Florida Man Who Fatally Shot Black Man During Parking Dispute Found Guilty

Huffpost ^ | 8/26/19 | Hayley Miller

[DoodleDawg]

A white man who cited Florida’s “stand your ground” self-defense law after fatally shooting a Black man during a dispute over a parking space last year has been convicted of manslaughter.

Jurors in Clearwater, located roughly 25 miles west of Tampa, deliberated for six hours on Friday before announcing their verdict against Michael Drejka, 49, in the shooting death of Markeis McGlockton, reported the Tampa Bay Times.

Drejka’s attorneys reportedly plan to appeal the verdict after their client’s sentencing hearing, which has been scheduled for Oct. 10. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

The shooting occurred after McGlockton, a 28-year-old father of three, parked in a handicap spot outside a Clearwater convenience store in July 2018 while he ran inside with his 5-year-old son to purchase snacks, according to his girlfriend, Britany Jacobs.

[Iscool]

What convicted him was the security video. It showed that there was a period of a few seconds where the defendant was on the ground, the victim was not advancing on him, the defendant pulled his pistol, the victim backed away, and he shot him. Clearly a bad shoot and the manslaughter conviction was justified. I disagree...The attacker WAS advancing until he saw the gun and then started to walk backwards...

It was a pretty hard blow the shooter took to the concrete and maybe he was rattled enough not to know the attacker was moving backward instead of forward...I would not have convicted the shooter...

[SamAdams76]

You probably should not have taken this space and had your wife walk a little bit further. Or let her sit in the car - in a legal space - while you get the film.

Like I said in an earlier post, live parking in a handicapped space is not a cool thing to do. You are basically forcing a legitimately handicapped person to get your attention by honking a horn or rapping on your window, both of which can be perceived and misinterpreted as a hostile action. So most handicapped people will not bother confronting a "live parker" sitting their space and will instead settle on the next available space.

Since we are on the subject of handicapped spaces, they seem to be giving out the handicapped placards rather loosely these days. I often see people using those spaces who have no obvious handicap. Some of them even have a spring in their step. Yet they've got the placard, so it's technically legit. Sorry, but my definition of handicapped is basically being in a wheelchair or on crutches. If you can walk, you ought to park just like anybody else.

I also find irony in the fact that even healthy people are constantly jockeying for a close space at the mall. Only to go inside and walk for miles! In a large shopping center, I always prefer to park in the fringes of the lot, where there are plenty of spaces. I am amused to see all those empty spaces and then as I approach the mall, you got all these people sitting in their idling cars, gritting their teeth, waiting for a "prime space" to open up. These people are very tense.

Tense!

[Iscool]

IIRC, he was, as a civilian, policing the handicap spots at this convenience store in a rundown section of town. Why?

The cops won't do it...I'm glad someone was...

[Iscool]

Utter crap. The killer was the aggressor. The victim was protecting his family from him.

The family didn't look like they were in any danger...

[EEGator]

“The cops won’t do it...I’m glad someone was...”

Now a man is dead, and a child has no father.
Another man is in prison for a long time.
Two families are ruined.
Totally worth a parking spot...

[EEGator]

He said five handicapped spots were open next to him.

Your side note - my family/friends always give me crap for parking so far away. I like no one next to me, and I like to pull through. “First move forward”.

[Mathews]

I didn’t see any sort of movement or intention to deliver a “swift kick.”

[Fresh Wind]

If you came out of a store and saw a total stranger angrily haranguing your girlfriend, why wouldn’t you think she was in danger?

[SamAdams76]

I saw where he said that but even with other spaces open, it's still not a good look. Plus, he mentioned that a busybody still rapped on his window all the same. Who needs all that confrontation and negativity in one's life?

Like you, I park in the outer reaches where parking is ample and nobody else parks right next to me. Keeps my blood pressure low and my life stress-free.

[DoodleDawg]

It was a pretty hard blow the shooter took to the concrete and maybe he was rattled enough not to know the attacker was moving backward instead of forward...I would not have convicted the shooter...

Let's say for a moment that the victim himself was a concealed carry holder. He came out, saw the shooter in his wife's face, screaming at her and advancing on her. Would he have been justified in pulling out his pistol and shooting the man to protect his wife?

[JerseyDvl]

He won’t anymore.

[DoodleDawg]

The family didn't look like they were in any danger...

Neither did the guy on the ground.

[Soul of the South]

Stories such as this, not to mention the furor over mass shootings, are being skillfully used by the media and those who are against the 2nd Amendment to soften up the population for eventual repeal of the 2nd Amendment. It will take years but ultimately, a Democrat Congress will pass an Constitutional Amendment to repeal the 2nd Amendment. It will then go to the states and there will be an unprecedented social justice warrior and media campaign to force ratification in enough states.

Demographics is destiny. Ten years from now many of the southern states will be solidly Democrat - Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia will join Virginia in the Democrat column.

I know many people who are pro 2nd amendment who are beginning to feel something has to be done to keep guns out of the hands of those who are not responsible. The killing referenced in this story was as senseless as the gang shootings in the ghettos of major cities. It isn’t a matter of race, it is a matter of too many innocent civilians being killed. When the anti second amendment crowd convinces enough people their lives are in danger daily due to the 2nd amendment allowing crazies and criminals to freely use guns at will against the general population, Congress and the states will take action. The propaganda campaign is underway and is being facilitated by the irresponsible use of firearms.

[EEGator]

I live outside of Philly, Chester, and Wilmington.
I know not to pick fights with ghetto Blacks.
They have nothing to lose, and don’t care.

One time in FL, there was a Black guy in our apartment dumpster. I thought about saying something, and then I thought, “This guy is in a dumpster, do you think he gives a shit?”

MYOB is a safer, and more chill, “place” to reside.

[Beagle8U]

“It showed that there was a period of a few seconds where the defendant was on the ground, the victim was not advancing on him, the defendant pulled his pistol, the victim backed away,...”

Wrong. Look at the video again, it clearly shows to perp shoving the gun owner to the ground and advancing until the pulls out his gun.

The perp had no intention of stopping the attack until the gun was drawn.

[cuban leaf]

I’m a spirit of the law sort of guy. The reason is simple: Sometimes it is actually better, safety-wise, to violate the letter of the law. When it comes to the law, it’s about one size fits “most”, but sometimes the legally wrong thing to do is the morally, or safe RIGHT thing to do.

Regarding stopping in a handicapped space, the only time it violates the spirit of the law is when there are no other handicapped spaces available. So I have a clear conscience about stopping in them.

On a side note, I had a foot injury a few months ago that made it extremely difficult to walk, but since I didn’t go to a doctor, I didn’t jump through the necessary hoops to get a sticker, so I had to park a ways away. Ultimately, I just avoided going to the store unless absolutely required. And when I did, I used crutches. And yet, if I parked in a government blessed space, I was breaking the letter of the law, though I would not have been violating the spirit of the law.

[sheana]

I have a handicap placard. Pulled into a spot in front of a Walmart and when I got out some guy comes running at me from the front of the store waving his arms and screaming at me....you can’t park there! It’s for handicapped people! I kept walking and firmly said....get away from me. My car has dark tinted windows and you can’t see the placard when it’s hanging except from the side driver’s doors or front.

[cuban leaf]

I also probably should mention that if, as I’m stopped in a handicapped space, and the last free one is taken by someone, I leave the space. I only stay in it as long as there is at least one empty handicapped space other than the one I’m stopped in.

I also only do this once every few years.;)

[trisham]

Agreed.

[Yashcheritsiy]

Once the perp laid hands on him he surrendered his right to life; the shooter spared other people victimization at the hands of the perp (aggressor).

This is a really dumb take.

"Laying hands on" someone does not, under any reasonable legal regimen (including Florida's stand your ground law), justify a response with deadly force. Deadly force is only appropriate in two cases - when deadly violence (i.e. with a weapon) has been made or threatened against you, or when an invasion is made of your home or vehicle (in that case justified by the imminence of the threat and the fact that a potentially deadly crime has *already* been initiated).

Simply running their mouth or initiating a non-deadly physical threat does not justify the use of deadly force. If this guy had had any sense, he'd have known that. As it stands, it sounds like he should not have even been carrying in the first place, as he obviously didn't have the temperament to do so.

I'd say this verdict is completely justified.