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.
In this case?
I don't know. From the scant facts in the article, it doesn't seem like the guy was justified in pulling it out.
The top of the stairs is the "do not cross line".
What if its a 1 story house?
"A person who possesses or controls property or has a license or privilege to be in or on it is justified in using reasonable physical force when and to the extent he reasonably believes it to be necessary to stop another from trespassing or attempting to trespass in or upon it. The owner can use deadly physical force only (1) to defend a person as described above, (2) when he reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent the trespasser from attempting to commit arson or any violent crime, or (3) to the extent he reasonably believes it is necessary to stop someone from forcibly entering his home or workplace (and for the sole purpose of stopping the intruder) (CGS § 53a-20)."
See Post #19
LOL. I do that all the time.
Define: reasonable
And, there is the broad brush that they could quite possibly use against the homeowner who defends himself & family.
For the cops it was much easier arresting the store worker than going after the real perp.
Well,its like this. The cops probably took at least 20 minutes to arrive. By that time the owner was the only one around. The perps may have been a problem. They may have resisted arrest of even shot at the cops. This guy merely handed them his weapon and was arrested. Now the cops have anopther gun off the street.
A stupid liberal state with stupid liberal ideas and unfortunately the bureaucrats in other states are pushing their states in the same direction !!!
From my prospective, someone who would steal your property would most like steal your life. If more thieves ended up dead on the scene, it wouldn't be such a popular sport.
I know where this store is. Its just across the town line from East Hartford (although it might be the only nice part of East Hartford).
East Hartford is classified as an inner-city. Lots of gangs. Manchester is getting there.
Should be good pick'ns when Cabela's opens, hmm?
I'm not is disagreement about that, but I'm thinking the law won't support this guy's actions. That's all.
Roger that.
"There comes a time in the history of every people when they become so pathologically soft and tender that they actually side with those elements of their society that harms them, i.e. criminals..."-A Great Historian 1888
Maybe that was just a subtle clue as to where to drag to body. Do you think?
When I was in high school, our class had a policeman come in to talk to us about various things. One of his talks was a good life lesson. He told us that if we ever shoot a thief on our lawn, be sure to drag him inside the house before the police arrive so as to ensure best treatment from the law. Maybe your concealed carry guy was just telling you the same thing in not quite as direct sort of way.
In my state, prevention of a felony justifies use of deadly force. Generators aren't cheap, and query as to whether this qualifies as a felony, but I don't think using deadly force--which he didn't even do here--would be out of line.
53a-19 essentially says you can't kill someone unless they are trying to do you great physical harm, and you can't initiate any action that leads to that situation.
This to me seems entirely reasonable. Waving a gun and chasing after someone who stole something sounds like a good way to end up dead.
The text I quoted was posted to an official Connecticut State website and was written in January of this year.
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