Some years ago, a woman in Murfreesboro, TN was putting groceries in her car in a store parking lot when she heard a man behind her.
The man was speaking to her and approaching her.
She had up her hand to warn him to stop. but he continued. She drew a handgun and pointed it at him. He turned and ran. He reported the incident to the police.
Her story was that she had felt threatened. But police interviews of others who were present, and their review of store video, persuaded them that she had not had a basis for reasonably believing that she had been threatened.
His story was that he had asked her if she had a cigarette lighter.
She was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, and another crime. Bond was set at $15,000.
That's as far as the news report goes, but my recollections from the Law of Self Defense blog post on this go farther.
She continued to dig the hole deeper.
She said that she could not believe that she, a law abiding citizen, aws being charged with a serious crime. Attorneys tell us that that that is not an uncommon reaction among citizens charged with crimes after what they considered to have been justified use of force incidents.
She decided to take her outrage to the media. She invited television reporters into her house to tell them what she thought about the situation.
As I recall, she ultimately received a suspended sentence for the criminal charges, but she ran afoul of things in a civil tort case. Attorney Andrew Branca suggested that her case (the civil one) was not helped by her fancy living room and its luxurious contents being shown on television.
There are several important things to be learned from this incident, and it behooves all of us to learn them.
The man was speaking to her and approaching her.
She had up her hand to warn him to stop. but he continued. She drew a handgun and pointed it at him. He turned and ran. He reported the incident to the police.
Her story was that she had felt threatened. But police interviews of others who were present, and their review of store video, persuaded them that she had not had a basis for reasonably believing that she had been threatened.
His story was that he had asked her if she had a cigarette lighter.
She was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, and another crime. Bond was set at $15,000.
That's as far as the news report goes, but my recollections from the Law of Self Defense blog post on this go farther.
She continued to dig the hole deeper.
She said that she could not believe that she, a law abiding citizen, aws being charged with a serious crime. Attorneys tell us that that that is not an uncommon reaction among citizens charged with crimes after what they considered to have been justified use of force incidents.
She decided to take her outrage to the media. She invited television reporters into her house to tell them what she thought about the situation.
As I recall, she ultimately received a suspended sentence for the criminal charges, but she ran afoul of things in a civil tort case. Attorney Andrew Branca suggested that her case (the civil one) was not helped by her fancy living room and its luxurious contents being shown on television.
There are several important things to be learned from this incident, and it behooves all of us to learn them.