This is a debatable case, but I’m going to call it “Bad Justice” as well as a “Gun Death”.
Kevin Lewis Crouch walked into a tow lot in Northeast Washington on Tuesday afternoon and asked about a green car. But D.C. police said the 22-year-old man quickly pulled a gun on the tow truck driver who was trying to help him and demanded money.
The driver began to run but tripped and fell, police said, and Crouch struck him twice in the head with the butt of his gun. The driver then heaved his wallet against a fence in the lot on Kenilworth Avenue.
As Crouch went to grab the wallet, police said, the driver climbed into his white Isuzu tow truck and then fatally struck his assailant. On Wednesday, the victim of the armed robbery became a criminal suspect, as police charged Corey D. Stoddard, 35, of Northeast Washington, with second-degree murder while armed, his tow truck being the weapon.
Police said that Crouch was dragged along a sidewalk and that authorities found a pellet gun broken into three pieces under his body when they rolled him over to provide first aid. The death was ruled a homicide late Tuesday — the 104th and final slaying in the District last year.
So a motorist was being assisted by a tow truck driver, and the motorist decided to rob the driver. The mugger assaulted the driver as he attempted to escape, and he tossed his wallet to distract the mugger so he could run him down.
Turns out the gun was a pellet gun, still the law says we can assume replica guns are real in the event of an attack, further just because this jerk had his wallet, didn’t mean the threat was over, because now he was a violent man with a wallet AND a gun. While it could be argued that the truck was a means to get away, wreckers are hardly drag racers, so you are still at risk of being shot as you flee. I’ve also talked about the other dangers of giving violent people your wallet here, and I even mentioned a similar tactic of tossing your wallet so you can have the advantage to shoot your attacker.
Hopefully this driver can beat the charges.
That’s not exactly clean, but I do believe the tow driver was legal.
In many states it is legal to use deadly force to stop a felon fleeing from a violent felony.
Not that I’d get on that jury…
Doesn’t sound like the attacker was fleeing. The driver was attempting to get away when he was beaten by the fake gun.
Sounds like the attacker was run down while still engaging in the robbery.
But again there can be arguments made against this.
It’s Washington DC.
The victim would have gotten in less trouble if he had taken the robbers wallet, and walked away.
If he gets caught, he could always cop to a robbery, and get a wrist slap.