[Update] Florida man who claimed self-defense after shooting man over parking spot sentenced

[Mockingbird]

Quote

 

A man who shot and killed another man in Florida this week during an argument over a parking space will not be arrested or charged by the sheriff’s office because of the state’s so-called Stand Your Ground law, the authorities said.

 

Britany Jacobs, 25, was sitting in a car parked in a handicapped space outside a convenience store in Clearwater, Fla., on Thursday afternoon when a man, Michael Drejka, approached her vehicle and started looking for a handicap permit, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of Pinellas County said at a news conference on Friday. Ms. Jacobs’s boyfriend, Markeis McGlockton, and their 5-year-old son were in the store when Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Drejka began to yell at each other about whether she was permitted to be in that space, Sheriff Gualtieri said.

 

In a video recorded on a surveillance camera, Mr. McGlockton, 28, exits the Circle A Food Store, approaches Mr. Drejka and shoves him to the ground. After Mr. McGlockton takes a few steps back, Mr. Drejka, 47, pulls out a gun and shoots him once in the chest.

 

Mr. McGlockton then retreats back into the store, clutching his chest. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Sheriff Gualtieri said.

 

Sheriff Gualtieri said his office did not arrest or charge Mr. Drejka, who had a concealed carry permit, because of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which removes the obligation to retreat if a person feels threatened and frees the person to use deadly force “if he or she reasonably believes” it is necessary “to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.”

 

The law was a national flash point after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager. The case reignited a debate about racial profiling and just treatment under the law.

 

In the recent Florida case, Mr. McGlockton, who was black, backed away from Mr. Drejka, who is white, after pushing him to the ground. Sheriff Gualtieri said this brief retreat gave him “pause,” but Mr. Drejka told the authorities that he was in fear that he was going to be struck again.

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/us/florida-stand-your-ground.html

[DocM]

Quote

Mr. McGlockton, 28, exits the Circle A Food Store, approaches Mr. Drejka and shoves him to the ground. After Mr. McGlockton takes a few steps back, Mr. Drejka, 47, pulls out a gun and shoots him once in the chest.

 

Florida

 

Quote

 

A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.

 

A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.

 

IMO: not a good shoot. 

 

McGlockton taking steps back after shoving Drejka indicates one of two things;

 

1) he's breaking off his attack because of "point made," get away from my family.

 

2) he's breaking off his attack because Drejka displayed his firearm.

 

In either case he broke off his attack and Drejka should have left it there and exited the scene. If McGlockton then gives chase to continue the attack - fire away.

 

The local Prosecutor needs to have his investigators review this.

Edited July 22, 2018 by DocM

[VultureTX]

31 minutes ago, DocM said:

 

Florida

 

 

IMO: not a good shoot. 

 

McGlockton taking steps back after shoving Drejka indicates one of two things;

 

1) he's breaking off his attack because of "point made," get away from my family.

 

2) he's breaking off his attack because Drejka displayed his firearm.

 

In either case he broke off his attack and Drejka should have left it there and exited the scene. If McGlockton then gves chase then yeah - fire away.

 

The local Prosecutor needs to have his investigators review this.

2 Drejka display gun, McGlockton says somethiing after seeing gun and backs, Drejka fires.  

What Drejka says to the State not county prosecutor (or grand jury) will determine whether he gets charged.

 

SYG says you don't have to leave the scene because you have not committed any wrong in the case of drejka.  Plus Drejka may not been able to move, he got knocked down and tumbled over, so it quite possible he could not have gotten up and fled just after being assaulted.

 

The #BLM will not give up on this no matter the facts, Zimmerman was their start and it does not matter what the black man did, the other guy is guilty and that is the story they will tell themselves.

 

since there was at least one other person (non involved 3rd party ) nearby I want hear his testimony.

Edited July 22, 2018 by VultureTX
typo used plural.

[TheGodOfKratos]

24 minutes ago, DocM said:

 

Florida

 

 

IMO: not a good shoot. 

 

McGlockton taking steps back after shoving Drejka indicates one of two things;

 

1) he's breaking off his attack because of "point made," get away from my family.

 

2) he's breaking off his attack because Drejka displayed his firearm.

 

In either case he broke off his attack and Drejka should have left it there and exited the scene. If McGlockton then gives chase to continue the attack - fire away.

 

The local Prosecutor needs to have his investigators review this.

Shooting a person as they are backing away doesn't sound like you should be in fear for your life of the person backing away.

[CrossCheck]

4 hours ago, TheGodOfKratos said:

Shooting a person as they are backing away doesn't sound like you should be in fear for your life of the person backing away.

If a McGlockton doesn't physically assault Drejka in the first place, He wouldn't get shot

[xpablo]

Manslaughter charges should be brought up.

 

Michael Drejka instigated the event to begin with, just because he has a carry permit does not entitle him to act as a law enforcement official.

 

[+Raze Subscriber²]

Clearly Michael Drejka provoked this situation and I would have confronted Drejka upon exiting the store seeing my GF/spouse being yelled at, .  Drejka was way out of line with his actions.  Maybe Markeis McGlockton should have leveled a gun at Drejka, believing he and his GF/spouse were in danger.

[TheGodOfKratos]

45 minutes ago, CrossCheck said:

If a McGlockton doesn't physically assault Drejka in the first place, He wouldn't get shot

But that's not the point I was making. Stand Your Ground law is for people to protect themselves if they feel their life is in danger. How did the killer feel his life was in danger? If the killer hadn't been complaining about someone parking in a handicapped parking spot the guy who is dead would still be alive also. I think some people just go looking for trouble. It seems like an angry response because he was assaulted and not a defensive response.

 

Edited: Another version of the story says that the killer harassed and threatened to shoot a different person 2 months prior to this incident for the same reason. So, what we have here is a guy taking a gun with him and having full intentions of using it for anyone who parks in a handicapped spot without a proper right to do so. I call that looking for trouble. Sounds like we got another Charles Bronson on our hands here. If he wants to be a traffic cop he should get an application from the police dept of Florida. Senseless killings.

Edited July 23, 2018 by TheGodOfKratos
more information

[Jazmac]

A lot of weak men in Florida. Whatever happened to fisticuffs?  Now we have another dead American over a parking space. Weak and this law is exposing them to be straight spineless.

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

If i get killed over a parking space, I'm haunting some f*ers

[DocM]

2 minutes ago, Jazmac said:

A lot of weak men in Florida. Whatever happened to fisticuffs?  Now we have another dead American over a parking space. Weak and this law is exposing them to be straight spineless.

 

Fisticiffs are alive and well, and there's no shortage of black eyes and loose teeth in these parts. 

 

"Normal people" field artillery usually comes out way past that point; robberies, muggings etc.  are examples.

 

Abbie-normals and gangsters are a whole other kettle of fish.

[Jazmac]

7 minutes ago, DocM said:

 

Fisticiffs are alive and well, and there's no shortage of black eyes and loose teeth in these parts. 

 

"Normal people" field artillery usually comes out way past that point; robberies, muggings etc.  are examples.

 

Abbie-normals and gangsters are a whole other kettle of fish.

That is all that should have been the case here. Black eyes, bloody nose, a few bruises or maybe a sore throat from yelling. Normal stuff.  This guy pulled a gun because of a parking space. This is some weak excuse for some p_-k with a gun. Too many weak men in Florida. More on the way with this weak, spineless president in the Whitehouse.  Scared of everything.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Wow, this is some bull.  Hopefully Michael Drejka faces charges for this ... he flat-out murdered Mr. McGlockton.  Stand your ground ... pff ... Mr. McGlockton was backing away and not advancing after a pistol was pointed at him.  The pushing of Drejka was probably because the dude was yelling at his girlfriend...doesn't excuse his actions but he certainly didn't deserve to lose his life over it.  

 

Still ...

Quote

 

The shooting "is within the bookends of ‘stand your ground’ and within the bookends of force being justified," the sheriff said, later adding, "I’m not saying I agree with it, but I don’t make that call."

 

The agency will forward the case to the State Attorney’s Office for a final decision, Gualtieri said.

-Tampa Bay Times

...there is still hope that the state will make the appropriate decision. 

 

Father of three, gone, because of a parking space.  Damn.   

[DocM]

If it's going to the DA's office, good.

 

Speaking as someone who's both licensed and "been there," I disagree with the Sheriffs' interpretation of where the "bookends" are.

[shockz]

2 hours ago, DocM said:

there's no shortage of black eyes and loose teeth in these parts. 

Must suck to live where you do. Here in civilization, I can’t remember the last time I saw someone with a black eye or missing teeth from a fight.

[adrynalyne]

8 minutes ago, shockz said:

Must suck to live where you do. Here in civilization, I can’t remember the last time I saw someone with a black eye or missing teeth from a fight.

He has got to be 150 years old with all these incredible tales that’s more than a lifetime worth. 

 

Also yeah, must suck where he lives and a sane person would ask themselves why they would continue to stay in a place like that. 

[DocM]

1 hour ago, adrynalyne said:

He has got to be 150 years old with all these incredible tales that’s more than a lifetime worth. 

69, but I didn't spend most of my life playing/creating video games, watching TV or smoking dope. 

Quote

Also yeah, must suck where he lives and a sane person would ask themselves why they would continue to stay in a place like that. 

 

/sigh, insert Hitchens's razor

Edited July 23, 2018 by DocM

[shockz]

6 hours ago, DocM said:

69, but I didn't spend most of my life playing/creating video games, watching TV or smoking dope. 

And you’re implying... what?

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

'murca! Yee Haa! Shoot em cowboy!

Can't wait for America to join the rest of the civilised nations and follow us into the 21st century, doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon though.

Edited July 23, 2018 by PsYcHoKiLLa

[xrobwx71]

17 hours ago, DocM said:

 

Florida

 

 

IMO: not a good shoot. 

 

McGlockton taking steps back after shoving Drejka indicates one of two things;

 

1) he's breaking off his attack because of "point made," get away from my family.

 

2) he's breaking off his attack because Drejka displayed his firearm.

 

In either case he broke off his attack and Drejka should have left it there and exited the scene. If McGlockton then gives chase to continue the attack - fire away.

 

The local Prosecutor needs to have his investigators review this.

I have to agree. After watching the video about 10x, He broke off his attack after the gun was drawn. He had ample time to make a decision to not shoot. 

 

[adrynalyne]

1 hour ago, shockz said:

And you’re implying... what?

That we do apparently. My step dad had similar stories. Turns out he was incorporating not only his own experiences but his friends experiences into his own life and lying to all of us. Deja vu. 

1 hour ago, PsYcHoKiLLa said:

'murca! Yee Haa! Shoot em cowboy!

Can't wait for America to join the rest of the civilised nations and follow us into the 21st century, doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon though.

Give this drivel a rest. Literally no American here thinks this was justified. 

[DaveSharp]

12 hours ago, Raze said:

Clearly Michael Drejka provoked this situation and I would have confronted Drejka upon exiting the store seeing my GF/spouse being yelled at, .  Drejka was way out of line with his actions.  Maybe Markeis McGlockton should have leveled a gun at Drejka, believing he and his GF/spouse were in danger.

Same thing I was thinking. He was the aggressor, who's to say there wasn't some other hidden ulterior motive behind this? I'd say an investigation at least. 

 

[Circaflex]

5 hours ago, shockz said:

And you’re implying... what?

Apparently if we don't share the same feelings or outlook, we're dope smoking gamers! Sweet!

[ncoday]

What I find funny is that the shooter is not completely free and clear yet. There are still hearings to decide whether or not "Stand your Ground" applies here or not.

 

In this situation, I would agree with the majority that this was a bad shoot and the guy deserves to be punished.

[DocM]

1 hour ago, ncoday said:

What I find funny is that the shooter is not completely free and clear yet. There are still hearings to decide whether or not "Stand your Ground" applies here or not.

>

 

Police can take a person in for questioning, or do it on the scene, then make a determination as to arrest, but prosecution is up to the District Attorney - which is usually at the county level. 

 

In the case of SYG states the presumption is that it was a good shoot unless there's clear evidence to the contrary. Again, the DA makes the final call.