Posted on 11/17/2011 6:54:08 AM PST by marktwain
ATLANTA, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Prosecutors dropped felony charges against an Atlanta veteran who fired four shots into the ground outside his home to scare off a man he suspected was a thief.
But while he gained his freedom Friday after seven months in the Fulton County Jail, former Marine David Sturdivant, who served four tours of duty in Vietnam and received a Purple Heart, has lost a kidney after being shot by a police officer, his home, his business and all his possessions, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Sturdivant, 64, could have been freed about two weeks ago if he had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, for which he would have received probation.
But he refused, saying he did nothing wrong when he fired into the dirt last April with a commercial-grade M14 to scare off the alleged intruder. He could have received up to 105 years in prison if convicted on the felony charges.
Surely there's more to this story.
More to the story? Maybe not.
There was a guy in Arizona who’s dead now because the local SWAT team got the idea that a guy who worked second-shift in a copper mine was actually a drug-smuggler.
Is a commercial grade of an M14, the same thing as an M1A? Is it as much the same as the “commercial grade” of an M16 is an AR15? They’d have wasted less ink if they just called it what it was, but we all know how the media likes to use all of those grandiose words ‘bout them eeeeevil firearms to scare us, right? I wonder what the commercial grade of a howitzer is...
Obviously a whole lot of details missing on this.
Given, that “warning shots” are ALWAYS a BAD IDEA ...anyone know how firing 4 shots into the ground resulted in apparently multiple (104 years!!!???) felony charges??? Also, what were the circumstances that led to this gentleman being shot by a police officer? (I’m thinking that maybe the felony charges were made in order to protect the city/county because their officer may have used excessive force. Of course, the shooting may have been entirely justified since there is a lack of sufficient info in the article.)
“”Surely there’s more to this story””
There’s a little more at the link but not much! Why hadn’t he gone to trial yet? It took that long for the DA to drop the charges? We’re all at the mercy of these “public servants” whether they work for local, state or federal government. They have a different set of rules.
Hopefully the VA will give this veteran all the help he needs.
More details are essential before any opinion can be reached. However, given that the Boyz-N-Blue shot first, it may well be that they are responsible for the actions consequential to their shooting.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/fire-destroyed-house-of-962175.html
Atlanta authorities are investigating a “suspicious” fire that destroyed the northwest home of a Vietnam veteran who was in jail at the time, according to Channel 2 Action news.
Fire fighters were called around 2 a.m. to Bolton Road, the home of David Sturdivant.
Sturdivant, known in the neighborhood as the “lawn mower man,” has been in the Fulton County Jail without bond since April 12 on seven felony charges.
Firefighters have not determined what started the fire.
“I will say it’s suspicious. The time of morning, don’t know exactly what’s happening,” Atlanta fire Capt. Dwayne Johnson told WSB TV.
Sturdivant’s yard was littered with abandoned cars and other machinery. He had a shop adjacent to his house where he repaired law mowers which earned him the name of “lawn mower man” around the neighborhood.
Then almost seven weeks ago, frustrated with constantly being the target of thieves who took from his yard, Sturdivant came onto his second-floor balcony naked and armed with a rifle after he spotted two men in his yard – one in the front and one in the back, according to neighbors’ accounts.
The neighbors told reporters shortly after the shooting that they heard Sturdivant shout, “Get out of my yard and quit stealing my stuff.”
The neighbors said the man in the front yard responded by goading Sturdivant. Sturdivant then shot in the direction of the man in the front yard and still the suspected would-be thief continued to taunt Sturdivant.
“Atlanta police officers were passing by when they heard the gunshot/s and saw a family of three walking past the front of the house,” one officer wrote in a report that was obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Sergeant K. Lambert and Officer R. Price stopped and quickly moved the family to safety and gained cover while also establishing sight of the gunman.”
The report said Sturdivant then “pointed the rifle at officers” and all three policemen fired.
Atlanta SWAT officers and hostage negotiators were called to the property west of downtown Atlanta, according to the report.
On the recording of Sturdivant’s call to 911, which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also obtained, helicopters could be heard hovering over Sturdivant’s property.
“Yes, ma’am. I need an ambulance at Bolton and Collier. I’m shot,” Sturdivant said on the recording.
“Some guy tried to rob stuff out of my yard and I took some shots at him,” Sturdivant said. “Next thing I know, here come the police. I’m sitting downstairs waiting for somebody to come get me.”
Sturdivant said he was shot in the stomach.
The 911 operator asks Sturdivant, “Sir, who shot you? The guy that was trying to take the stuff out of your yard?”
“The police,” Sturdivant said.
“The police?” she asks.
“The police,” Sturdivant said again.
Then the operator asks, “Where’s the person that shot you?” and Sturdivant tells her “the police. There was about a half dozen of them.”
A short time later, Sturdivant is taken from his house on a gurney. He spent several days in custody at Grady Memorial Hospital until he was well enough to be taken to the Fulton County Jail.
The officer wrote on the report that there was an outstanding warrant against Sturdivant for failing to appear in court to answer a 2008 citation for carrying a pistol without a license.
He also is now charged four counts of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer apparently for point the rifle in the direction of the officers, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for shooting in the direction of the suspected thief, one count of possession of a firearm while in the commission of a crime and a 2008 charge of carrying a pistol without a license.
Well, them Dem constituencies need to be protected. [shrug]
Probably some news weenie failing by extrapolating from a very limited knowledge of firearms. I see the same thing in articles that mention construction equipment.
The most outlandish firearms related screwup I’ve read was a semiautomatic machine gun on the front page of the NY slimes. Yeah, I used to read it for amusement. I haven’t donated to their continued existence for many years.
That hasn’t affected their continued zombie like predation. They still eat people’s brains.
“The report said Sturdivant then “pointed the rifle at officers” ...”
Hmmm. Then why drop the charges? Because they feel bad about all that has happened to him?
Maybe they later decided they “thought” he pointed it, kind of like the guy with the hose nozzle (except they were sure it was a weapon).
Lots more to find out before deciding anything, I suppose.
I don’t think that’s what they thought. Am not sure I
want to put online what I think about the Jose Guerena
murder now.
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