The couple tried to explain it to him before the police arrived, but he would have none of it. They insisted on pressing charges and did. IIRC he ended up either pleading to or being convicted of Criminal Trespass (a misdemeanor).
Well THAT was not included in your original scenario. Would definitely change the situation entirely.
Is that same part ("couple tried to explain it to him") part of your instruction curriculum--because if not, you're intentionally duping your students.
Not sure which state you're in, but I'm having a hard time understanding how a citizen can/could be convicted of Criminal Trespass in a public park without either A) a written RO from a judge or JP, B) a previous convinction in which the terms of parole/probation include staying out of such public places or C) the park was closed, locked and had signs clearly stating something to the effect of "no guests after dark under penalty of . . . "
AT which point the couple acting out their fetish would also had to have been charged.
False Imprisonment? Yep, I'd buy that charge with no problem.
No he didn't. He saw no one getting beaten, he saw no one in danger of death or serious bodily injury. A CCW or gun is not a hero waiting to happen badge!
Several things, and these are from the perspective of a guy who toted a federal badge around for a good number of years and worked with dozens upon dozens of local, regional and state LE agencies and departments.
What the good samaritan saw was a sexual assault taking place. It wasn't until both man and woman agreed it was consensual that the problem began.
The CCW has nothing to do with the man's actions--he could've just as easily been Chuck Norris and dropkicked the fetish man's butt right off the planet
before Mr. and Mrs. Fetish had a chance to explain that they were just havng a little fun in a PUBLIC PLACE.
Had the good samaritan backed off after seeing it was two consenting adults, chances are extremely high that there would have been no hit, no foul.
That is exactly the type of attitude that will get you in jail when you think you are doing the right thing. It comes from making a decision based on emotion and not fact.
FACT--the good samaritan had every reason to believe the woman was being sexually assaulted. She had her pants off, and even later admitted they were acting out a "fantasy."
The samaritan's problem is NOT with intervening, but failing to break contact once it was ascertained that they were two consenting adults. Rare is the attempted rape victim who will defend her assailant.
That is the whole point: IF YOU DON'T KNOW ALL OF THE FACTS, YOU SHOULD NOT GET INVOLVED! Unless and until someone is clearly in danger of death or serious bodily injury and you have no other way to stop the assault.
Sorry. If I see a woman tied to a tree, clothing off or torn, screaming as a man is pawing at her in a dark, isolated park, I'm not going to sit and deliberate whether or not they're acting out a fantasy or if they're trying to break into internet porn.
Nor am I going to wake up my attorney to see what probable/possible prison stretch I'm looking at.
I am going to have my weapon zeroed on the would-be assailant's head and screaming at him to get his blankety-blank blanking hands in the air or I'll blow his blankety blank blanking head off. I've shouted that more than enough times in my life to do it with absolute credible and believable authority.
Your training scenario is a one-in-a-million scenario, and what's more, serves to confuse rather than confirm.
And I state that as my opinion as a combat vet and former federal lawman who's been on both sides of such situations in which I was either shot at, or forced to shoot. Furthering that is my stint as a firearms instructor teaching new agents at the academy "shoot/no-shoot" situations. We were also schooled on that earlier in my life at the JFK center at Bragg.
Not saying it can't be tricky--it can be bad tricky. And I have zero arguement that CCW is NOT a badge & credentials. But what would've been the difference if the good samaritan had charged in with an asp baton or baseball bat or samurai sword?
Result was the same--he thought he was preventing a sexual assault. Good. Found out they were two consenting adults and continued to press the issue. Bad.
You can preach from your pulpit of moral righteousness all you want and it don't mean a thing because we are not talking about morality, we are talking about legality. You can take your moral justification and let it keep you warm for the twenty five to life you get incarcerated for when you involve yourself in someone else's situation that you have no clear understanding of.
Two final thoughts:
1. Just how many CCL holders are warming themselves in prison because of situations like the one above you refer to versus how many acts of violence are STOPPED or PREVENTED because of a responsible CCL holder intervening?
2. The day we place a greater value on legality over morality when it comes to defending innocent victims and lives is the day we are finished as a society.
Jeff
