
    Well one thing is for sure - the defendant's bank account is taking a serious hit. He's had lawyers representing him for eight years and I bet they are bleeding him dry.
     
    Bob A

    Bob A

    όυ φροντισ
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Nov 11, 2009
    30,970
    Ban movie theaters. They're stinky little sticky shoeboxes anyway, and the "ambience" promotes crappy behavior that suits the nature of the venue. The movies are mostly crap, too, and the popcorn is a health hazard.

    I mean, really, you wanna associate with the kind of people you find there?
     
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