First permit-holder DGU in Minnesota!
See http://www.livejournal.com/users/joelrosenberg/#item39835 for the full details, including a link to the police report.
Short form: We've now got the first documented self-defense case by a Minnesota permit holder since the carry bill passed. (There's been some others, apparently, but they weren't well-documented.) This one is.
It's really, really nice -- no "blood on the streets." No "leaping pistols." No shots fired -- and the cops who were called to the scene conducted themselves with exemplary professionalism.
The Event
The short form is this: guy -- call him Frank; I don't know his name and don't want to -- is driving down the street on Valley View Road, wanting to make a left turn, when he comes near a bicyclist. Let's call the bicyclist Bozo (you'll see why in a second); he's a fifty-year-old guy, 5'11", 195 pounds. Frank's a young guy, not quite 22, and has a carry permit, and is carrying a .45 caliber semiauto.
It's one in the afternoon.
Now, there's some conflict in the statements, but it comes down to this:
For whatever reason -- Frank's take is that it was to get Bozo's attention, so he wouldn't end up running over Bozo -- Frank honks his horn as he approaches, then goes on by. Frank stops at the red light. Bozo rides up, drops his bike in front of Frank's car, and walks up to the driver's side window, which Frank starts trying to roll up.
Bozo either "asked [Frank] what he was trying to do," or said, "What the **** do you think you're doing, you ****ing punk?" and grabs Frank.
No question that Bozo grabbed Frank: Bozo only admits to grabbing Frank; Frank says Bozo was trying to choke him.
Frank, who has a permit, tells Bozo that he's got a gun, and goes for it at the same time that he's trying to roll the window up.
Bozo backs up, and when the light turns green, Frank drives through the intersection, going over the bike as he does, getting far enough away so that he can keep an eye on Bozo, and sees him going into the PDQ store there, but not close enough to resume the confrontation.
The Witness
The witness, a bus driver, saw it, from the point where Bozo was at the window. He didn't report seeing Bozo choke Frank, but he did see the bike in front of the car, and Frank drive off, over the bike.
The Aftermath
Both Bozo and Frank call the cops -- Frank via 911 on his cell phone; Bozo via the pay phone at the PDQ store across the street. Bozo reports it as a "road rage incident."
Eden Prairie Officers Miles, White, and Sergeant DeMann respond. (It's not clear to me when the Sergeant is on scene; it's possibly later.)
And they do it right. They temporarily relieve Frank of his handgun, and ask him what happens. He tells them that he was attacked, that he feared injury, and that he "had to run over the bike in order to escape." They talk to the witness, and to Bozo, who admits grabbing Frank.
The cops return Frank's gun to him.
Bozo, upon advice of the city attorney, gets arrested, and charged with 5th degree assault...
See http://www.livejournal.com/users/joelrosenberg/#item39835 for the full details, including a link to the police report.
Short form: We've now got the first documented self-defense case by a Minnesota permit holder since the carry bill passed. (There's been some others, apparently, but they weren't well-documented.) This one is.
It's really, really nice -- no "blood on the streets." No "leaping pistols." No shots fired -- and the cops who were called to the scene conducted themselves with exemplary professionalism.
The Event
The short form is this: guy -- call him Frank; I don't know his name and don't want to -- is driving down the street on Valley View Road, wanting to make a left turn, when he comes near a bicyclist. Let's call the bicyclist Bozo (you'll see why in a second); he's a fifty-year-old guy, 5'11", 195 pounds. Frank's a young guy, not quite 22, and has a carry permit, and is carrying a .45 caliber semiauto.
It's one in the afternoon.
Now, there's some conflict in the statements, but it comes down to this:
For whatever reason -- Frank's take is that it was to get Bozo's attention, so he wouldn't end up running over Bozo -- Frank honks his horn as he approaches, then goes on by. Frank stops at the red light. Bozo rides up, drops his bike in front of Frank's car, and walks up to the driver's side window, which Frank starts trying to roll up.
Bozo either "asked [Frank] what he was trying to do," or said, "What the **** do you think you're doing, you ****ing punk?" and grabs Frank.
No question that Bozo grabbed Frank: Bozo only admits to grabbing Frank; Frank says Bozo was trying to choke him.
Frank, who has a permit, tells Bozo that he's got a gun, and goes for it at the same time that he's trying to roll the window up.
Bozo backs up, and when the light turns green, Frank drives through the intersection, going over the bike as he does, getting far enough away so that he can keep an eye on Bozo, and sees him going into the PDQ store there, but not close enough to resume the confrontation.
The Witness
The witness, a bus driver, saw it, from the point where Bozo was at the window. He didn't report seeing Bozo choke Frank, but he did see the bike in front of the car, and Frank drive off, over the bike.
The Aftermath
Both Bozo and Frank call the cops -- Frank via 911 on his cell phone; Bozo via the pay phone at the PDQ store across the street. Bozo reports it as a "road rage incident."
Eden Prairie Officers Miles, White, and Sergeant DeMann respond. (It's not clear to me when the Sergeant is on scene; it's possibly later.)
And they do it right. They temporarily relieve Frank of his handgun, and ask him what happens. He tells them that he was attacked, that he feared injury, and that he "had to run over the bike in order to escape." They talk to the witness, and to Bozo, who admits grabbing Frank.
The cops return Frank's gun to him.
Bozo, upon advice of the city attorney, gets arrested, and charged with 5th degree assault...