Posted on 03/16/2017 6:11:27 AM PDT by marktwain
Video of Theater Shooting link
On January 13, 2014, a retired police officer, Curtis Reeves, and his wife were preparing to watch “Lone Survivor” in a theater in the unincorporated area of Wesley Chapel, part of the Tampa Bay Florida metro complex.
Directly in front of the retired officer and his wife were another couple, Chad Oulson and his wife.
Reeves and Chad got into a dispute after Reeves asked Chad to stop using his cell phone during previews.
The case has been characterized as a retired police officer shooting someone who threw popcorn at him. I was surprised to see the reality when surveillance video of the confrontation was released. The violent confrontation took about 1.3 seconds.
During that period, Chad Oulson snatched the popcorn container from Reeves lap, flung it at his face from about a foot away, rapidly extended his hand toward Reeves face again, and pulls it back, fractions of a second before Reeves shoots. In the video, you can only see Oulson's outstretched arm and hand. The rest of him is outside the surveillance video frame.
Correction: There were two thrusts at Reeves, but the above paragraph has the sequence wrong. The first thrust is to grab the popcorn, the second is to fling the popcorn. The above paragraph states that the grabbing and flinging were in one motion, and then a second motion without the popcorn. That is incorrect. Tip of the hat to Kevin in the comments.
The outstretched Arm of Chad Oulson is under the red arrow. The container of popcorn is just to left, in flight. Head of retired officer Reeves is just to left of cup in flight, barely visible.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Some thing to consider
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-punch-to-head-is-potential-deadly.html
If you watch television and the movies, you might get the impression that a punch to the head is no big deal. That is not true. A punch to the head is a very serious attack. It can disable. It can maim. It can kill. The head is a vulnerable target, which is why an attacker aims for it. I first became aware of the deadly potential of one punch to the head in the 1970’s, from a long forgotten news story. Later, the son of a close friend killed a man with one punch. He was eventually found not guilty of manslaughter, but only after a long and expensive legal fight
So it’s been three years and they’re not quite to the point where they have decided if there should be a trial. Somebody’s trying to run out the clock.
Reeves had no need to disengage since it was Chad who conducted on his own the violent confrontation. When Chad escalated the violence to a level that appeared to threaten the lives and safety of himself and his wife next to him, Reeves legitimately used deadly force to stop the violent threat.
Sadly, society, law enforcement, and the leftist-saturated judiciary are so politically correct and testicularly challenged today that Reeves will likely get kangaroo court justice.
Reason number 42 why I don’t go to movie theaters any more.
What violent threat? Popcorn?
I predict the turgidity level, about shooting another human, in this thread is going to be strong.
Don't be an a-hole. You'll eventually meet a bigger one.
Reeves didn't 'ask'. He ordered. Reeves was the one who initiated the confrontation.
Not 5 minutes before he 'ordered' Chad to stop using his phone, Reeves, himself, had texted his son to let the son know where he and his wife were sitting in the theater.
Clearly a case of 'do as I say, not as I do'.
One man is sitting get down, while the other is standing a day actively engaging.
It’s also a darkened theater.
I’m Going with self defense.
Had you followed the case from the beginning, you'd know that it was Reeves who initiated the confrontation.
If Reeves use of deadly force had been legitimate, he would not be sitting in jail right now awaiting trial.
Sadly, society, law enforcement, and the leftist-saturated judiciary are so politically correct and testicularly challenged today that Reeves will likely get kangaroo court justice.
Reeves tried to claim he was protecting himself under Florida's Stand Your Ground laws. The judge denied the motion because Reeves' own contemporaneous statements, along with those of his wife and witnesses (one of whom was a fellow LEO) clearly showed that he was not a guilt-less as you would like to believe.
For his part in escalating the confrontation, Reeves deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars, and in all likelihood, probably will.
Reeves was a cop... Prison? I doubt it.
It wasn't darkened. The lights were dimmed, as they usually are during the previews, but not completely out.
I’m Going with self defense.
Of course you are since you know absolutely nothing about the events that led up to the shooting.
Retired police captain. And, he's going to stand trial as his Stand Your Ground defense was rejected by the judge based upon his own, his wife's, and witness statements at the time, one of whom was an active LEO.
Wow, this story is about as spinning as you can get.. the guy grabbed his poporn and threw it at him, and the other guy was pulling his gun out before the popcorn had even left his hand....
This old man is going to jail, trying to spin this as stand your ground is ridiculous.
The trial is on..............
Judge rules ex-cop must stand trial in fatal theater shooting
http://nypost.com/2017/03/10/judge-rules-ex-cop-must-stand-trial-in-fatal-theater-shooting/
Day is?....................B^0
This guy trying to use stand your ground is ludicrous on its face, the other guy grabbed his popcorn and flung it at him... this guy was pulling his gun out clearly with intent to shoot before the popcorn ever left the other persons hand....
This guys going to jail.
No. Reeves did not initiate the violent confrontation. He asked the man to stop using his cell phone. He then reported the man's disruption to the theater management and returned to his seat. All of these actions were legal and proper. Any ranting by Chad would have confirmed he was a total ass, but would not have been considered a threat against Reeves (unless Chad verbally threatened he would get up and attack Reeves).
Chad initiated the violent confrontation when he got up from his seat and grabbed the popcorn and threw it in Reeves face. It could also reasonably be considered a diversion to a more violent and life-threatening attack from Chad's "outstretched arm and hand."
Stupid people, because of their own fault, do stupid and violent things against others and get themselves killed.
Reeves does not deserve to spend a single day behind bars and it is a sickening injustice that it is even being considered, and another sign that we live in a sick and perverted society.
(Retired) Cop Style.
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