Comments on: House of Blues security guard arrested on battery charge

By: overclock

overclock — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:32:26 +0000

Seeing how this happened in Chicago I wonder if Obama will have the black security guard and the white woman over for a beer.

By: genewitch

genewitch — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:35:44 +0000

Kurt: no one screws with a guard that’s slamming someone down. They’ll do it to a cop, because that’s railing against authority. but to try and step to what might be a completely unhinged sociopath security guard is just asking for trouble.

The police usually stop at tasing. who knows where a guard will stop.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:54:55 +0000

The main thing that bothers me about this video is… nobody stopped the security guard.

The guard was clearly out of line, and everybody is just standing around doing nothing.

By: Rob Molecule

Rob Molecule — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:37:10 +0000

So you’re on CSS on this site? I’ll keep that in mind. I will reiterate that there is no way you can convince me that “confiscating” is not the same thing as theft, especially when the thief is not an LEO or a teacher in a school full of children.

By: Carlos Miller

Carlos Miller — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:45:29 +0000

What bothers me about the simple battery charge is that it insinuates if he would done all that he had done all that he did except knock her down, then he would have not been jailed.

And he has absolutely no right to “confiscate” this woman’s camera. And much less right to physically assault her as he did.

By: akagoldfish

akagoldfish — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:42:58 +0000

@EdinMiami: The facts here are enough to sustain an aggravated battery conviction (a battery, committed in a public way). Robbery may be trickier, but the video goes a long way to making that stick.

I’d prefer not to have public reaction drive the criminal case, but then I’d also prefer the people in charge of the criminal case to treat it with due seriousness. Carols’ anecdote about his arrest illustrates just how absurdly light this guy is getting off so far.

By: EdinMiami

EdinMiami — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:06:23 +0000

Goldfish we should be careful about letting emotions/public outrage dictate the charges.

I’ve looked at the statutes here in Florida, and while Robbery seems to fit technically, the facts here probably wouldn’t get a guilty verdict (imo).

By: Carlos Miller

Carlos Miller — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:13:19 +0000

That is true for I was charged with nine misdemeanors for taking their photo.

By: Michaelk42

Michaelk42 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:12:19 +0000

@Carlos

Clearly, angering the police is a much worse crime than assaulting a mere person.