Dave The Web Guy
Next Time, Just 'Share' On The Ring App
05/09/2020
Well let's face it, these two guys are fucked.
And with just cause.
One problem that I have with the Ahmaud Arbery murder case is that I can see myself as someone who'd jaunt after a caught-on-camera trespasser. I am "Mr. Security Cam" after all and intercepting creepers and thieves in the act is what I'm all about as a point of -- odd -- fascination. I love when technology makes life tougher for that sort of riff-raff.
But would I be jaunting to confront one? Let alone armed with a gun? Hell no. I'd be going to narrate to a 911 operator, or, to take closer-up phonecam pictures (from the safety of my passing vehicle) for breathless "enhanced distribution" on the NextDoor app.
And, the majority of you would probably feel that I'd be stupid for even doing that.
With their own stupid understanding of an appropriate response to a trespasser, whether one thought to be involved in previous burglaries or not, these guys escalated a situation better left to uniformed responding patrol officers. As it is, even if they don't wind up in prison, and they most probably will, the rest of their lives are fucked.
There is the race question to be sure. And there is definetely a "good ol' boys protecting good ol' boys" thing going on in any event, questions of racism notwithstanding. The police report used every trick of sentence and slant construction to give the highly questionable series of events a period instead of its richly deserved question mark.
But to me, beyond the waxing social issues clearly at hand here, the proper response to spotting things happening on your survelliance systems is what this case really boils down to and is the relatively boring angle that will probably not get the discussion it deserves.
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OMG! But seriously, I STILL don't understand what happened. The dad and the son knew the guy running, right? They had a previous altercation? This story is so forced upon us, but I still can't get the facts. Was the guy running actually a burglar? Or not? He was wearing khaki pants, right? So obviously not out running for a jog. I'm just confused. Can you sum it up for me? Did the guys commit a cold hard murder on the street like that? And if so, what was their justification?
Promote (0)They "knew" him only to the extent that they suspected he might be the same person who had burgled area properties before. They based this suspicion on the apparent fact that he was trespassing at least that day.
I don't believe it was cold-blooded murder, it was just a needless stupid escalation based on almost nothing. I agree that, if you have that personality type, you can try to talk to a suspected trespasser if you want to, but they don't have to stop and talk. So trying to block one with vehicles and drawing a weapon on him was definitely over the top.
But of course the question will come down to (in their minds) whether they were justified in shooting him or not irrespective of the stupid decision to give chase and force him to stop. They will say it is self-defense because Arbery "attacked" one of them. But "attacking" may not be the right adjective. Arbery, confused about the intent of these guys roaring up on him with guns, may have imagined they were planning to gun him down as part of racial or some other type of attack. His choice, in his mind, might have been to continue running -- you can imagine the horror of knowing that while you're running you are about to be gunned you down like a rabbit. Or, to fight.
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that he instinctively reached for the armed man's gun as people are panicked to do when one is in their face. That panicked reaction however is not an "attack", it's a defensive move. Police find knife wounds all the time on stabbing victims and I have seen surveillance video in my day of store clerks who reach out and try to deflect a gun just before they are shot by it. It is absolutely normal.
-- You know the irony? Apparently Georgia is a "stand your ground" state, so, keeping in mind Arbery was not legally guilty of anything, had he had his *own* gun and shot back and killed the men, he'd actually be in the legal right. :P Those laws make things too murky.
Promote (0)Interesting. So they THOUGHT he was someone they knew, weren't for sure. But decided to chase him down anyway and ended up killing him.
I wonder how this story will end up. I'm sure they are investigating whether the black dude did actually commit crimes, or maybe they know already, but how they will prosecute the killers is anyone's guess.
This one is going to be cutting hairs for sure. Yes, it will be interesting to see how it winds up. It gets even more muddled because now there appear to be wrongdoings in how the case was investigated, suggesting guilt and conspiracy on top of everything else. :P
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