Long Island Man Arrested For Defending Home With AK-47

newyork.cbslocal.com ^ | September 7, 2010 11:00 PM

[Justaham]

He was arrested for protecting his property and family.

But it’s how the Long Island man did it that police say crossed the line.

He got an AK-47 assault rifle, pulled the trigger and he ended up in jail, reports CBS 2’s Pablo Guzman.

George Grier said he had to use his rifle on Sunday night to stop what he thought was going to be an invasion of his Uniondale home by a gang he thought might have been the vicious “MS-13.” He said the whole deal happened as he was about to drive his cousin home.

“I went around and went into the house, ran upstairs and told my wife to call the police. I get the gun and I go outside and I come into the doorway and now, by this time, they are in the driveway, back here near the house. I tell them, you know, ‘Can you please leave?’ Grier said.

Grier said the five men dared him to use the gun; and that their shouts brought another larger group of gang members in front of his house.

“He starts threatening my family, my life. ‘Oh you’re dead. I’m gonna kill your family and your babies. You’re dead.’ So when he says that, 20 others guys come rushing around the corner. And so I fired four warning shots into the grass,” Grier said.

[humblegunner]

what, i’m going to waste my time hitting the shift key here..

Yes, it's much better to write like an illiterate and make the whole site look bad.

What was I thinking?

You 12-year-olds and your texting.. so funny!

[JimSEA]

George Grier’s arrest is asinine. Unfortunately such inane policing of citizens is not all that rare. I would likely suffer the same fate here in Oregon.

[brent13a]

It's not asinine, it's called personal responsibility. You would still agree with his decision to go back outside if the round he shot into the air struck a child or other person in a house a block or two over? You can't just go outside and start spraying rounds from your front yard every time you're scared. Castle Doctrine exists for your Castle not your whole property. Like I stated above, shoot your own house up all you want, in defense of you and your family, just don't go outside and start blasting off rounds indiscriminately.

An intruder must be making (or have made) an attempt to unlawfully and/or forcibly enter an occupied home, business or car.
The intruder must be acting illegally—e.g. the Castle Doctrine does not give the right to attack officers of the law acting in the course of their legal duties
The occupant(s) of the home must reasonably believe that the intruder intends to inflict serious bodily harm or death upon an occupant of the home
The occupant(s) of the home must reasonably believe that the intruder intends to commit some other felony, such as arson or burglary
The occupant(s) of the home must not have provoked or instigated an intrusion, or provoked or instigated an intruder to threaten or use deadly force

Notice the first point and the continuous use of the term "occupant(s) of the home".

[brent13a]

Even as a law enforcement officer I fall under the same rules, off-duty, as any other civilian as does the rest of my family. So that's why, on the occasion that I arrest real bad characters and they feel so inclined to threaten me and my family I inform them: "Stop by my house anytime, if you're going to do it.......the front door sticks though, you'll have to kick it in or come through a window." (At that point, I gots all kinds of nifty guns for your dumb a$$). Oddly enough, that statement usually shuts them up.

But I don't tell them I'll meet them outside on my front lawn, nor did I train my family to run outside shooting.

[lowbridge]

bump

[Desron13]

"“He starts threatening my family, my life. ‘Oh you’re dead. I’m gonna kill your family and your babies. You’re dead.’ So when he says that, 20 others guys come rushing around the corner. And so I fired four warning shots into the grass,” Grier said."

That's where he went wrong. Had it been me listening to those threats against my family the very first round would have gone right between the miscreants eyes. Subsequent rounds for all to follow rapidly. They would have been bagging bodies for the rest of the night.

[mmercier]

humblebunger or whatever you call yourself definitely projects the site in a favorable manner.

why waste caps on people to scared to use their name in public..?

and i’m 13

[humblegunner]

Take your pills Junior.

[mmercier]

you must be a blast to be around.

thanks for the laugh, i needed it.

[OldNavyVet]

Picture indians shooting flaming arrows at your house. What would you recommend then?

[paulycy]

Picture indians shooting flaming arrows at your house.

Again?

[brent13a]

Picture indians shooting flaming arrows at your house.

Seriously? That's your analogy? I believe that would be a severely unique situation. I'm not sure what the risk of that is in general in this day and age.

But if that is the case and I do have indians shooting arrows at my house I would then see fit to pull out my 1876 Gatling gun and begin spraying 45-70 all over the countryside.

Or I could just build my house out of rock and sod.

[OldNavyVet]

I agree ... coming out shooting is sometimes in order.

Doing that today, however, one might expect to be arrested on 40 to 50 (not counting shots fired) charges.

In other words, this ain’t the country I grew up in.

[panaxanax]

“If this happened in Pennsylvania - he would have received a medal...”

Not in NY, unfortunately. We have a “duty to retreat”, which means run away like a little mouse and pee your panties.

I’m not sure how I would react if twenty MS13 gang members were in my driveway threatening to “kill my family and babies”. There are certain words that make me go ballistic. “Killing me”, “kill my family and babies” are at the very top of the list. I do know that I would not have fired ‘warning shots’ into the ground and especially the into air. That’s just plain stupid.

[gundog]

...and i’m 13...

Years old, or MS-?