Nicholas Sandmann is someone who reacted perfectly. He could have reasonably shoved or grabbed the guy banging a drum inches from his face, but he knew what would happen to him. And even simply standing there and smiling STILL got him attached in the media.
There was a recent article on self-defence in Canada and I was struck by the closing comment by a defence lawyer. Basically, some police and prosecutors are offended by the idea of self-defence and will prosecute anything. At that point, beyond the impact of simply being charged, you are in a crapshoot.
Having only watched the first video, I don’t think the victim did anything wrong. His greatest mistake was walking away from the cop and allowing the would-be thief the chance to accuse him of whatever he wanted.
My thoughts are that you want to demonstrate that you tried to de-escalate the situation by attempting to leave, keeping your cool, trying to avoid touching the other person as much as possible, and attempting to call for help. To a certain extent, it’s a show.
Looking at the Oregon case you linked to, the shooter was recently convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years. Sadly he would have been better off taking a beating. Besides the racial aspect, the prosecutors made show of the fact the shooter brought a gun to a bar (not illegal) and smoked a cigarette right after the event (also not illegal). It does show that unfortunately you have to think about how things will be perceived and used against you, and this is not strictly about logic.
Nicholas Sandmann is someone who reacted perfectly. He could have reasonably shoved or grabbed the guy banging a drum inches from his face, but he knew what would happen to him. And even simply standing there and smiling STILL got him attached in the media.
There was a recent article on self-defence in Canada and I was struck by the closing comment by a defence lawyer. Basically, some police and prosecutors are offended by the idea of self-defence and will prosecute anything. At that point, beyond the impact of simply being charged, you are in a crapshoot.
https://nationalpost.com/news/no-charges-for-home-invasion-stabbing-death-in-latest-test-of-self-defence-law
Having only watched the first video, I don’t think the victim did anything wrong. His greatest mistake was walking away from the cop and allowing the would-be thief the chance to accuse him of whatever he wanted.
My thoughts are that you want to demonstrate that you tried to de-escalate the situation by attempting to leave, keeping your cool, trying to avoid touching the other person as much as possible, and attempting to call for help. To a certain extent, it’s a show.
Looking at the Oregon case you linked to, the shooter was recently convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years. Sadly he would have been better off taking a beating. Besides the racial aspect, the prosecutors made show of the fact the shooter brought a gun to a bar (not illegal) and smoked a cigarette right after the event (also not illegal). It does show that unfortunately you have to think about how things will be perceived and used against you, and this is not strictly about logic.