Posted on 03/23/2007 5:16:41 AM PDT by Puppage
(Manchester-WTNH) _ A chaotic scene at a Manchester auto parts shop Thursday night. Police say a man tried to thwart a theft by pulling out his gun, but he's now facing charges.
It happened around 7:00 at the Pep Boys on Spencer Street in the K-Mart mall.
Police say it started when someone went into the store to steal a generator.
"Guys have been stealing generators from us off the shelves," Pep boys worker Dave Sciaudone said. "We knew who they were, what their license plate was because they've been hitting all our stores. And my boss saw him grab a generator tonight, walk out the door and throw it into the truck. And he pulled his gun to stop him."
While the manager did have a permit for the gun, he was arrested.
"There's a line you can not cross when you're running through the parking lot chasing after a suspect brandishing a gun," Sgt. Christopher Cross said.
There was no evidence any shots were fired. The gunfire sounds people say they heard was likely backfire from the getaway truck.
"The truck was backfiring like crazy, so if there were shots I didn't hear anything like that. I heard backfiring a lot," Tracey Wilkerson of East Hartford said.
The manager, whose name was not available, may be charged with breech of peace and reckless endangerment.
"Right now my boss is in jail, but he didn't do anything," Sciaudone said.
Police are looking for an older model maroon Chevy truck that they believe was used by the thieves.
CT law....if you grab your gun & give chase (no matter what the perp did) YOU then become the threat in the eyes of the law and are subject to arrest.
Nothing like coddling the bad guys.
PING
Not surprised.
My son took the pistol permit class - taught by two retired cops, one state, one local. What they told him is that here in Connecticut, you basically have no right to protect yourself, even if the bad guys come into your house.
Well, that's not totally true. What the law says is that if you're upstairs & hear someone in your livingroom, you can't grab your gun & (as the instructors said) go hunting for the bad guy.
The top of the stairs is the "do not cross line".
The once-revolutionary Northeast states have become a disgrace to their historic roots. The main branch of my family has been in Connecticut for over 300 years, and to read this kind of ridiculous liberal BS brings me to tears. Ct has certainly deteriorated since they tore down the statue of King George, and melted it down to make musket balls.
Is there a right to steal in CT????
Pretty much true. I got my permit here in CT since I figured it's only a matter of time before some demo/socialist manages to change the law. But when I was taking the class it was pretty clear that you're pretty much screwed for life if you ever use it. As a matter of fact, even though it's a license to carry, they made it pretty clear you probably should thing long and hard before doing so since the law was pretty much against you no matter what you did, even if it seemed proper.
It would appear so.
Apparently so.
Still, my conceiled carry instructer told us to assume that we would go to jail for using our guns. Then he said: this is the decision....would you rather be alive in jail or dead. Put in that perspective, you use deadly force only to protect your life.
Not sure I believe in that, but as an employee of a store I don't believe I'd be using a weapon to protect someone elses property. Still, that pretty much tells the bad guys they can walk into stores and walk out with the goods. Somebody has to use deadly force.....sometime.
Wow, I must feel pretty today! Sorry, typing before coffee and no editing casued me to pretty much over use the word pretty.
If you're taking on the responsibility of carrying, you had better know when you can or cannot use it.
I look at it this way, if my life is threatened and I know using my gun is the only way out, I'll use it any worry about the legal fallout afterwards.
The old, better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6...
More like an invitation.
Fair is foul, and foul is fair in the Nutmeg State.
In quite a few states, most notably Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, the manager or for that matter, a bystander would have been fully justified in blowing the perp away. I'm glad to see that avoiding brie, white wine and the Ivy League contributes to law and order in part of our nation.
I would still take my chances with a jury.
Interesting. They know the truck, license plate and guys who are doing this, but the CT cops hasn't found these guys yet.
At least in our state, cops nonchalantly admit that burglars don't live very long around here.
For the cops it was much easier arresting the store worker than going after the real perp.
Then, it becomes your bedroom door. IF you're in your bedroom at the time.
Anything to protect the bad guy....nice, isn't it?
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