‘Apparently you get away with anything if you’re scared’ ....

The family of a Georgia man who had Alzheimers and was shot dead in the middle of the night as he knocked on the door of a house, have spoken of their heartbreak that the person who carried out the shooting will not face criminal charges.

Joe Hendrix, 35, fatally shot 72-year-old Ronald Westbrook on November 27 last year.

The elderly man had slipped from his home as early as 1 a.m. and wandered in the cold and dark for hours until randomly approaching the home of Hendrix's fiancee on a rural cul-de-sac, repeatedly knocking on the door and ringing the bell.

Hendrix's fiancee called 911, while Hendrix grabbed his .40-caliber handgun, went outside and confronted Westbrook in the dark.

Hendrix told police that he fired four shots after Westbrook ignored commands to stop, identify himself and raise his hands.

Mistaken: Ret. Lt. Col. Ronald Westbrook, 72, who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease was shot in the early morning hours of November 27, 2013.

Joe Hendrix who shot him will face no criminal charges. Henderix mistook Westbrook for an intruder when Westbrook tried to enter the home of Hendrix's fiancee just before 4 a.m.

District Attorney Herbert 'Buzz' Franklin's office characterized the incident as a 'tragic shooting death' in a written statement......

'You can get away with anything if you claim you were scared,' Ms. Westbrook said refelecting on the county prosecutors' decision not to press charges against Hendrix....

'I'm a little upset,' said Deanne Westbrook, the slain man's widow. She said she felt police and prosecutors had done a thorough job. 'I really wanted to see it go before a grand jury, and then maybe before a jury. But they tell me there's not enough evidence for that.'

All right....

Here’s where Hale pees in the punchbowl...

Aside from all the emotionalism and pathos in the article - and yes, it IS tragic - there’s some things that need to be dealt with.

1. The family KNEW this man had Alzheimer’s issues; it is THEIR responsibility to see that he was not a danger to himself or anyone else for that matter. I say that because my mother dealt with my Grandmother, who was CONSTANTLY trying to “go home” as she put it, trying to get out the door in the middle of the night. She picked up scissors once to MAKE my mother open the door, and only after Mom phoned a neighbor to come over was she convinced to stop. Mom put KEYED deadbolts on all the doors so she couldn’t get out. But she tried a few times. This condition lasted about a year until she passed away, at 87. Up to that point, there was NOTHING wrong with her, and then boom... her memory went.

So, to my point, Westbrook “slipped outside” - evidently a lot - because NO ONE was watching him. I blame THEM for not being responsible enough to take precautions to prevent that from happening.

2. The article says Hendrix “confronted the man outside”. I’m not clear if that means “at the front door” or he followed him outside.

IF the guy followed him outside and pumped rounds into him, he COULD be charged with second degree murder. We had an incident here in PA several years ago, where a naked drunk guy who had a habit if urinating in his yard in drunken stupor at night got confused, walked into his neighbor’s yard and, finding himself “locked out”, promptly picked up a metal yard chair and threw it through the neighbor’s sliding glass doors.

The neighbor - a combat veteran - was awakened from sound sleep at 3am by the sound of crashing glass, and a naked, bloody man in his living room. He fired three shots into the man, who turned, stumbled back outside, and was staggering away. The neighbor followed him outside and put FIVE more rounds into him to drop him.

The DA - and he’s WAS NOT a lib - said this (paraphrasing): “The first three shots were justified, as the man was in your home. As he left your home, you followed him outside, and he was no longer a threat, and you basically “executed” him.”

And that guy wound up in jail on 2nd or 3rd degree - manslaughter, I think they finally charged him with. And this is a Castle Doctrine state...!

The PA guy was awakened by shattering glass in the middle of the night, he was FREAKED, and the adrenaline kicked into high gear. Was it excessive? I don’t know - what’s “excessive” when you believe your life is in endangered? For all he knew, the guy could have had a weapon stashed outside.

So, while I’m NOT saying I agree with the Pennsy DA in that case - because I don’t - I’m saying that it COULD have gone bad for the Hendrix guy if that DA proved that he wasn’t physically endangered.

But - back to Hendrix - If Westbrook was forcing his way into the house, and Hendrix shot him, I can see that happening. It’s horrible, but understandable. BUT - if he just went outside and blasted Westbrook because he was “scared”... well, that’s pretty black and white to me.

I can just HEAR the DA saying “Then why didn’t you slam the door and stay in the house until the Police came?”

Tragedy. It happens. But realistically, the FAMILY of that poor man had a responsibility to care - PROPERLY - for their loved one and they failed, and now he’s dead. They’re angry at the man who shot him, understandable.

But Alzheimer’s is NOT something that can be taken lightly, and when you have a relative that you are charged with caring for, it is your responsibility to see that they are PROPERLY cared for and secured.

“...pile on the widow...”

Well, it’s not so much piling on the widow - it’s just looking at facts.

When you take on the responsibility of caring for a loved one with THAT kind of progressive debilitation - and it IS a noble and honorable thing to care for your family - there are real and practical precautions you MUST take. Especially if that person has “slipped out” multiple times. Something as simple as changing locks so that they cannot be opened without a key, or making sure someone can be alert and watching round the clock, in shifts if necessary.

When people become a danger to themselves, there are hard realities that need to be faced. Assisted living facilities, home care, etc. A person with that kind of illness cannot be left alone, and if it’s your job to care for them, it’s your job to make sure they’re not able to “slip out”.

The guy doing the shooting... well, again - it’s 4am, you’re awakened by someone truing to come in the front door, you have NO clue that it’s the harmless Alzheimer’s neighbor - who, by the way, SHOULD be secured in his/her home - from down the street.

For the family to blame the Hendrix guy IS understandable - from their grief and horror. But from a legal standpoint, it’s like I said.

If he FOLLOWED the guy out the door, or shot him as he was going away, then yes, it needs to be looked at closely.

If he shot him because the guy was advancing on him and wouldn’t stop, that’s pretty cut and dried.

It’s horrible, it’s tragic, and it sucks. But it is what it is.

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