Posted on 07/18/2014 10:07:30 AM PDT by moonshinner_09
PORTSMOUTH, Va. – When a man heard noises in his backyard and heard the back door handle click, he ushered his family upstairs, grabbed his gun and prepared to defend himself.
Brandon Watson remembers his wife seeing “guys in all black” approaching the house; when he couldn’t immediately find a phone to call 911, he instead ran back downstairs with his legally purchased gun.
Watson recalls warning the intruders, “Who is that? I have a gun,” and immediately finding “two red laser beams” trained on his chest.
He then fired a warning shot through a window, and ran across the street to get help from his neighbor, a Virginia State Police deputy.
As he ran out of the house, however, he discovered a shocking bit of news: he had just shot a police officer.
“As I came out of the house…they said, ‘Who just fired the shot out the back window?’” Watson recalls. “I said I did…and I was holding a gun, and they said, ‘put down the gun.’”
The dark figures in his backyard had been Portsmouth police officers who had not announced themselves.
“I said, ‘An officer? Nobody came to my door. What do you mean an officer? I didn’t know there were any officers in my backyard,” he remembers.
The incident occurred on January 3, 2013; it wasn’t until September that it was announced that police had been in the wrong backyard at the time of the nighttime incident. A neighbor had called 911 because she heard unrelated noises in the downstairs of her own home; officers mistakenly approached Watson’s house instead of hers.
(Excerpt) Read more at opposingviews.com ...
Watson was found guilty, but appealed the decision. When a second judge declared a mistrial, Watson chose to have a jury trial.
“This can’t be doing your job,” Watson argued. “You come into my backyard, try to open my door, open my window and flash red laser beams on my chest because you thought I was the burglar, and I thought you were the burglar.”
After deliberating for only 47 minutes, the seven-person jury found Watson not guilty.
The jury stated that Watson had showed restraint by firing only one shot, and noted that officers’ claims that “they had their weapons pointed at the ground at all times” were contradicted by the red beams Watson claims had been focused on his chest.
In the aftermath of the case, Portsmouth police have adjusted their policy and have removed the red gun laser sights from their weapons.
For Watson, recovering from the incident was no easy task: he spent 10 months unemployed.
“I begged them not to charge me,” Watson said. “I knew what it meant…I got no jobs…no one would hire me after they ran the criminal background check, because I was charged with reckless handling of a firearm.”
He is now looking into claiming negligence or gross negligence in a lawsuit against the city of Portsmouth.
Am I ever glad I do not live PORTSMOUTH, Va..Police think it's illegal to defend yourself.You must go to court and prove why you should be allowed to defend yourself. I would sue them for all I could.
In that situation, after firing a shot, 9 time out of ten he would have been bullet ridden.
“In that situation, after firing a shot, 9 time out of ten he would have been bullet ridden.”
I agree.
So they won't be caught lying again.
....Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Earle Mobley admits that Watson did not know the people in his backyard were police, he prosecuted him for misdemeanor reckless handling of a firearm.
__________________________________________
Some may argue - technically - Watson SHOULD be charged. After all - he fired a Warning Shot.
That’s a no no.
only in some states.
He should have fired “two blasts.”
It was a warning shot alright, he was warning the others he already hit one of them.
That's what they decided to change?
I don’t like the idea of bilking taxpayers, but he should sue the living hell out of them.
They could have knocked on the door and asked whoever answered, “You reported a prowler?” Instead they chose to be ninjas.
These guys are real Dicks. They infiltrated a neighbors yard, she called 911 and apparantley learning they were in the wong house moved on to victimize another lowlife citizen.
If they are goona play cops and liars shouldn’t they try harder to get the right house and use their Dicks to ascertain their target is actually inside?
And then they use the D.A. to continue their abuse?
They and the Drickhead Attorney should be investigated. With several cops losing their badges and the D.A. barred from practice.
These guys are real Dicks. They infiltrated a neighbors yard, she called 911 and apparantley learning they were in the wong house moved on to victimize another lowlife citizen.
If they are goona play cops and liars shouldn’t they try harder to get the right house and use their Dicks to ascertain their target is actually inside?
And then they use the D.A. to continue their abuse?
They and the Drickhead Attorney should be investigated. With several cops losing their badges and the D.A. barred from practice.
But they had on their cool ninja costumes so it’s all good.
I hope this guy takes the Portsmouth police department to the cleaners. A lot of police departments today have regressed to where they are as poorly led and as corrupt as the first police departments which were little more than armed gangs hired by companies and cities to “enforce” the will (not the law) of the companies and the politicians.
They were merely doing what they were trained to do. If you make a mistake you make the most use of it you can.Often police mistakes are paid for by shooting random citizens and pets and destroying lots of property. Police don’t like to make mistakes so they make the citizens pay.
He’s fortunate to be alive.
The right to self defense does not come from the state, and the state can not take it away.
In this case, if he had fired, he would have been swiss cheese, and both would have been justified in firing. Unfortunately, he would have died.
The prosecutor had his head up his liberal anal canal.
Yup. Soon, they'll be driving their M1 battle tanks to serve summons.
They should stop militarizing the cops.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.