Posted on 09/21/2012 5:54:57 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
Houston area investigators are looking into a stand-your-ground case where after a minor fender-bender, a 22-year-old white male was shot and killed by a 23-year-old black woman. During a morning commute, Crystal Scott and Jonathan Ables were in an accident and pulled into a Shell gasoline station to survey the damage.
According to Scott, Ables exited his truck and ran toward her driver-side door. Scott said he yelled and then hit her door and tried to open it. Fearing for her life, Scott pulled her pistol and shot Ables once through the driver’s window and struck him in the chest. Ables died at the scene.
A Harris County Sheriff’s spokesman, Sgt. Felipe Rivera said “From what we understand it was maybe just a minor accident,” while adding, “The information we’re getting is that it appeared to be a minor accident that turned into road rage.”
>snip<
An eyewitness, who appeared on camera but has requested anonymity, said that he did not hear any threat in the seconds before Scott killed Ables. The witness was pumping gas and standing 15 feet away from Ables when a bullet ricocheted past him and struck his car. The bullet left a noticeable impression on the witness’s car.
As for Scott’s version of events, the witness said that if Ables had shouted or banged on the car, he would have heard it. “What drew my attention was the gunshot,” said the witness. “I just want to be sure that I do everything in my power that everything is fair. I care about it being fair,” he said. The Harris County sheriff’s department has not yet responded to Spero News’ request for any security footage of the shooting.
(Excerpt) Read more at speroforum.com ...
Just because you don’t like the law doesn’t change it. She had the right to stand her ground and protect herself and her car with any force she thought was reasonable if she believed it was necessary to prevent an attempted to break in. That’s what the law said. It’s sad that the man is dead, but that tragedy alone doesn’t mean she should be prosecuted.
Sometimes the potential victim gets the upperhand over the probable attacker, and sometimes not.
The hardest SYG cases are the ones where the vic is armed and the attacker is not.
You amuse me.
Inappropriate response to stimulus on your part.
If she was afraid he was trying to get into her car then that qualifies. The Texas laws are pretty liberal in that regards. Big guy. Small woman. She in her car. He outside of it. If she makes her case that she felt threatened then she gets off. And under the law she should. You can argue whether it was all justified, but if people don't like the outcome in this case then change the law.
If they had agreed to pull over and “talk about it”, then she is going to have a problem applying the SYG law to what subsequently transpired. It is tough to “talk about it” through a rolled up window.
I see someone said....she'd been involved in a "road rage" incident. But not "carjacked"....
Big difference.
Where are you getting this info?
There was a collision. Whether you want to call it an “accident” or not, because you suspect it may have been intentional, it was a vehicular collision. When there is a vehicular collision, the law applies. There is not a separate law for intentional collisions versus accidental ones.
“Unless I guess....they have traffic camera’s. “
They do have cameras on the highway. A blog link posted earlier has a map with the location of the cameras highlighted.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but my basic impression of the incident was formed by reading the first story I saw posted here, before I went to any link or saw any pictures and found out she was black. Nothing I have seen since then has altered my impression.
As for your guess about what would happen if the races were reversed, there was a similar story posted not too long ago where a white guy killed a Mexican in Texas, claiming self defense, and there were plenty of people disputing his version of events, with hundreds of replies on several threads.
Pictures of both have been attached to the various stories about the killing.
If he ran up to her car, yelled at her, hit the car, and then tried to open the door like she said he did then no, she won't have any problem at all. The witness said he didn't hear any threats. He didn't say he was watching his actions at the car. He said he would have heard him hit the car or yell but there's no guarantee of that. It's her word against nobody because the only other person who knew what Ables did is Ables himself. And he's dead.
It took only four posts for race to be mentioned. With ten posts, we'd seen "Hatred of whites is a cultural value of the American black community." Ten of the first 28 comments had a racial angle to them.
When I commented on it, I was told "I" had an issue regarding race.
It’s polite to alert those of whom you write with a ping, Scoutmaster.
The issue you appear to have is one of being a reactionary. You see what you apparently deem racist statements and immediately tack away in favor of the opposite party.
There are times when you are in the wrong as a result of this reactionary tendency. Now, for example.
Race was injected into this discussion from the headline of the linked subject article onward. Laying blame at the feet of any FReeper reveals more about you than it does about them.
I didn't think he was a BIG man...nor she a SMALL lady.
Have a blessed day.
Inappropriate response to stimuli can be amusing at times as well, but it’s just not polite to show it, so you have a good day.
Thanks. I generally look forward to your posts and we’ll just need to agree to disagree on this one. Here’s to meeting again on another thread.
No -- there are other witnesses and they have no reason to lie. She does.
And then there are those words: "reasonably believe".
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