Shooting People from a Car in Alleged Self-Defense Is No Crime in Arizona (barf alert)

Phoenix New Times ^ | 01 nov 2013 | Ray Stearn

[rellimpank]

No witnesses saw the gruesome end of a road-rage clash between Scottsdale lawyer David Appleton and ex-rodeo cowboy Paul "Tom" Pearson in the dark parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy on the evening of November 10, 2011.

As Appleton tells it, speaking publicly for the first time about the incident, the "moment of truth" came as he flailed against the seat belt of his blue Toyota FJ Cruiser, his neck firmly in the grasp of the bigger man reaching through the driver's-side window with his left hand.

"He used an expert chokehold," says Appleton, now 61. "He had big hands, and I'm a little guy . . . His middle finger was on my right carotid [artery], and his thumb was on my left carotid." The lawyer says he tried to peel the viselike grip off his neck with one hand, breaking off part of the fingernail of his pinky. It was the only injury he suffered in the fight with Pearson, a 50-year-old family man with a wife and three daughters who was co-owner of a Phoenix auto-parts store.

[rellimpank]

--in Phoenix for the weekend and picked up a copy of the local left-wing garbage wrap----

[Tupelo]

I understand about picking the local fishwrap. The Phoenix New Times is a little to the left of the most of the local media. But just a degree or so.
I have never lived in an area that had news outlets, both print and broadcast as bad as Phoenix, Tucson and all points in between.
Speaking of in between, there are two cities (Casa Grande & Maricopa) with over 40,000 population each with no radio station and for damn sure no TV. Neither has a daily newspaper. Casa Grande, 6 days a week, Maricopa, 2 days a week, and they are owned by the same company.

That said, it is damn near a miracle any Republican gets elected here. But with the exception of John McCain and Jeff Flake, Republicans are in a majority in southern Arizona politics.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Anyone who has driven around Phoenix knows that an armed society in not necessarily a polite society. If anything, drivers here are less polite and less competent, if that's possible, than drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Everyone is from somewhere else; people from back east jump lights, people from CA stretch lights and can't seem to come to a complete stop at stop signs and of course well to do Canadians own the road and feel that we should be grateful just to have them driving among us.

That said, "road rage" incidents are pretty rare around here for the simple reason that the wimpy looking lawyer who just cut you off, or maybe you really did cut him off, may be armed to the teeth and trained to use what he's carrying.

Be nice folks.

[Ben Ficklin]

Phoenix New Times was owned by the New Times Media Group. There were 15-20 local weeklies around the country in that group. Then they merged with the Village Voice.

Like any paper, the internet is causing them problems.

Plus, Philip Anschutz bought the San Fran Examiner in 2004 and established many, many local Examiners that compete with the local leftie weeklies

The Washington Examiner started back then when Anschutz bought 3 local suburban weeklies there in northern Virginia to create the Washington Examiner, which eventually grew to become a major mainstream rightwing newspaper. They almost put the Wash Times out of business.

They all make a lot of money off of the personal classified ads.

[rellimpank]

—usually , they are on a crusade against “Sheriff Joe”—and IMHO, the article wasn’t as bad as the title-—

[JustTheTruth]

The first day I moved to Phoenix years ago, I got off the freeway and pulled up to a stoplight with my car windows open. I had never been there before.

A long-haired guy on a loud, rumbling chopped Harley rolled up next to me, stopped at the red light and smiled as he nodded his head in my direction. He was wearing two long barreled revolvers - one on each hip - plus a left-shoulder-to-right-hip full circle leather ammo belt that was packed full of .45 magnum rounds.

My thought: I'm thinking that I'm going to like it here!

Turns out that I was right ...

Any adult (other than convicted felons, wife abusers, etc.) can carry concealed weapons in Arizona without a permit. Sweet.

[rellimpank]

—yep—if I was to re-pick a place to retire, it would likely be Arizona-—

[TurboZamboni]

Pearson is “people”? does he have multiple personalities?