Monday, May 12, 2025

Self-Defense Failure: Shooting Lost Door Dash Driver

 From the New York Post: "Harrowing video shows NY town official open fire on DoorDash driver who stopped to ask for directions." Not much information on the driver, other than he was a young West African man whose phone apparently had run out of power, leading him to start knocking on doors to get directions. It was after dark, so I can understand the homeowner, John J. Reilly III, being suspicious of a young black man knocking on his door or ringing the doorbell at that time of night. But rather than simply ignoring the knock at the door or stopping at telling the driver to go away, Reilly went outside and started shooting at the driver as the driver ran away and got into his car, wounding the driver. "'Go!' Reilly yells in the clip after firing a warning shot, before proceeding to continue firing at the vehicle as it peeled away," the article describes the video clip. "The worker was hit once in the back as he attempted to flee in his car, according to New York State Police." Police also indicated that the driver was not doing anything "nefarious," according to the article, which adds: "Reilly, a federally licensed firearm dealer, was charged with first-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm."

    Before I continue, just a reminder that this is not legal advice and I'm not your attorney

    There is nothing in the article to indicate that there was any threat of life or great bodily harm to justify Reilly using lethal force. But even if there was something that might have initially justified lethal force, once the threat went away (in this case, the driver turning and fleeing) the justification for using force in self-defense also disappeared. We see over and over both private citizens and even police officers shooting at an unarmed, fleeing suspect without justification. In short, this is an example of what not to do if someone comes knocking at your door late in the evening.

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