I turn your attention to a local headline.
Apparently if the police can’t protect you, and you decide to put an end to the persecution yourself, you will be charged with a crime while the police mull over whether the perpetrator deserves a ticket, or other minor charge. I am so sick of this mentality! Time to change our laws! See: Texas.
Need I cite a few other instances? Recently a homeowner physically restrained a teen girl who was pounding on doors and running away. Her parents are suing the man for knocking her to the ground and holding her for police. Or the turkey farmer who held a suspicious man at gunpoint after area police failed to respond to two calls for over 45 minutes?
WOODSTOCK -- A Marengo man was behind bars Monday for allegedly shooting a man he believed was breaking into his vehicle while it was parked in his driveway early Sunday.Jerry P. Sweat, 42, 402 Menge Road, was being held in the McHenry County Jail on $75,000 bond for charges of aggravated battery with a firearm and reckless discharge of a firearm. The most serious charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years
Sweat told police his attention was drawn to his driveway about 4:20 a.m. Sunday after an outside motion-detection light* was activated. Sweat saw two people he did not know near his vehicle, police said. He then yelled and shot at them with a .22-caliber rifle, police said.
One man escaped, but the other, Patrick K. Gaughan, 18, was shot three times: in the hand, buttock and shoulder. He treated at and released from Memorial Medical Center in Woodstock.
“You have the right to protect life and property, but if they’re not in your residence in a threatening manner, you cannot just shoot them,” McHenry County Sheriff’s Lt. Don Carlson said.
Why not? I think we should all post signs in our yards: If you don’t care to obey the law, don’t expect that I will.
Sure, I can understand not wanting a firearm discharged in city limits. However, it is all too apparent that police have been unable to prevent large numbers of automobile vandalism in the area. A close friend of mine had her car seriously damaged not far from where this incident took place. Being a more rural area under a different police jurisdiction, she was told there ‘are no officers on duty during the weekends at night’ and that she would have to wait until Monday morning to file a report. She asked if a county or state squad could respond as she thought the suspects were still in the area. Her request was denied. I ask you, which will deter crime more? Fifteen Monday morning complaints? Or one .22 in the butt of an offender?
No charges had been filed Monday against either of the two men alleged to have broken into Sweat’s vehicle.
Nice.
Ron Liepnitz, who lives next to Sweat, said there has been a string of car burglaries in the neighborhood recently. He said his car was entered on Friday but nothing was taken.“Police came by Sunday and said they caught the guy,” Liepnitz said. “But they didn’t say anything about a shooting – that will remind me not to go to my neighbor’s to borrow sugar.”
But could you perhaps send him a thank-you note, as he has done more for neighborhood crime prevention than the police ever have?
And by the way, in case you were wondering about the little angels' family:
The shooting victim, Patrick Gaughan, is the younger brother to Kevin and Brian Gaughan, who have filed a civil-rights lawsuit against two state police investigators and the city of Marengo, among others.
The brothers allege that police beat them during a 2004 interrogation.Prosecutors, however, have filed felony charges against the brothers for filing a false police report for their account of the incident.
I am an automobile enthusiast and gun owner. I suggest you don’t find out how I might respond. Because my guess is, you won’t be filing your own report.
I’d also like to point out the next day’s headline in the same paper: Police Offer Tips to Avoid Vandals. The article goes on to detail holiday decoration vandalism and puts the burden on victims to ‘increase security around their homes’ by installing motion detector lighting* and putting your name on decorations. Or, “Call police”. Yeah, big fat help. Sorry. I’m not buying it. These folks have a much better idea. And these...
*Works great, doesn't it? You can wave at your stuff as it leaves.
3 comments:
wait ill bet the man defending his property also gets sued by the offenders for medical bills. pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
need the the old sign
This Property Protected By
Smith & Wesson
mm
Several years ago, my car was severely vandalized in my driveway in your own little McHenry County. I was told by the responding officer that I might be smart to acquire a gun and learn how to use it, but he warned me that if I told anyone that HE told me to do that, he would deny it.... Just keep in mind: if you shoot, shoot to kill, and if you kill, drag the body INTO the house -- that is the only way you'll get away with it...
I myself like the old Minnesotan Governor for LIFE Jesse Ventura...He simply posted a sign in his front yard that read...we DON'T call 911. The sign was in the shape of a gun.
Personally I don't mind a little criminal profiling...Arrest the guy with BBs in his ass. (Charge him on Monday morning).
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