Florida Man Shoots Cop, Invokes Stand Your Ground!
by Richard Rowe
Oh, the irony! It burns...it burrrrrns!
If
there's two things Florida residents know to fear, it's anyone with a
badge, a gun or both. These days, stories of Florida police kidnapping, raping, murdering or otherwise brutalizing
unarmed people are so commonplace that "fleeing and eluding" officers
has become less of a crime and more an act of self-preservation. The sad
fact is, encountering a cop in Florida these days means running a very
real risk of serious injury or death-- whether you've committed a crime
or not. Want to get shot 15 times in your own driveway? Count on the Florida police to oblige.
Of
course, the same could be said for any Floridian who is both armed and
acquainted with the state's License to Kill -- aka "Stand Your Ground"
-- laws. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before someone shot a
Florida cop and invoked SYG afterward.
That's
exactly what happened in the fascinating case of 24-year-old Pensacola
man Keenan Finklestein, who shot Escambia County officer Shedrick
Johnson in the leg on March 20th a year ago. The case against
Finklestein has been ongoing since then, but this latest development
from his legal team is one for the books.
The
incident started when officers responded to a robbery call late at
night in the Scenic Hills area of Pensacola. The victim told the police
that someone had stolen a hand gun and (wait for it) marijuana from his
residence. After you let that one sink in, read on.
When
police arrived at the house, they saw Finklestein emerge from the
garage. Finklestein was not the subject the police were looking for, and
details haven't been released, but it's entirely possible he was
pulling a Zimmerman as self-appointed guardian of the neighborhood.
When
Sgt. Johnson emerged from the shadows behind the garage, Finklestein
pulled a gun and shot him in the leg. Johnson claims that he identified
himself as a police officer before Finklestein fired, while Finklestein
claims he did not, and that he fired in self-defense.
But,
then again, this is Florida: Maybe Johnson DID identify himself as a
cop, and Finklestein fired in self-defense. Not a jury in the state
would convict him.
A
year into the proceedings, Finklestein's lawyers dropped the inevitable
bombshell, claiming that because their client was in a dangerous
situation, was in legitimate fear for his life and had no legal duty to
retreat, he's covered under Florida's SYG laws. Nobody's saying yet
whether that will be enough to counterbalance the officer's claim, or
his "my word is law" "trained observer" status. In any he-said/he-said
case, the courts will take the police officer's testimony as fact over
that of a brown guy who's definitely a terrorist.
Now, make the case that it WASN'T self-defense.
If
you're looking to make some money: Bookies in Tampa are now making odds
on how long it will be before the state legislature either drops SYG,
or modifies it so it doesn't apply to police officers. Current odds are
26-to-1 on the latter by the end of the month, and 26,000-to-1 on the
former through eternity.
H/T: Raw Story
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