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flechero wrote: ↑Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:21 am

montgomery wrote: ↑Wed Oct 31, 2018 8:31 am The moment this guy decided to intervene, the odds were stacked against him. Tragic outcome - but on the flip side: he chases them down and shoots these actors as the aggressor in retaliation for petty theft / criminal mischief and he goes to prison for the rest of his life, leaving behind a wife and child. Lesson: call the police and let them do their jobs - and know the law and what constitutes justified deadly force.

He might have just been trying to get a plate number for the police... I was in a similar situation once, where just trying to get a plate almost got me shot. Now I keep binocs by the door so I can see down the street without going out.

Binoculars are a really good idea. It is surprising how close you have to be to make out a plate number on a dimly lit street, and I have pretty good distance vision.

I think this situation is completely different than the cases where people get involved to stop a shoplifter or like we just saw in Humble, to stop an alleged thief. Here it was this guys property, at his home, that he was protecting.

This is a tough one for me, personally. From the article it was not clear whether he was being a good witness, or trying to take them down himself. Also no mention of whether the victim here was armed. The only thing we have to go by is the statement that he got very close to their car, which could have just been his attempt to get a good view of their license plate.

Here's something that just happened to me on Monday. I was returning home from work around 8:30 and a pickup turned left and got behind me as I entered my subdivision. There are only three entrances to this subdivision and two of them are on the road we both entered from. We were coming from opposite directions, so it would make logical sense for this guy to turn right at the next stop sign, but not to turn left, as that is going back toward the other entrance he drove right past earlier. Sure enough I turn left and he does the same. My alert level jumped a few colors, and I decided to turn left instead of right toward my house at the next stop sign. The pickup followed right behind me. I then drove to the mailboxes and stopped there to see what he would do. He slowed to a very slow speed, maybe 5 mph and was looking at my car. He eventually stopped in front of a house, still watching me. Bear in mind that we were now right next to the other subdivision entrance he had passed up originally.

After a few minutes, he slowly started driving again. I waited 30 seconds and followed him at a distance of about half a block. He did a complete circle through the neighborhood, drove back the opposite direction on the street he had just left. I decided to close the gap a bit so I could get his plate. That accomplished, I just watched as he drove past the entrance he had come in on and went to the other part of my neighborhood. I texted my wife the plate number, circled around and went home. Most likely this was just some guy who got lost on his way to his friend's house, but maybe it was something else. If the latter, I now have a license plate number to give to the police.

And BTW, we have had a rash of vehicle break-ins in the neighborhood recently. Although I'm not sure you can call them "break-ins" when a lot of folks leave their vehicles unlocked.