When a house owner caught a pair of teenagers stealing his skinny blue line flag, a person chased them down and captured them, beating the thieves and confiscating their property. Nevertheless, after the police arrested the house owner, the prosecutor made a stunning announcement.
When a pair of teenagers got here onto non-public property in Washington state and swiped a “Skinny Blue Line” flag waving on the facet of a storage, they’d no thought what awaited them. As quickly as they snatched the banner, the house owner burst out of the home with each intention of taking again his property.
The Port Townsend Chief reviews that the 48-year-old house owner, who stays unnamed, chased after the teenagers after catching them redhanded. Extremely, he simply caught as much as the pair and grabbed one in all them, an unidentified woman, pinning her to the bottom. It was then that issues turned violent.
The house owner started wailing on the woman and punched her male confederate when he tried to intervene. Together with retrieving his flag, he confiscated the pair’s skateboards and the male teen’s mobile phone earlier than heading again to his home with the teenagers following intently behind.
“He then started beating on her whereas she was on the bottom and yelling at them. [He] then took their skateboards and walked again to his residence with [the male’s] telephone after they adopted him again,” stated an incident report from Port Townsend police.
Authorities arrived shortly after the altercation, noting that the boy “had blood on his arm and probably an injured nostril” whereas the woman had some blood on her clothes as nicely. The responding officers then recorded the testimony of the house owner, who unapologetically admitted to the entire teenagers’ accusations.
“I ran as much as them, took my flag again, took their stuff,” the house owner advised police in an interview recorded on an officer’s physique digital camera. “I ran up behind her, took her down, took my flag and stated, ‘Who do you assume you take my stuff off my property?’ … I stated, ‘I’m going to take your stuff, you possibly can see what it’s wish to have your stuff taken.’”
Initially, the person was arrested and charged with second-degree theft for confiscating the teenagers’ skateboards and a mobile phone. Nevertheless, officers have been stunned after they obtained a response from the county prosecutor concerning the case. In keeping with an e-mail from Jefferson County Prosecuting Legal professional James Kennedy, he was “declining to cost” the house owner with any crime.
“At first it sounded just like the power he utilized could have been extreme — among the reviews that we checked out appeared like that may have been the case — however after I regarded on the pictures, I didn’t see any indications of accidents that have been the results of extreme power,” Kennedy defined. “I don’t assume that we fairly might’ve obtained a verdict past an affordable doubt at trial.”
James Kennedy stated each events exhibited “dangerous conduct.”
Kennedy admitted that each the house owner and the teenagers had exhibited “dangerous conduct,” however he reiterated that the person had a proper to defend his property with an affordable quantity of power. He concluded that the violence used didn’t qualify as extreme power, explaining that the teenagers had undeniably dedicated against the law after they trespassed on the person’s property and stole his flag.
“[The use of force was] actually unlucky, I feel it might’ve been resolved with out that,” Kennedy stated. “Whether or not he was inside his proper to use power or not is very questionable. Nevertheless, having reviewed the entire proof, I don’t assume that it’s probably that we’d’ve been capable of get hold of a responsible verdict at trial.”
Kennedy additionally defined that the case in opposition to the juveniles was open-and-shut. Nevertheless, he has declined to pursue prices in opposition to the teenagers, probably since they already obtained comeuppance by the hands of the house owner.
“The 2 people who stole his flag shouldn’t have performed that, they usually dedicated against the law after they did that,” Kennedy stated.
Kennedy stated that he was unaware that the flag in query was one in assist of law enforcement officials and emergency responders since this element wasn’t included within the police report. Nonetheless, he added that the character of the property didn’t matter on this case, standing by his choice.
“The case in opposition to [the homeowner] is muddy; the case in opposition to the 2 juveniles is by no means. I might’ve simply as simply introduced circumstances in opposition to them,” Kennedy stated. “They clearly stole his flag with none form of authorized justification by any means.”
Neither of the teenagers is dealing with prosecution in court docket. In truth, one of many teenagers already entered right into a diversion settlement to meet sure unknown necessities to ensure that prices to be dismissed. The opposite teen has since moved out of the state.
Though the fees on this case have been dropped, householders throughout the nation have apprehensive that they are going to be reprimanded for defending their lives and property. Fortunately, at the very least one prosecutor has an affordable perspective on the matter.
