Heritage Foundation Attorney Says Tennessee Man Wrongly Charged with Reckless Endangerment After Returning Fire on Assailants

A lawyer from the conservative Heritage Foundation says that she is “floored” after a Tennessee man who returned fire on multiple assailants was charged with reckless endangerment.

“I’m floored that the home owner here is being charged with ‘reckless endangerment.’ The arguments from police seem absurd on their face to me. The only people he endangered were…the ones shooting at him. And he’s 100% entitled to ‘endanger’ them,” said Heritage Senior Legal Fellow Amy Swearer.

The unnamed man from Shelby county reportedly walked outside one night last week to find suspected car thieves attempting to break into a van near his home. They suspects then fired upon him, and he returned fire.

He was later charged with reckless endangerment, which Swearer says is a felony.

The suspects, however, remain at large.

Swearer broke the case down.

Yes, Every Kid

“Argument 1: He shot at them while they were retreating. Well, they were “retreating” with guns still pointed at him and while still actively firing. I mean, the one suspect hides behind a car and basically lays down covering fire,” she said. “He is very clearly still being shot at or reasonably believes that they present an ongoing imminent threat.”

“He shot without a clear line of sight because the cars were in the way. Um. I repeat. They’re actively shooting at him from behind the cars. Is he recklessly endangering the cars?” she asked.

Swearer noted in a later tweet that in the video footage of the event obtained by Fox 13 News, the suspects can be seen firing the last shot at the man from a vehicle while driving away, even after the man had retreated inside his home.

“When they were talking to him, from what I saw, it was like they were trying to find ways to charge him,” the man’s wife reportedly said in an interview with Fox 13. “That doesn’t sound right. Why would you put pressure on the victim when you should put pressure for the suspects to be found?”

“The suspects, they are out there,” she said. “They were probably sleeping or partying [while] my husband was in jail trying to get released for something where he was innocent.”

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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photo “Neighborhood Shootout” by Fox13 News.

 

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4 Thoughts to “Heritage Foundation Attorney Says Tennessee Man Wrongly Charged with Reckless Endangerment After Returning Fire on Assailants”

  1. Nameless Hunter

    When will we hear from our idiot RINO governor on this? Probably never. The DA needs to be fired.

  2. levelheadedconservative

    It is not every day that an average person gets shot at. Everyone reacts differently in such a situation. The victim here should not have returned fire with his eyes closed (as it seems he admitted – perhaps he only closed one and in the adrenaline rushed aftermath told the cops he closed “them”).
    In any case, the neighbor’s video camera clearly shows the victim fired upon 1st, then returned fire. If the DA doesn’t see that video and drop the charges, then perhaps this man should be charged with what it would otherwise appear to be: Discharge of a firearm while being black.

  3. Jay Are

    Political profiteering Democrat judicial system is protecting their constituency of thieves, criminal and political, from the risks of defense from their victims of homeowners and taxpayers.

  4. LM

    We try to be supportive and appreciative of our law enforcement, particularly local police departments, and this is what we get?

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