‘Stand your ground’: Boynton brawl leads to gunshot, but no charges

Palm Beach Post ^ | 1/2/2019 | Daphne Duret

[simpson96]

On an afternoon in October, as he lay outside his father’s Boynton Beach towing company gasping for air, Charles Cook III told his family he was going to die.

“They were like ‘no you’ll be OK, you were just shot in the arm’ but I could feel it in my chest,” he said. “I kept saying ‘I can’t breathe’ and then it all went black.”

Moments earlier, Cook III, his father and at least two other employees of Big City Towing had been in a bare-knuckled brawl with workers from a nearby tool company — the results of boiled-over tensions about the use of an alley that separates the two businesses in an industrial area along Railroad Avenue.

In the melee, Cook III punched the other business owner, David Taylor, who was holding a gun. Taylor shot him.

The 25-year-old woke up in the hospital thinking his shooter would be arrested, but that never happened.

Instead, both Boynton Beach police and Palm Beach County prosecutors deemed the case one of self-defense under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, even though neither Cook nor anyone on his side in the fight were armed.

“It was a fistfight,” Cook’s wife, Abby, said, adding that her husband has a concealed weapons permit but intentionally left his gun behind after he saw his father surrounded and went to help. “What the police and the state attorneys are saying by not charging him is that anytime a person gets punched, they get to shoot someone.”

Boynton Beach police say the case is closed. When police do not file charges, prosecutors don’t have to review the case. In this instance, they did.

[Repeat Offender]

In the melee, Cook III punched the other business owner, David Taylor, who was holding a gun.

Seemed like a good idea at the time. What could go wrong?

Taylor shot him.

Oh.

[The Antiyuppie]

Don’t bring a fist to a gunfight.

[DJ Taylor]

I thought Trayvon Martin settled this “Stand your ground” argument once and for all in Florida.

[Lurker]

“What the police and the state attorneys are saying by not charging him is that anytime a person gets punched, they get to shoot someone.”

She does get it.

L

[Mr.Unique]

Video at the link is interesting.

Lots of stupid.

[sport]

Mark

[Hot Tabasco]

Video at the link is interesting.

Watched it three times and couldn't make any sense out of it, let alone see the actual shooting......

[Navy Patriot]

Why everybody in Boynton Beach knows that Charles Cook Jr. goes to the head of the line when he shows up, he don't ever have to wait his turn, and he'll tell ya so and put a fist in yer face as an exclamation point, his time being so much more valuable than yours, and his kid, Charles Cook III, will make sure ya remember it.

'course both of 'em are so dumb they'll sucker punch a man holding a gun.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Just proves there are no limits on stupid!

[oincobx]

>>>”What the police and the state attorneys are saying by not charging him is that anytime a person gets punched, they get to shoot someone.”

So I can stand there and say disgusting things about someone’s wife or daughter, and if they hit me to defend that person’s honor, I can shoot them. Seems reasonable.

[TXnMA]

...“They were like ‘no you’ll be OK, you were just shot in the arm’ but I could feel it in my chest,”

Makes sense. If the round impacts on or near the brachial artery, (in the arm) the resulting blood overpressure pulse can stun or damage heart valves.

When the M-16 was first introduced into Vietnam, its (then) "slow" rifling twist allowed the bullets to tumble if perturbed in flight. There were several instances of Viet Cong being killed by nothing but an arm hit.

The VCs' fear of "the Black Rifle" soon spread, and attained near-epic proportions.

Then, to improve accuracy, the Army issued all following M-16's with a "faster" rifling twist -- and its lethality dropped considerably...

TXnMA
 

[William Tell]

"...and if they hit me to defend that person’s honor, ..."

We don't allow "honor killings" in this country and we shouldn't allow "honor punchings" either.

I'm now seventy. I don't care what you think is your justification, you are not justified in hitting me unless it is in self defense. I'm fragile now and physically limited. I lost every fight I was ever in in my younger days and I have no illusions about what would happen if I counted on my fists to protect me today.

Also, it is never a good idea to punch someone who is holding a gun.

[kanawa]

Fists are deadly weapons.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38992393

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/07/one-punch_killings_they_happen.html

[Spktyr]

Not exactly. The change in the rifling was also due to the fact that dense air (such as cold air in the lower parts of the Vietnamese mountain ranges) would sometimes cause some rounds to deflect and tumble. So would brush, wicker hats and most infamously grass. *Grass* would cause the rounds to deflect and go god-knows-where. Great if you’re doing area suppression, not good when you need to deliver rounds on target. Post-war research shows that after they got over the initial shock, the VC and NVA found that the black rifle was actually killing *fewer* of them, just that the ones who were hit were often taken out in more dramatic fashion due to the round’s instability. It’s worth noting that the VC, who always wanted weapons, despite the availability of captured M16s and ammo often just left them in the field after the initial panic subsided. US and allied troops exceedingly rarely found themselves facing captured M16s.

More reading here: http://www.gunrightsmedia.com/showthread.php?413583-Tumbling-223-controversy-another-view

[TXnMA]

Spktyr: Thanks for the info -- and the link! IIRC, there also were ammo changes mixed up in that whole Foxtrot Charlie. I'll dig back thru American Rifileman issues of the period, which had extremely detailed analyses of the whole fiasco...

I expect we agree that a gyro-stabilized .556 slug, zipping staight thru the flesh of a 'Cong-sized upper arm loses (transfers) minimal energy to the arm -- and that a tumbling, "weed-whacker" slug is far more damaging. That was my point -- not a full history of M-16 rifle+ammo systems development... '-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

simpson96: apologies! It wasn't my intent to "slide" your thread into a non sequitur 'Nam ballistics discussion!

My intent was to validate that an upper-arm bullet strike could cause chest pain or damage -- just as the (dumb@$$3d) "kid" claimed...

"'Nam-era" Vet...
TXnMA
 

[Kickass Conservative]

>>>>So I can stand there and say disgusting things about someone’s wife or daughter, and if they hit me to defend that person’s honor, I can shoot them<<<

Gangbangers kill people who “disrespect” them. You know, to defend their “honor”. Are you advocating that?

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Ever heard that before?

[SauronOfMordor]

Physically fit young men should avoid hitting middle aged people. There’s a concept in self defense called “disparity of force” which justifies the weaker or more elderly party using a weapon against stronger younger assailants.

[Trailerpark Badass]

Unless they are legally well-defined “fighting words,” yeah you just have to sit there and take it, or laugh and walk away, or do any number of things more reasonable than losing your cool and throwing a punch.

If the loudmouth also has a gun, he gets to “win” that idiotic schoolyard conflict. Deal with it.