RE: Because when seconds count, the police are only 5 minutes away? And this man had on boots, not good for jogging. And they found a hammer dropped on the road, back a ways
And that justifies them confronting him with a gun?
Why not just tail him and while doing so, call the police?
I watched the video, the footage was recorded by a security camera only a few minutes before Arbery died. But as you will see, the camera was not located on the property in question.
I don’t really see how this new footage changes the story very much.
First of all, the footage might establish that Arbery was in the vicinity (which we already knew by virtue of his corpse being splayed out on the road), along with the route he took to the scene of the shooting and his activities in the minutes preceding the event.
I say “might” because this isn’t particularly high-quality video and it was taken from a fair distance away. We see someone who definitely could be Arbery, given the seemingly similar clothing and proximity to the shooting site, but unless they have a much higher quality copy with better resolution, it could be tough to prove it definitively.
Assuming for now that it’s the same person, we see Arbery walking around for a few minutes on a property where a house is under construction. He disappears at various points, leading some to believe that he might have been up to something suspicious. But he winds up leaving the property without anything being seen in his hands.
Does this change anything vis-à-vis the subsequent shooting? Let’s look at this in the worst possible light in terms of Arbery’s behavior. You can assume that while he was out for a run he decided to duck into the construction site, perhaps looking for something valuable to steal. Even if he had come out of that house with a satchel full of power tools, does that somehow justify what happened next?
The McMichaels and their friend who filmed the shooting supposedly suspected Arbery of being involved in some recent break-ins that took place in the neighborhood. That means that they were trailing him over a matter of, at worst, burglary, or possibly even nothing more than trespassing. The video presumably recorded by their friend “Roddy” has already caught up Greg McMichael in one lie. He didn’t “pull up next to” Arbery and ask him to stop so they could talk to him. The McMichaels had gotten ahead of him to cut off his path through the neighborhood.
At that point, even if you suspect the person is guilty of a nonviolent crime, you don’t jump out with weapons drawn to make a citizen’s arrest.
If the person doesn’t seem inclined to talk to you and you really want to play private detective, you proceed to follow him while calling the actual cops on your cellphone to provide the location and details. The guy was on foot. It’s not like he was going to get away.
This still smacks of vigilantism to me.
You clearly have not seen the detailed and full color pictures from inside the garage he was invading that make it quite clear that Arbery was inside this house. Even his "Aunt" admitted that was him.
I don’t support what the McMichaels did, but I never think of burglary as a nonviolent crime. Too often a burglar surprised by the homeowner does not flee, but attacks.
If a woman is raped and murdered in her home, detectives look at known burglars in the area for good reason.
Arbery attacked when cornered. Doesn’t prove he was a bad guy; in my youth, I turned on harassers and gropers, people who were tormenting me.
But if he was a burglar, it gives an idea how he might have reacted if he found someone home.
One of the McMichael's apologists here mentioned that they, the McMichaels, suspected Arbery of stealing a .38 caliber revolver out of Travis' truck, before it was pointed out to him that he had just admitted personal animus on their part and a motive for chasing him down like he had just done harm to someone.
Turns out the guy, who was no angel BTW nor was he a "jogger", had possibly swiped a hammer from the construction site. Probably doesn't even meet the Georgia standard of felony theft.
Your missing a few key facts.
1) Gregory told police he had seen surveillance footage of Arbery inside the home stealing. I’m assuming this is the footage from Oct since he would not have seen the footage from that day.
Who showed him the video? Was it this guy?
“Larry English, a man building a home in the McMichaels’ neighborhood, said someone stole $2,500 in fishing gear from him earlier this year, but he never reported the theft, he told the Daily Beast.”
Stealing $2500 is a felony under Georgia law. If Gregory did see that video then it was perfectly legal for him to make a citizens arrest because he had immediate knowledge of a felony.
2) the roadblock was the second attempt by the McMichaels to stop Arbery. They had previously pulled up to him and asked him to stop.
3) Both Travis and Gregory called 911 during their attempt to make a citizens arrest. Which is hardly the action someone intent on murder would make but completely inline with the actions someone attempting to make a citizens arrest would take.
Your analysis misses a major point.
Once that hammer shows up Arbery's status changes from "jogger" to "escaping armed criminal". A hammer is a formidable weapon. Lethal against anything short of a projectile weapon.
Plus if he has discarded the hammer, what even more potent weapon has he retained?
It validates the decision to bring weapons in the first place, and justifies carrying the shotgun out of the truck.