Wal-Mart Pepper Sprayer May Not Be Charged

[Kopikatsu]

Simple:

If she was competitive shopping, she needs to be charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
If she was defending herself, she needs to be charged with Breach of the Peace.

Walmart need to be charged with numerous Health/Safety offences though, because I doubt there's been an H&S Audit on the probability of Potential Assault within a Riot situation though.

Yeah, Laws can work both ways.

I don't know...depends on the situation.

I mean, people do literally get trampled to death and stabbed over the Black Friday sales. Which is ridiculous and honestly, I have no idea why it happens. Still, it does happen.

Also, the English 'breach of the peace' and the America' breach of the peace' are different. In England, it refers to riotous behaviors while in America it's just retardation. (Being drunk in public falls under breach of the peace, for instance).

'Course, you could be right and pepper spraying crowds might fall under the American version. I don't know.

Edit: I don't think pepper spray is a 'deadly weapon', though.

 

[Dastardly]

If she went overboard, she isn't innocent.

Depends on what you mean by "innocent." If she went overboard defending herself, she is innocent of "spraying people to get to the XBox deal." She may not be innocent in the sense of "having done nothing wrong," but there's a big difference between accidental excess and malicious assault.

In the end, it's not about whether or not she did or didn't. It's about whether or not it can be proven that she did. And the cops are saying, "In the end, we probably can't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. It's not worth the money and paperwork to make this a criminal case."

Now, a civil case? That's another matter entirely. And separate from the cops...

snip

What I like about stories like this are how people are either going, "Stupid police acting without thinking, typical psycho assholes," or when something like this comes to light it's, "Stupid police thinking about it too much, they should just arrest her, she obviously did it."

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I mean, people do literally get trampled to death and stabbed over the Black Friday sales. Which is ridiculous and honestly, I have no idea why it happens. Still, it does happen.

*KLAXON*

One person died from being trampled, one person died of a heart condition. All the rest are deaths that happened to be near Black Friday.(And that's in the entire catalogue of Black Friday's)

Edit: I don't think pepper spray is a 'deadly weapon', though.

'tis if you have asthma or are...in the middle of a crowd fighting for air.

 

[BrionJames]

Without any witnesses there's no way to tell if she's innocent or guilty. Maybe charges should be levied against Wal Mart for not handling these Black Friday sales properly. I for one think they should, inhuman bastards.

 

[kayisking]

Simple:

If she was competitive shopping, she needs to be charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
If she was defending herself, she needs to be charged with Breach of the Peace.

Walmart need to be charged with numerous Health/Safety offences though, because I doubt there's been an H&S Audit on the probability of Potential Assault within a Riot situation though.

Yeah, Laws can work both ways.

Uhm... Is pepper spray considered a deadly weapon in your country (not mocking you, just asking)?

 

[Kopikatsu]

I mean, people do literally get trampled to death and stabbed over the Black Friday sales. Which is ridiculous and honestly, I have no idea why it happens. Still, it does happen.

*KLAXON*

One person died from being trampled, one person died of a heart condition. All the rest are deaths that happened to be near Black Friday.(And that's in the entire catalogue of Black Friday's)

http://www.uncoveror.com/blackfriday.htm
http://www.ranker.com/list/13-most-brutal-black-friday-injuries-and-deaths/john-barryman

Not exactly.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Without any witnesses there's no way to tell if she's innocent or guilty. Maybe charges should be levied against Wal Mart for not handling these Black Friday sales properly. I for one think they should, inhuman bastards.

If by 'not handling Black Friday sales properly' you mean that they don't have full scale riot squads armed with shotguns, tasers, and teargas, then no, I suppose they didn't handle the sales properly.

A few years back, people actually broke the doors to a Wal-Mart down in order to get inside. (And trampled one of the employees to death, then complained when told that they had to leave because they murdered someone).

The only solution is to just not have Black Friday at all. Cancel the goddamn holiday. It's obvious that people can't handle it.

 

[Loki J]

Sweet.. so next year we can bring a tazers and state it was in self defense..

I waz gun'git stampeeded! i feered fer mah laife!

Ahahahaha! Dude, you made my day!

Z

 

[VanTesla]

I don't even have to read much before it makes me sick of how certain places in our society find this acceptable... People that go this nuts need to be put down. I know I sound extreme saying that and I admit I do not truly mean it, but it does make me think it may not be such a bad idea...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Uhm... Is pepper spray considered a deadly weapon in your country (not mocking you, just asking)?

At the moment, peanuts are considered a deadly weapon here.

Given the confines of where it was used, I think "potentially fatal" would fit.

http://www.ranker.com/list/13-most-brutal-black-friday-injuries-and-deaths/john-barryman
Not exactly.

1/ Mentioned 2/Not appropriate 3/ Unrelated 4/ Not appropriate 5/Paralysed 6-13/ Not appropriate (usual frenzy)

Uncoverer has no sources at all and is probably a FUD site.

So, 2 deaths, 2 tramples and 1 paralysis in 36 years.

 

[VanTesla]

Phhh, if that was in Britain then there would of been a complete storm around this story....and law suit courts.....and possible racial motivation investigations......and LIIIEEEES!

Where in Britain have you been?

Bit of lingering rage from earlier there, but I'm in Southport where there was some ruckus on saturday night, some guy who happened to be Latvian, got beat up outside a nightclub and claimed it was racially motivated....

All well and good except the guy who hit him was much too pissed to even realize he was human. So naturally he's suing

Well of corse people are going to use the race card if they can... This brings up another problem that goes a bit off-topic... Frivolous lawsuits that waste peoples time, tax money, and in some cases ruin a victim of some suits lives...

 

[Mrmac23]

Dear Humanity:
For fuck's sake, stop making me lose my faith in you every 7 minutes. Seriously it's not good for my already dwindling sanity stop it.
Lots of love vicious hatred,
Mrmac

 

[mjc0961]

Walmart need to be charged with numerous Health/Safety offences though, because I doubt there's been an H&S Audit on the probability of Potential Assault within a Riot situation though.

You know, that's what I thought too when I got to the end of this article. "How about they find something to charge Walmart with?" Every year its something to do with people getting stampeded or almost getting trampled or something. They should find some other way to do this already.

 

[Epona]

Dear Humanity:
For fuck's sake, stop making me lose my faith in you every 7 minutes. Seriously it's not good for my already dwindling sanity stop it.
Lots of love vicious hatred,
Mrmac

Dear Misanthropist,

Self loathing is no longer funny nor cool. Please update your records.

 

[BrionJames]

Without any witnesses there's no way to tell if she's innocent or guilty. Maybe charges should be levied against Wal Mart for not handling these Black Friday sales properly. I for one think they should, inhuman bastards.

If by 'not handling Black Friday sales properly' you mean that they don't have full scale riot squads armed with shotguns, tasers, and teargas, then no, I suppose they didn't handle the sales properly.

A few years back, people actually broke the doors to a Wal-Mart down in order to get inside. (And trampled one of the employees to death, then complained when told that they had to leave because they murdered someone).

The only solution is to just not have Black Friday at all. Cancel the goddamn holiday. It's obvious that people can't handle it.

Be that as it may, you know they would never shut it down. What's a few deaths compared to a couple million dollars? If they really gave a shit about people they wouldn't be open that early in the morning, so no they aren't handling it properly. Why isn't local law enforcement involved? Maybe the presence of some bubble lights and some badges might cool everyone down.

 

[ConstantErasing]

My take: whether it was motivated by self defense or a competitive shopping technique is hard to say. What isn't is that pepper spraying 20 people in what sounds like many different areas of the store is excessive, so I say she should definitely be charged the question is how harshly.

 

[Epona]

Without any witnesses there's no way to tell if she's innocent or guilty. Maybe charges should be levied against Wal Mart for not handling these Black Friday sales properly. I for one think they should, inhuman bastards.

If by 'not handling Black Friday sales properly' you mean that they don't have full scale riot squads armed with shotguns, tasers, and teargas, then no, I suppose they didn't handle the sales properly.

A few years back, people actually broke the doors to a Wal-Mart down in order to get inside. (And trampled one of the employees to death, then complained when told that they had to leave because they murdered someone).

The only solution is to just not have Black Friday at all. Cancel the goddamn holiday. It's obvious that people can't handle it.

Be that as it may, you know they would never shut it down. What's a few deaths compared to a couple million dollars? If they really gave a shit about people they wouldn't be open that early in the morning, so no they aren't handling it properly. Why isn't local law enforcement involved? Maybe the presence of some bubble lights and some badges might cool everyone down.

Wal Mart is always open that early in the morning. 24 hours a day/7 days a week except for Christmas.

 

[Fleischer]

Uhm... Is pepper spray considered a deadly weapon in your country (not mocking you, just asking)?

A boot can be deemed a deadly weapon if it is used to strike someone in the head, but I doubt pepper spray or mace would qualify as deadly weapons. If so, then someone throwing a ghost chili could be charged with using a deadly weapon.

 

[Fleischer]

If she was competitive shopping, she needs to be charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
If she was defending herself, she needs to be charged with Breach of the Peace.

Your first scenario sounds more akin to the charge of battery. Remember: assault = threatening violence, battery = carry out violence

In the second case, I would disagree. If she feared being trampled by a crowd, it would be logical to pepper spray anyone threatening you. If she pulled out a SMG and was thinning out the crowd, I can see how that would be her using improper defensive means.

Walmart need to be charged with numerous Health/Safety offences though, because I doubt there's been an H&S Audit on the probability of Potential Assault within a Riot situation though.

Yeah, Laws can work both ways.

*ding* *ding*

If the problem was caused by the way Walmart runs their promotions and sales, then Walmart should pay for all public monies related to this fiasco - the police, legal fees and more. If a corporation causes a scene where people are harmed and public resources are depleted, they should be held accountable.

At the very least, I am betting that Walmart had that story WAY past human capacity limits. Fine, fine and fine them some more. Walmart has plenty of money in their coffers.

 

[uppitycracker]

There were even reports this woman did it in multiple parts of the store... Another prime example of our failed law enforcement. Good game, fascists.