Assault with a dangerous weapon charge?

[wtm442]

A lot of talk and opinions in the paper lately regarding this "caper".
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By Andrew Lightman
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Apr 24, 2008 @ 03:32 PM

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HANOVER — Four times they stole from his catering company, taking cash, alcohol and cases of beef, lobster and shrimp. Twice he called police, yet no one had been caught.

So David Crest sat in his darkened office, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, waiting for the burglar to come back.

Late Monday night, someone did.

According to the police report, Crest confronted the unarmed man, one of his part-time cooks, and fired four times.

The first shot went into the ground, Crest told police, as did the second, when John O’Connor, 43, of Weymouth started to run away. The last two hit O’Connor’s car, striking the passenger’s and driver’s side doors.

O’Connor escaped and drove off, but was caught by State Police with “fresh meats and other food items” in the back of his Chevrolet Cobalt, authorities said.

O’Connor pleaded innocent to charges of breaking and entering to commit a felony and larceny from a building at his arraignment in Hingham District Court on Tuesday. He was ordered held in lieu of $2,500 cash bail.

Hanover police are also seeking charges against Crest, a Marshfield resident, for assault with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building.

According to Police Chief Paul Hayes, Crest will be summoned to appear before a clerk magistrate, who will decide whether there is enough evidence to formally charge him.

Crest, the owner of Family Crest Catering in Hanover, called the charges unfair, saying police failed to help him stop the prior burglaries.

“I don’t think it’s right,” he said. “Good police work would have got this guy, and not a determined business owner.”

After two more burglaries last week cost him “thousands of dollars” in merchandise, Crest said he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Suspecting the thief was an employee, Crest told his workers that he’d be out of town this week, then started his stakeout on Sunday night.

“Would I do it again to protect my business and my family? Absolutely,” Crest said.

“I decided I needed to be here to catch this guy,” he said. “My intention was never to harm anybody or hurt anybody.”

Andrew Lightman is at alightman@ledger.com.

[fsstnotch]

Having fired 4 shots with a shotgun and not hitting the man even 1 time, I'd say he is either a REALLY bad shot or he was intentionally trying to miss!

I don't blame him a bit. I'd do the same thing if it happened repeatedly in a short period of time and no actions were taken!

[Maricopa]

Not that I blame him but shooting to protect yourself is legal, shooting at someone running away....is not.

[Ron61]

Maricopa is correct, but with the police more interested in such crimes as seat belts and refusing to come to houses here, it is now up to the home owners and businesses to protect themselves. To use deadly force you have to have an imminent threat to your life or bodily harm and a person driving away is not UNLESS they are shooting at you. Laws vary from state to state and even county to county, but it also depends a great deal on who the investigating officer is. If you shoot a friend of his and you have a knife in your chest that his friend stuck in it, he is still going to try to nail you for murder. The police up here want you to mail in a report if your house is broken into so they don't have to go to the house and make one out. Same for an alarm. Call them and verify that someone is in the house before they will dispatch and then only if they have a unit available. The police protection in this area seems geared more toward the crooks and dopers than the honest citizens and they wonder why everyone carries a gun.

Ron

[Cobrabill]

Should have blown his head off INSIDE the store and then put a butcher knife in his hand.Problem solved.Letting four rounds go around occupied buildings when your life is NOT threatened,is not a good idea.

[AMF]

Thank God I live in Florida.

I pity the poor cop that comes to my door to try to serve an arrest warrant for defending me and mine. (especially after he called and tried to get the cops to help).

If this guy is convicted, God help the people that live in that community/state....cause there's no justice there if he even has to defend himself against a charge...

[turnpike boy]

This is Massachusetts.....he has a better chance of becoming a nun than he does of escaping prosecution. And it will be pursued, with predictable outcome.

His error was in not shooting the thief. Why would he expose himself, taking up the gun in the first place, if he didn't intend to follow through? Shooting once the perp is on the run is stupidity - doubtful even a Texas court would see that as justified.

[CobraEd]

See, . . all these gun advocates, . . . . What they don't think about is, . . . "What good are all the guns if you are not allowed to shoot anyone anyhow ???"

.

[turnpike boy]

You are iron-clad assured that it's not the advocates that adhere to that doctrine.....it is negligent politicians, that foist wholly unuseable and wholly impractical policies upon us all, that find sense in the incredible.

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by CobraEd

See, . . all these gun advocates, . . . . What they don't think about is, . . . "What good are all the guns if you are not allowed to shoot anyone anyhow ???"

Ed-you just can't be this dumb.

[imagine2frolic]

Should have blown his head off INSIDE the store and then put a butcher knife in his hand.Problem solved.

Sometimes Bill, and I do agree on things

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Maricopa is correct, but with the police more interested in such crimes as seat belts and refusing to come to houses here, it is now up to the home owners and businesses to protect themselves.......

Ron

The reason they are more interested in writing tickets is that it generates money for the government. They don't get anything for catching a thief.

[Ron61]

Silverback,

We pay the Shasta County Sheriffs Department for a set amount of deputies to be our police force just as they do down in Orange County and other places. They are trained for traffic control and all the rest of the stuff that goes with being a city police force. Instead they are sent to the unincorporated areas which won't join the city as they want to avoid city taxes and we are left with no police. I fell this is the Sheriffs Departments job as they have always patrolled the unincorporated areas and why should we be paying a police force for the city that spends all of its time in the mountains and unincorporated areas? This is not the deputies doing as most of them are good and hard working cops. Maybe we should do away with this set up and just start our own police force. There are plenty of young men and women coming home from the military that could go to the academy and would be happy to have jobs here at home. Then the Sheriff's Department could spend all of their time out in the unincorporated areas.
As for generating money for the seat belts and such, just how much does it cost them every time some person fights it in court and it has been done successfully here.

Ron

[Ron61]

Ok, I will explain the situations we teach here for the use of deadly force. this will not apply to all places and is NOT meant to start a war, so please if you have disagreements, phrase them in a manner which can be answered in like way.
1. JAM = An acronym for Jeopardy, ability, and Means. Women can get by easier than men unless the man is in bad health and unable to defend himself in any other way.
JAM means the perp has threatened a person who has the mental capability to make a decision about if they fell they are in physical danger by this persons threats or actions. Ie, they feel they are i jeopardy.
Ability means the perp has the ability to do bodily and grave harm to the victim. A woman or a small man in bad health versus a 250 pound doper for example.
Means is just that. The perp has the means to inflict bodily or fatal wounds on a person. A weapon such as a knife, screw driver, brick, or anything that can be used to do so. The accepted distance is around 15 feet if they don't halt before that, then in MOST cases you are allowed to defend yourself.
Do NOT under any circumstances move or tamper with the body if you have had to defend yourself. Tampering with evidence is a major crime here. A good homicide detective can tell within the first 5 minutes if a shooting was justified, but you are going to be hauled down for the 24 hours anyway.
If you have the misfortune of having to defend yourself using deadly force, DO NOT make any statements at all to the police when they arrive. First call 911, report a shooting and that you have defended yourself, describe what you are wearing, put your weapon back in the holster so the arriving police don't see a gun in the open. Remember you could be the perp and lying and they can't take a chance on that. Remember that anything you say is recorded, so keep quite and if you say anything at all, just say I Am To Upset To Talk Now. Know and call a good criminal attorney. Even if you don't need one this could shorten your time in the station.
Also our qualification is done under combat conditions using FBI and other Federal agencies tactics. We have to fire in pitch dark, using flashlights for spot flashing the target, 10 rounds in 10 seconds at two targets with 5 rounds in each clip, and so on. This will vary from place to place and is not meant to start a big fight but just explaining how it is done in our county. Shooting a person in the back is not self defense UNLESS he is shooting at you over his shoulder and you have no place to get out of the line of fire.
Hope I haven't upset any of the law enforcement officers that have to do this on a daily basis, but we do have a right to defend ourselves as long as it is not abused. One last note that won't apply to many places. I live in the center of the major drug capitol of the Western United States and these dopers will not hesitate to shoot anyone including law enforcement that happens to find one of their big pot farms or Meth labs. And one last word. Many of those that carry up here do so because of personal safety and not as an ego trip because I can carry a gun. I personally detest the idea of having to carry a gun to walk down the street after dark. I have carried for around 20 years since leaving the service and have yet to do more than show my weapon on two occasions. Never even had to take it out of the holster.
Ron

[AMF]

Like I said,

Thank God I live in FL. If that guy had been here, the cops and the DA would have been trying to get him to sign up to marksmanship classes, not trying to prosecute him

[392cobra]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Shooting a person in the back is not self defense UNLESS he is shooting at you over his shoulder and you have no place to get out of the line of fire.
Ron

That is why they tell you in Texas to shoot them in the leg so they will turn around where you can get a good shot.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by CobraEd

See, . . all these gun advocates, . . . . What they don't think about is, . . . "What good are all the guns if you are not allowed to shoot anyone anyhow ???"

.

Depends on the state you live in..............In Louisiana, we've had a "shoot the burglar bill" for over ten years now.... Basically says if someone is in your home or business illegally (as in the case above), you have the right to shoot him/her and/or use deadly force!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You come in my house at night, don't worry about me,I'll be snoring away, but you better worry about that little five foot nothing, 115 pound Cajun woman I married, she'll shoot your a$$ without blinking an eye and if you ain't dead, she shoot you some more till you are.........she will be the only witness!!!!!!!!!!!

David

[fsstnotch]

I have a french and Italian Mastiff that, when Rock(French), is fully grown will have a combined weight over 300lbs! Bother my wife or daughter or come in the house unannounced and unknown and they WILL take you down!

[4RE KLR]

Josh, I have seen those dogs up close and they are huge. They will also eat you if you go into their territory.

As for the burglar, I would have shot the SOB plain and simple. Problem solved.

We have a saying here in Texas, "shoot first and ask question later"

[SPF2245]

Well, don't crucify the cops if the guy gets charged and arrested...crucify the DA or Prosecutor filing the charges. As for writing seatbelts tickets, blame grant money for that fiasco, Departments are paid ALOT of money to write those tickets in the form of grants, equipment and ofcourse...revenues from the tickets themselves (I hate writing those tickets, but when "Operation Pull Over" is up and going, thats one of the things we do. As for the rest, everyone has their own opinion...to each there own.