“A man who was beaten by employees of a store he was trying to rob is now suing.” Dana Buckman “pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a repeat violent felon” after police say he pulled a semi-automatic pistol and demanded cash from workers at an AutoZone in Rochester last July. Instead, “employees Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega beat him with a pipe and held Buckman at bay with his own gun. …Now Buckman is suing the auto parts store and the two employees who beat him, claiming they committed assault and battery and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.” (“Man who tried to rob store sues for ’emotional distress'”, AP/WAVY, Jun. 12; Michael Zeigler, “Foiled robber claims he’s the victim”, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Jun. 10).
By reader acclaim: foiled robber sues store employees
“A man who was beaten by employees of a store he was trying to rob is now suing.” Dana Buckman “pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a repeat violent felon” after police say he pulled a semi-automatic pistol and demanded cash from workers at an AutoZone in […]
6 Comments
Please, tell me. How does this even get on the docket? The thing that scares me about this is that the robber might win a case like this in England where people are steadily losing their right to defend their own life, limb, and property. Is America far behind?
What amazes me is that there is nothing on the books about a person committing a crime taking an assumption of risk. To be honest, to me this just confirms my belief that it is simpler to just shoot an armed robber versus trying to apprehend them.
Jim,
You are dead right. As most firearms instructors will tell you, *IF* you decide that you must defend yourself with your firearm, shoot to kill, EVERY TIME. This is not a new phenomenon, it’s just gotten a little more successful (and hence, more common).
Basically, I would rule this case this way:
Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega did indeed inflict emotional distress on Dana Buckman, so I order them to pay him $.50, so he can call someone who cares. I also find that Dana Buckman inflicted emotional distress on Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega, so I order him to pay them $500 each for ach day they had to spend in court for this case, and to cover all court expenses from both sides.
I think that might get the message across.
The more I think about this, the more I wonder who is sleezier, Buckman or the lawyer who took this case?
By the way if I shoot it is always to kill, otherwise there is no need to shoot.
Any judge who allowed this to come to court needs to be assigned to parking ticket duty.
I’ve always felt that there should be a law that says something like this:
Any person who enters a residence or business with the express purpose of committing physical harm to the occupants or armed robbery (with the implication of physical harm), if apprehended or otherwise stopped by the occupants, may be held by said occupants indefinately and no criminal or civil liability shall be be assumed by occupants for anything done to the intruder during that time.
I think that would seriously reduce a lot of crime.