This is from the Handloaders Bench.Ken, who wrote this is a close friend of mine.A Vietnam vet who is 100 percent disabled,61 years old.He recently endured a vicious beating.If he`d had his pistol on him ,he might have saved himself from this thugs rampage. Hey Fella's, the reason I have'nt posted much for the last couple weeks is because I had a run-in with our neighborhood drug dealer. For the past year or so I've been trying to get all the people in town to get togather and run this asshole out of town. All they would say is,'' I don't want to get involved''. This s.o.b was selling drugs to there own kids, driving down the side streets at 50-60 mph., ''with no license'', stealing anything that was'nt welded down, and had already killed a kid a few years back down in Fayetteville while driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. His daddys got money and would always get him out on bond. .. Well 3 months ago he got caught cooking meth and was put in the county jail. We all thought it was about time this MF got what was coming to him.... Along comes April 5th and my wife sees this asshole walking past our house heading for an abandoned trailer that sits in a pasture at the end of our dead-end street. I hopped in my truck and raced the 200 yards to where he was. Even before I got out of my truck he started waiving his arms and cursing me. I got out of my truck and told him I did'nt know or care how he got out of jail and I was'nt going to put up with his shit any longer. He was carrying a plastic shopping bag, 'like you get groceries in', with 3 cans of beer in it. I told him I was calling the law and when I turned to walk to my truck he grabbed the back of my shirt and swung the bag of beer at my head. It took me on the right side splitting my eyebrow wide open and knocking me to the ground. Although everything was going in circles I knew I needed to fight or die. I came up with a right punch to his face and dropped him to one knee. Again I turned to my truck and he came up swinging the bag , this time conecting on the left side of my head. That put the lights out for a few seconds as he took this advantage to kick me in the groin. He looked up to see my wife running to my aid and he took off running. My wife saw I was bleeding bad, ''I'm on coumadin''. She summond help and before I knew it all I could see was sheriff cars, rescue trucks and an ambulance. I was having a grand-mall seizure when they came. I vaegly remember anything after the second hit. Only the bumpy ride in the ambulance on that damn plastic backboard. I recieved 5 stiches in my right eyebrow, a broken nose and severe contussions to the right side of head, face and ear and throat. Believe me when I tell ya guys, my own Momma would'nt have known me. ... I know what youre all thinking,..... where the hell was my handgun. To tell ya the truth I was so pissed off when I saw him I forgot all about it. Damn it. To make a long story a bit shorter, the sheriffs dept. arressted the s.o.b on, ''Assualt With A Deadly Weapon. A felony. This is his third, maybe forth felony. There hopeing to get him a long prison term this time. I'll let ya'all know May 8th when we go to court. I know I'm 100% disabled and 61 years old and should stay out of things like this but it would go against everything I believe in. Like the song says, ''You Have To Believe In Somthing, Or You'll Fall For Anything''. The sad part of all this is that not one, no sir, not one of the town folk said ''thanks'' for getting rid of him. Oh well, so be it. I may have taken a beating but I succeeded in doing what I set out to do all along. .... I got him put in jail and hopefully saved a childs future. I wish he had blown the bastards brain out of his head as he deserved.Instead he`ll ride the system again and likely be free to beat an old man senseless again, until he kills somebody.Frickin sucks
Sorry to hear he got beat down and hope he is doing better. One thing I think is important to remember though is that even though the punk who beat him down deserved to be shot, if he had done so in that situation the 61 year old man would most likely have faced first degree murder charges and been convicted. By raceing after the guy in his truck and jumping out to confront the guy he had initiated a confrontation that he could have avoided (not saying he should have, just pointing out some legal implications on the issue) and so even though he didnt initaly confront the guy with a weapon it would be extreamly easy for anyone to claim the punk 'felt threatened' when approached in such a way and maybe even that he thought the man was headed to the vehicle for a weapon and was useing what was available to defend himself. At that point if you are carrying and use your weapon to defend your life then you brought a weapon with you and confronted someone and so if it escelates to a point of deadly force then it can sucessfuly be argued that that force was thought out and even planned for in advance thus makeing it first degree murder. My only point on this is to remind folks that the law dose not nessicarily go by right and wrong and a lot of responsibility and even liability dose come along with carrying a gun be it concealed or open and you have to be if anything even more restrained when armed than if you were not or you may well find just how much many prosecutors appreciate law abideing citizens who help to protect themselves and their comunities while you bunk with Buba. He did IMHO the right thing, and I comend him for that, but may have not done it in the best of ways and it could have turned out just as bad due to the legal system had he been armed.
I read this over there, Glad he's ok, On more scum bag off of the streets. I refered to him getting a dog for back up , they work great.
I hear ya monkeyman..I think he should`ve went about it a little differenntly.As all of you know that carry concealed,when you pull that trigger be prepared for a lengthy meeting with the judicial system whether you were right or not in using deadly force.I don`t know that I would`ve taken that if it had been me and I had my SIG on me,most likely not...
Here in Oregon you just have to state " I feared for my life" Then its up to them to prove you didnt.
If you feel the need to carry sometimes, you might as well carry all the time. We never plan to get into altercations like this one. Glad he's ok.
mm, when Ken started walking back to his truck, the incident that he instigated was over. When the punk followed, grabbed and committed the tort of battery, he was the agressor, and if Ken had shot the punk at that point, it would have been self-defense.
Would stand a decent chance of it working out that way as long as the punk was dead, if he lived though then he could always claim he thought the guy was going to the truck for a weapon and that he feared for his saftey/life and haveing been aproached in a hostile maner would be likely to be able to make it play. The biggest part that would make the difference on how it would play out would be the local climate tword guns and defensive use of a firearm (especialy outside the home) and the attitude of the local prosecutor. One of the biggest reasons to be SURE that if you have to shoot someone to be SURE they are dead so there is only the one version of the story.
I am glad to hear that he wasn't hurt worse. He did the community a huge favor by getting that piece of sh*t off of the streets. Being disabled but still having the guts to face down a known felon shows that he has a lot of internal strength and a huge heart. I pray he has a swift and full recovery. He should be rewarded. Nice punch too!
I hear ya E.L.He`s a tough ole guy.Has had a stroke and revovered from it and is still out deer hunting going about his life.That guy that beat an old man like that should sure be proud of himself for being the POS he is...
Will do E.L. Ken is a good ole guy.Thats awful some young punk would do that to a disabled Vet.He is in good spirits and is getting around ok now.I bet he packs his pistol fwith him from now on though.
