Robber sues good samaritan

[Bamspeedy]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...man-who-overpowered-him/ar-AAsjlNN?li=BBnbfcL

The thug got what he deserved. You pull a knife on someone, expect that you may get stabbed 17 times (that may sound excessive, but if you get cut a half dozen times (after you stabbed someone in the neck) and still resisting, expect to be cut more, then more, etc.).

The robber may have a right to sue, I just don't expect him to win.

 

[Akka]

There is no "excessive force" against someone with a lethal weapon (especially when he's 30 years younger). Serves him well, and he should feel lucky to not have been killed.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Front stabbing !

 

[Lexicus]

Yeah I mean...I'm no proponent of using excessive force on people who aren't actually trying to commit murder (life is always worth more than property, even the life of a robber) but I hope this guy loses if he does bring a suit. This looks less like excessive force and more like a hard-contested fight.

 

[Akka]

Yeah I mean...I'm no proponent of using excessive force on people who aren't actually trying to commit murder

=>

There is no "excessive force" against someone with a lethal weapon (especially when he's 30 years younger)

"excessive" means that your use of force is not proportional to the danger. When someone can kill you with a simple move, it means proportional force can go up to kill him. There is no personal force that can go higher than that, so you physically can't manage to be "excessive" in the use of force here.

(not that you disagreed with the use of force here, but I wanted to point that it's not even possible to have *excessive* force in this case)

 

[warpus]

Hope the judge throws this lawsuit out and makes him pay for the samaritan's legal fees. Although I've heard that in the U.S. judges tend not to do that for some reason.

 

[Zkribbler]

Contrary to the clickbait title :rant: the robber has not yet sued but is thinking about suing.

The robber may have a right to sue, I just don't expect him to win.

Agreed.

There is no question that defense-of-others is a legitimate defense. But the plaintiff will argue that, at some point, the fight stopped being a defense and became an exercise of inflicting unnecessary pain on a helpless human being. Technically, judges are supposed to leave factual questions like this up to the jury, but I know many judges who would snatch this power to themselves and dismiss the case.

The way a judge should decide this case early on is to ask the question: If I let this case go to the jury, and the jury agreed that the Good Samaritan went impermissibly beyond providing a defense, would I throw the verdict out because there is no evidence to support such finding?

If I were a judge, I'd let the case go to the jury.
If I were a juror, I'd throw this case so far out of court, its first bounce would be in Timbuktu.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Well, next time I stop a robbery I might have to kill the guy so that he can't sue me...

 

[Bugfatty300]

Well, next time I stop a robbery I might have to kill the guy so that he can't sue me...

His family will sue you instead.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Not if I dispose of the body and all witnesses.


And this is why good people do evil things.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Not the most sharpest knife in the drawer, this robber.

 

[Kyriakos]

Hm. At least he didn't chainsaw his arms off, you know, to "negate any possibility to be attacked". 17 stabs does sound excessive... Is this "Jerri" the 17 knives even the barrista who was being robbed, or just some super-hero?..

 

[Archon_Wing]

Pretty easy to say that in hindsight, from a position of safety and (relative) comfort, though.

 

[Kyriakos]

Pretty easy to say that in hindsight, from a position of safety and (relative) comfort, though.

I am trying to establish whether this was a person who was under immediate threat (at least of being robbed) or some random other guy in the bar. Cause the article says that he attacked the other one from behind, so (i assume?) he isn't the barrista, and wanted to be the hero and/or feared that if he did nothing he would be gunned down too, and then released all the pent-up fear in 17 colombian popular art hits.

That said, it doesn't sound as if the robber's wounds are that deep either (?).

 

[Zkribbler]

I am trying to establish whether this was a person who was under immediate threat (at least of being robbed) or some random other guy in the bar..

My understanding is that he was one of the customers. He snuck up behind the robber and clobbered him with a chair..

.

That said, it doesn't sound as if the robber's wounds are that deep either (?).

That's my guess too. Some were described as "slashes."

 

[Ryika]

Yeah, he was a customer who sat at one of the tables when he noticed the robbery taking place. Pretty dumb of him to risk his life and potentially the lives of other people in the room by escalating what would otherwise have been a situation with little to no danger of human casualties, but you can hardly fault him for defending himself in the fight that followed.

The robber is a fool if he thinks he can win anything in a lawsuit.

 

[Akka]

Hm. At least he didn't chainsaw his arms off, you know, to "negate any possibility to be attacked". 17 stabs does sound excessive... Is this "Jerri" the 17 knives even the barrista who was being robbed, or just some super-hero?..

17 stab would sound a lot, but when you're in a fight, you don't tend to count, you just lash reflexively.
A common parallel is how many gunshots are actually fired compared to how many someone thinks he fired, during a violent confrontation. Typically, the person will think he shot maybe two or three times, while he actually emptied his barrel.

 

[Ryika]

Especially given that he had been stabbed by the robber just before he managed to get the knife, at which point the robber was still trying to attack him. The person likely was so pumped up in that situation that he wasn't able to even think and just instinctively did what would end the situation and get him out of danger quickly. Especially if you're not trained to react "rationally" in situations of great danger, you just continue to do whatever it is that you think you have to do to go back to being safe, until the adrenaline rush is gone.

 

[Traitorfish]

I'm surprised and honestly a little disappointed that this didn't happen in Florida.

I understand that they're still getting over a hurricane, but there's a reputation to think of. Can't allow themselves to be upstaged by a bunch of West Coat yuppies.

 

[Kyriakos]

I'm surprised and honestly a little disappointed that this didn't happen in Florida.

I understand that they're still getting over a hurricane, but there's a reputation to think of. Can't allow themselves to be upstaged by a bunch of West Coat yuppies.

Apparently you have repressed memory of that brazilian 'quartering' football incident