Posted on 07/23/2004 7:07:35 PM PDT by Mulder
BARTOW -- Bradley Beck, the wounded robbery victim who shot an innocent bystander as he fired 17 shots at a suspected robber, won't face any criminal charges, a grand jury in Bartow decided Thursday.
Alearria Denmark, a 47-yearold special education teacher suffered two gunshot wounds when she drove up on the shooting scene. She testified before the grand jury and appeared shaken after Circuit Judge Ron Herring announced the jury's decision.
Denmark declined to speak with reporters at the courthouse. Reached later at her home in Lakeland she said the grand jury's decision was wrong and that State Attorney Jerry Hill mishandled the case.
"I can't see how (the State Attorney's Office) can't file charges on Mr. Beck . . . when a citizen can take the law into his own hands and shoot innocent people."
Denmark was wounded twice, near her spine and lower abdomen, and spent 11 days in Lakeland Regional Medical Center.
Beck, 50, who was shot in the head by an armed robber while working at Phillips' Photographers in Lakeland, also testified before the grand jury Thursday.
He left before the decision was announced but during a phone conversation later said he was relieved the criminal investigation was behind him.
"I regret that day ever happened," Beck said. "It would have never happened if he (the suspected robber) hadn't come into that store."
Beck said Denmark has been in his prayers since the shooting. "Since the day I was in the hospital, I've been asking about her."
Hill's decision to take the case to the grand jury was unusual. The grand jury generally reviews first-degree murder and corruption cases.
"On a rare occasion a case comes along that we believe the community needs to give us direction," Hill said. "It turns out this was a good decision."
"No one questions what happened to Ms. Denmark was a tragedy," Hill said.
But he said "a trial would have never reached a decision of guilty."
Denmark was driving her van on Lenox Street about 11 a.m. June 29. Nearby, an armed robber entered Phillips' Photographers at 1505 S. Florida Ave. and demanded money from Beck, a longtime employee who was alone at the store.
Lakeland police gave this account of what happened:
Beck opened the cash register and gave about $100 to the robber, who also demanded Beck's wallet and car keys.
The robber ordered Beck to a back room and shot him, leaving a one-inch scar on his forehead.
The robber was later identified by police as Darrell Logan, 27, of Lakeland, who has served time in prison on an armed robbery conviction. After shooting Beck, Logan ran out the back door, police said. Beck, a target shooter, grabbed his Glock pistol from a holster he had in a briefcase and chased Logan.
From the rear of the building, Beck fired at least six shots at Logan, who ran toward South Florida Avenue. Beck followed Logan and fired more shots as Logan ran toward Denmark's van, which had reached the intersection of Lenox Street and South Florida Avenue.
Logan opened the sliding door of the van but was shot before getting inside, police said.
Police said Beck again opened fire, hitting Logan and Denmark twice. Logan collapsed and was on the ground when police arrived.
In all, Beck fired 17 shots, police said.
When he stopped firing, three shots had struck Logan, who didn't fire back. Investigators said his gun may have jammed inside the shop after he wounded Beck.
Five bullets fired by Beck hit Denmark's van and she was hit by two of the bullets. Two more bullets struck the side of a law office next to Phillips' studio.
The remaining bullets are unaccounted for, according to police.
On Thursday, Beck's lawyer, Rob Griffin, said Beck was worried that Logan might drive to his home, where his invalid mother was staying.
"He had his driver's license, his keys and his address," Griffin said. "He was concerned about his mother."
Logan faces charges of attempted firstdegree murder, armed robbery, robbery and battery. Logan spent more than two weeks at Lakeland Regional Medical Center and was transferred to the Polk County Jail infirmary July 16.
The State Attorney's Office received the case from Lakeland police detectives July 9.
Police Chief Roger Boatner did not return a phone message Thursday.
Nothing will screw up your aim and your judgement like being shot in the head. I'm glad all the innocent people in this story survived.
Mr Beck found time to obtain a gun. Seems he didn't concern himself with the responsibility to learn fire discipline, in particular to withhold fire when innocents are in that line of fire. This all should have occurred prior to this incident.
True enough that we should all be well practicised and think all these things through in theory as well as we can. How well we have taught our mind to think determines how well we will do when pressed.
However, much you would have condemned this man, a grand jury that heard all the facts did not find ~him~ to be the criminal in this case.
Anyway, I searched Google News and naturally the MSM are completely ignoring the race of everyone involved, perhaps one of the most important motivating factors in the way people react to one another in America. And the media is totally silent about it . . . Way to go. Well, I'm sure I could win a bet on who's who and what's what in this story, and on what motivated Logan to shoot Beck in the first place and what caused Denmark to be angry about Beck not being charged.
You write a good movie character .... unfortunately, there's not always time for that in the world this guy lived in.
That's not an argument, it doesn't even make any sense.
It does however sound like a putdown, which is what it is.
Comeback when you've got something to argue with. You and your girly putdowns are a waste of time.
Ha! I suppose you think girly is an insult don't ya? For a man you are a bit thinned skinned about being merely questioned about your perception of things.
The reason those laws are in place is to disuade and punish wreckless and negligent behavior in whatever form it takes. This guy's action injured someone, could have killed them, and was unjustified. It was a materialization of that "wild west" display the grabbers predicted. It really shouldn't be encouraged, or dismissed.
Chasing down and shooting at a perp is one thing. Shooting with others in the fore, or background is another thing entirely.
Your colored glasses make us look bad. I made no such assumptions in this case. But then, race isn't my motivating factor on judging right and wrong.
Pure unadulterated bias.
"However, much you would have condemned this man, a grand jury that heard all the facts did not find ~him~ to be the criminal in this case."
A Jury heard all the facts of the OJ case and let him off, what's your point?
I understand his rage..not anger, RAGE, and my point is that in a just, orderly society we must be responsible for what we do. Rage thinks only of itself. Rage doesn't care about anyone else. Rage can't rule the day.
I wouldn't have hung this guy but I would rather a decision that underlines the importance of each of us, in a siruation however trying, remembering that there are others around us who may suffer for what we do.
Hell, we USED to.
But I didn't say you did. And I don't have colored glasses. I'm just not ignoring the elephant in the room.
I've watched you argue that on this thread, and it's a compelling argument for any civil case, and I am a person who downright ~loathes~ the state of the civil case in this country. We are too sue-happy when anything bad that happens makes us see $$$$ immediately.
We don't have ~all~ the facts the jury did, but my philosophy is to not jail people as criminals for accidents. I have to make the leap to criminal intent before I want to take up jail space with a man like this.
"For a man you are a bit thinned skinned about being merely questioned about your perception of things."
You don't question, you don't argue YOU PUTDOWN. You imply cowardice or a lack of character or some such.
"Girly" is only a negative if you don't happen to be one or are in a situation that requires some other reaction. I have heard females legitimately use the term.
I haven't questioned your character at all, nor implied cowardice.... uninteresting, maybe.
You argued some points.... I argued some points.... I'll still take your word for it that you're a MAN when it counts, and you believe this guy wasn't. Now.... anything else?
.... uninteresting, maybe.
There she goes again!!!!
Same here.
The criminal intent in this case is to deliberately ignore the obvious and imminent risk to life he was placing that woman in. It's like storing your dynamite out on the front lawn overnight, because the basement flooded and the neighborhood kids grabbed it while you were sleeping. It's the magnitude of the ignored consequences that make it criminal. The only defence is mental defect.
Obviously Florida is different than Texas. In Texas, we're damned near encouraged to shoot bad guys, but if you were to discharge your pistol 17 times and shoot bystanders, you'd go down in a heartbeat.
Nope.... it's not nearly that deliberate or predictable. I don't have a clear indication what this scene looked like, the angles, distances, views or the skill and clarity this guy had. It would be a tough call, and this jury made it this way. This one guy was deemed to be undeserving of charges by that jury that discussed it just like we are but in more detail. No matter what issues we grapple with here, we have a lot more time for analysis and 20/20 hindsight at our disposal than he had at the time. We can't measure him against whether his actions were perfect, rather whether they were ~reasonable~.
From being shot in the head.
I'd bet that those here willing to fry the shooter would totally lose their mentally facilities just by being shot at, much less taking a round to the head.
Trust me, you will get over me.
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