Last month I wrote a post about an incident in which a 17 year old driver cut off a guy in his fifties, and the older guy lost his temper, followed the young driver all the way home and ran into him with his car while the kid was trying to get inside his house. The kid bounced off the hood, then punched the man twice, following which the guy died. I argued that it was self defense.
Now finally, a month later, it seems the legal concept of self defense has managed to survive in New Jersey. Proescutors dropped the charges -- apparently after some debate, and after considering these facts:
Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said in a statement that he had "made this decision following detailed, deliberate and protracted consultation with senior staff members at my office."
"Succinctly stated, I believe the juvenile acted in self-defense."
Allen, on his way home from football practice Sept. 12, inadvertently cut in front of James D. Munter, a 53-year-old computer programmer, on the White Horse Pike in Laurel Springs, authorities said.
Munter, who lived blocks from Allen in Lindenwold, began following the teenager, prosecutors said. Allen called his father on his cell phone, and his father told him to come home.
The teen parked his Dodge Durango on the curb opposite his home and crossed the street as his father watched from the house, authorities said. Munter, in a Mercury Sable, drove his car into the young man.
Allen, 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds, bounced off the hood of the car, landed on his feet, and punched Munter twice in the head through an open window. Munter, 6-3 and 134 pounds, was knocked unconscious and died the next day at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.
Sarubbi said a neighbor verified that Munter slowed "almost to a stop" before speeding up and crashing into the teen. Photos taken the next day showed bruising on Allen's body from his thigh to under his arm, and there was a large dent in the hood of the car, said Allen's attorney, Jeffrey Zucker.
"He feels horrible about this," Zucker said. "As justified as he was under the law, he still has to live with the fact that someone is no longer with us as a result of his actions."
He said Allen and his family did not want to comment on the case. "He doesn't want to make a news spectacle," Zucker said. "He wants to get on with his life."
I have no idea what took so long, as this kid should never have been charged in the first place. If someone followed me for miles, then hit me with his car right in front of my house, I'd be justified in shooting him if I had a gun. A car is a deadly weapon. By its nature, defending against an an attack by a moving car merely with fists counters superior force with inferior force. That the two blows happened to kill the man is irrelevant (and also quite abnormal). Obviously, this kid was strong, and he was under great stress after being struck and injured by a car. The adrenaline produced during such a trauma could easily result in hysterical strength. If it did, that would be no one's fault except the attacker.
An accident is one thing, but this was a deliberate attack, and went way beyond road rage.
I'm glad it's over.
posted by Eric on 10.13.05 at 08:45 PM
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Well. Yes, but. A car doesn't point well. By which I mean, once the guy was standing next to the driver's side window (punching the person who had attacked him in the head), the chance of him being hit again was approximately zero. In other words, he was no longer actually in danger (whooohooo, hindsight! Sweet, baby!) and was just engaging in a revenge beating (which ended up killing the jerk who started the whole thing in the first place).
To me, this merely says that there should be a two or three day (and ideally, years long) grace period after someone tries to kill you in which you are allowed to kill them (or, if we are feeling Burgundian when we write the law, a member of their family) with no questions asked and no charges filed. I'm pretty sure the law disagrees with me on this point, though.
So, Justified Homicide, right? We have that, don't we?
Seb · October 14, 2005 01:13 AM
I see your point, but I see no need to extend the period that far based on these facts. I think that when someone crazy enough to follow you for miles assaults and injures you with a deadly weapon, and still has custody and control over that deadly weapon, you are considered in fear for your life and would be immediately justified in using whatever forceful is available to ensure that he is unable to continue the assaultive behavior.
"Family wants death penalty for teen charged in road rage death." Munter sounds as if he was as disturbed as the rest of his family. Thank goodness there were witnesses!
:sarcasm:It really had nothing to do with self-defense, what the DA was pissed about was the fact the boy dared to act on his own initiative. Instead of waiting for the proper authorities to come and do the proper thig he acted on his own. You can't act on your own, civilization would collapse if people acted on their own instead of letting duly constituted authority do it for them. You can't be self reliant and have proper civilization.:/sarcasm:
The day we discover an effective treatment for Control Freak Syndrome is the day is the day we transform human society.
Oh, Seb, when someone's trying to kill you, you end the threat as soon as you can. However you can. If it means his death, he dies. Sometimes even an akido master has to kill.
You took the words right out of my keyboard, Alan. The notion of a free and independent individual who decides for himself, on rational grounds, that his life is in danger and takes out the aggressor is so threatening to those who want us all to be gelding clients of the Mommy State.
Essem · October 15, 2005 11:59 AM
"6-3 and 134 pounds"...Is that possible? I can't imagine someone that tall weighing so little.
Er, I just talked to someone who is 6-4 and 160ish. He said he was stuck at in the 130s until he got married. I stand corrected. Not that this has anything to do with the discussion. Carry on. :)
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
Absolutely right.