Lawful Use of Force? (You Decide) USCCA

Which state law would be? And in defense of property? Seems, unlikely

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Found a bit more information about this one,


Rock chucker guy was apparently on a random chucking spree., causing damage to multiple properties before getting run over by golf cart guy. And at 6’6” 240lbs he wasn’t a small dude.

He survived his close encounter with the bottom of the cart, and is (back) in jail. (No surprise he’s a repeat scumbag!)

Was hitting him with a cart appropriate and justified use of force. I’m going with yes.

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That is a lot of context.

And quite the list of actions taken against others leading up to this.

Good find

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Thanks for the context Will B. Even before seeing that I was going to say yes, justified. Had a similar thing happen back in my old California neighborhood. Some guy got high and tried to break into a house. First the dogs bit him, which made him mad, so he went around front and threw a bench through the second story window. Thankfully the people weren’t home at the time and the sheriff station was less than two minutes up the road.

After catching the guy, a bunch of people in the neighborhood started stopping by the station to ask about home defense laws. The sheriff basically said (if I remember correctly) you couldn’t shoot someone unless they were in your house and you didn’t have another choice (duty to retreat), but you could use anything else (non-lethal force) to engage them if they were actively trying to break in AND THERE WERE PEOPLE INSIDE. If it was just stuff you’d have to let it go, but human lives are always top priority (or they should be).

My understanding is that using a vehicle to ram an attacker is not necessarily considered lethal force unless the person dies. But I think that may depend on which state you live in and certainly on the individual circumstance.

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All I’m going to say is don’t throw anything through my windows
if you want to see the sunrise again.

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“Craziness Along The River”
He got run over by a golf cart,
on one early Summer’s eve.
You can say there’s no such thing as justice,
but for you and I, we believe.

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I think it depends on if the driver of the golf cart was trying to de- escalate the situation by stopping the brick throwing man or kill him.

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Given the guy was observed smashing other windows and not entering other dwellings before this and in this case the windows are well above his head I think it would be a stretch to claim he was trying to gain entry.

I personally would not have run the legal risk of using what could easily be considered deadly force based on window breaker’s actions to that point. At the very least the cart driver has opened himself up to a potentially expensive civil case.

If this was my neighbors home, window guy would quite probably be getting a face full of pepper gel from the long range dispenser next to my front door. I would of course be ready to respond appropriately if he chose to direct the attack towards me or another neighbor instead of continuing to take his anger out on defenseless windows.

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I have read several books and articles on de-escalation techniques. None of them have talked about the running a person over with a golf cart method. Seems like the opposite of de-escalation to me whether or not it was a necessary response to stop the threat.

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Its the oldest trick in the book
First time for everything.

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You have pepper gel at (or near) your front door?

Cool!

I don’t. And I doubt the homeowner with the golf cart does either.

Keep in mind rockchucker is 6’6!

I’m big at 6’1” and 220, and I know how to hold my own in hand to hand
. But I’m also almost 20 years that guy’s senior!

Going in with a beating stick or the contact taser that I do have as less than lethal options doesn’t seem like a great idea.

Which leaves me with draw down and pray that if he does turn on me that the prosecution doesn’t try to claim I escalated by intentionally introducing a lethal weapon to a non lethal situation.

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I always have pepper gel in my front pocket but the much bigger can next to my front door has significantly more range. I would definitely be wanting to keep my distance from a big guy throwing heavy objects.

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Having pepper spray or pepper gel available is a great idea. And this is an example of why.

I carry POM or Sabre in my pocket and have a large home defense Sabre pepper gel by my door as well.

This might be your “sign”, as they say, that having a beyond arms reach less than lethal force option is something you should add to your repertoir.

Unless there is a person right on the other side of the window I would still like to propose that no force need be taken at all at that time, so no need for the “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” situation that can sometimes happen if a firearm is the only defensive tool you have available

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Home-Defense-Marking-Identify-Suspects/dp/B002368VJ6/

https://www.amazon.com/POM-Black-Clip-Pepper-Spray/dp/B07FWJGBLR?th=1

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This discussion does highlight that aspect of my personal and home defense plan. So thanks for that!

I live in Colorado, so stand your ground and make my day laws apply.

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Did you miss this part of the law:

(b) intrusion of any physical object under control of the actor.

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Shister lawyer point would be that once the brick leaves his hand it is no longer “under control of the actor”

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There is also this part:

however, he is justified in the use of force which is intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury only if:

(a) the entry is made or attempted in a violent and tumultuous manner, surreptitiously, or by stealth, and he reasonably believes that the entry is attempted or made for the purpose of assaulting or offering personal violence to any person, dwelling, or being in the habitation and he reasonably believes that the force is necessary to prevent the assault or offer of personal violence; or

(b) he reasonably believes that the entry is made or attempted for the purpose of committing a felony in the habitation and that the force is necessary to prevent the commission of the felony.

It would be interesting to a lawyer’s interpretation

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I think I’d go with “He wanted in to do something bad in there so I had to stop him
”

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If he was destroying my house
not sure id run him over but I would beat his arse.

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So someone with a seige weapon, not intending on entry cannot be shot. Got it. I believe chucking large rocks that can kill warrants a similar response. I certainly don’t want to be hit with one of those cement blocks. Just because he isn’t aiming at you, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be stopped. Those cement blocks are use of deadly force. I have no issue stopping someone doing that by any means necessary. The law, if it does not “allow” that is unjust.

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