Georgia Man Shoots and Kills Driver Who Mistakenly Pulled Into His Driveway; No Jail

[A Son of Liberty]

I'm just going to pop in here and say, my aunt lives in the country (in Ga) and she's pulled a shot gun on lots of people who've pulled in her driveway. Hasn't shot anyone....yet. You can't see her house from the road, she has a gate at the end of the driveway with No Trespassing and Private Driveway signs, and she's home alone a lot - it's scares her when a truck load of men she doesn't know pulls up. She walks out with her shot gun and her big ass pit bulls (they're love bugs, they just look scary) to run them off. It usually happens once a week during hunting season, it's obviously mostly hunters but they have no business being there and who knows what kind of people they are. Heck, my uncle found where someone had set up a deer feeder on his property at the end of summer. Clearly a hunter had been sneaking around setting himself up a spot to come back to this fall. It's creepy as hell to go skulking around someone's property like that - and their property is clearly marked, this was no accident.

I'm not defending the guy in the op, I haven't even read it yet. I'm just explaining why someone would pull a gun on someone who pulls up their driveway.

:thumbs:

Fleshing out your argument helps people understand where you're coming from.

I faced a similar situation last weekend and calmly and in a friendly manner approached the trespasser with vigilance...

I guess the overall point I'm trying to make is that I do not regard my fellow human beings as enemies, as a rule. Of course I assess each situation on it's merits, but I don't instantly leap to a defensive-cum-offensive posture just because someone is somewhere I don't expect them to be. Life is chaos, and if your inclination is to point guns at the outliers, you're probably an outlier yourself.

[osan]

http://jonathanturley.org/2014/11/20...nd-a-500-fine/

Either something truly essential has been left out of this report, or something in Denmark has gone full-manky.

Is this guy somehow connected? Could this be work of a provocateur? Not to sound too tin-foil-hatty, but the latter would make sense, given the temporal proximity to the Ferguson deal. Not sure how it would be pulled off, but assuming it could be readily done, if there is an objective to stir the pot of civil unrest, the scott-free murder of a hispanic alongside that of Michael Brown could amp things up neatly.

I am sorry, but any time some apparently random person shoots out the brains of a presumably innocent other, facing no real consequences, I tend to get a little suspicious.

Thoughts?

[loveshiscountry]

As we first reported in May, the Diaz family sued Phillip Sailors citing he acted negligently.
Attorneys say there was a settlement in which the family received an undisclosed amount of money.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local...hooting/nh8r5/


Insanely, when the Lilburn Police arrived, with Rodrigo dead in the car, they arrested his girlfriend and the two other passengers and held them overnight in jail.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/1...pay-a-500-fine

[A Son of Liberty]

Well adjusted folks protect their property.

I brought up Gene specifically because he is one of the farmers back in the 80's who was hit particularly hard by rustlers, I'd have behaved in the same manner were I in his shoes..

The portrayal of "Shoot first" is misleading in and of itself because that's not what happened back then....

Identify yourself was the icebreaker to the trespasser the ones who fled were fired on.

This anecdote has no bearing on this thread other than to point out that all folks who shoot trespassers aren't sociopaths...

Well adjusted folks don't perceive as a threat the mere presence of other human beings.

And you portrayed him as a "shoot first" kind of guy, so if that's a mischaracterisation, it's yours to correct.

Folks who shoot non-threatening trespassers are indeed sociopaths. As I'm sure you know, people can wander incidentally onto other people's property all the time in the country, especially wooded country. Did it myself just last year while trying to locate the northeast corner of my property. I'm glad this fellow from Georgia, or Ol' Gene weren't the property owners I inadvertently encroached upon.

[Wooden Indian]

I once took a few wrong turns (pre GPS) while driving through BFE, Alabama. Got so low on gas that I pulled down a long driveway up to a local's house.
Not only was I not shot at, he pulled a 5 gl can from his pickup and got me enough gas and directions so that I could get back to town.

Acting like a lunatic is NOT a part of being in the country and protecting your property. Crazy jackasses are found in cities and the boondocks unfortunately.
Likely far less in the country though.

[acptulsa]

This guy seems crazy... I don't think he should own a gun.

Right. Because prosecutors don't fail to enforce existing laws, guns do...

[tod evans]

From the article;



^^^^^Not a place to draw or use weapons on a turn around.^^^^^^^

And here's the typical backwoods driveway....

Obviously designed with the intention of keeping the public out...

[Suzanimal]

:thumbs:

Fleshing out your argument helps people understand where you're coming from.

I faced a similar situation last weekend and calmly and in a friendly manner approached the trespasser with vigilance...

I guess the overall point I'm trying to make is that I do not regard my fellow human beings as enemies, as a rule. Of course I assess each situation on it's merits, but I don't instantly leap to a defensive-cum-offensive posture just because someone is somewhere I don't expect them to be. Life is chaos, and if your inclination is to point guns at the outliers, you're probably an outlier yourself.

She's actually very sweet but she's an elderly woman who's had too much riff-raff come up to her house.

[chudrockz]

I once took a few wrong turns (pre GPS) while driving through BFE, Alabama. Got so low on gas that I pulled down a long driveway up to a local's house.
Not only was I not shot at, he pulled a 5 gl can from his pickup and got me enough gas and directions so that I could get back to town.

Acting like a lunatic is NOT a part of being in the country and protecting your property. Crazy jackasses are found in cities and the boondocks unfortunately.
Likely far less in the country though.

When I was in college I took a geography course, and with a partner we had an assignment to research and write a paper on a "platte" (I think it was called) so we basically through a dart at a map and picked one. It was a Saturday morning and we drove out to look around. There was only one old farmhouse down a long driveway nestled in a stand of trees. My partner said we should go talk to them. I felt kinda stupid about it but we went and knocked. It was an older farmer and his wife. We introduced ourselves and told them about our assignment. They thought it was really neat, invited us in, his wife cooked us the best breakfast I've ever had, we talked for a couple of hours and they showed us old maps and pictures, then the farmer took us around on a tour of the property. I was, and still am, amazed at that level of hospitality. I love it.

[Anti Federalist]

Agreed.

Quite a difference between the two.

From the article;



^^^^^Not a place to draw or use weapons on a turn around.^^^^^^^

And here's the typical backwoods driveway....

Obviously designed with the intention of keeping the public out...

[tod evans]

Well adjusted folks don't perceive as a threat the mere presence of other human beings.

And you portrayed him as a "shoot first" kind of guy, so if that's a mischaracterisation, it's yours to correct.

Folks who shoot non-threatening trespassers are indeed sociopaths. As I'm sure you know, people can wander incidentally onto other people's property all the time in the country, especially wooded country. Did it myself just last year while trying to locate the northeast corner of my property. I'm glad this fellow from Georgia, or Ol' Gene weren't the property owners I inadvertently encroached upon.

I went to a great deal of effort to describe the environment here in the Ozarks and the situations that cause property owners to fire on intruders...

For all I know you could be describing "country" living as the picture from the article in Ga.?

To me that home is in the burbs, heck there's pavement with stripes in front of it!

When I describe country living you'll travel 1-10 miles of dirt road to find the driveway I posted a picture of.

As I keep pointing out;

Circumstances are relevant...

[specsaregood]

The first question that pops into my head is, "Who is Philip Sailors - and who does he know?" ...

This is what I come back to. Either something serious is being left out of the story of what really happened or he is connected in someway.

[SeanTX]

I once took a few wrong turns (pre GPS) while driving through BFE, Alabama. Got so low on gas that I pulled down a long driveway up to a local's house.
Not only was I not shot at, he pulled a 5 gl can from his pickup and got me enough gas and directions so that I could get back to town.

Acting like a lunatic is NOT a part of being in the country and protecting your property. Crazy jackasses are found in cities and the boondocks unfortunately.
Likely far less in the country though.

You do have to be very careful though. Which sucks for people who truly do need a stranger's help.

There was a murder case that happened here a few years back, some guy went up to a rural home late at night and claimed that he was there to let them know that their horses had gotten loose and were out on the highway. I'm not sure if they let him in, or he forced his way in, but at some point he pulled out a gun and held them captive, eventually killing the whole family, including young kids and the family dog.

Of course, the possibility of that wouldn't be justification for shooting someone who had just pulled up into your private driveway -- but it does show why you need to be wary and cautious and prepared for anything ...

[osan]

Well adjusted folks

Oh... there's that troublesome term, yet again...

don't perceive as a threat the mere presence of other human beings.

That would seem to depend rather heavily upon circumstance, don't you think?

Folks who shoot non-threatening trespassers are indeed sociopaths.

And there's that one, now... oh dear, what will we do?

[osan]

As we first reported in May, the Diaz family sued Phillip Sailors citing he acted negligently.
Attorneys say there was a settlement in which the family received an undisclosed amount of money.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local...hooting/nh8r5/

OK, this is a money-shot of sorts - it surely got my attention:

District Attorney, Danny Porter, said the family was on board with the plea deal.
"They are not in a position where they want to have Mr. Sailors sent to prison for the rest of his life(1),” Porter said in court. “They are in a position where it is most important to them, that the public understand that Mr. Diaz, who was driving the car, was not committing any crime. (He) was not engaged in any unlawful activity, was not engaged in anything even improper.(2)"

OK, neither of these "positions" read like typically bereaved family. The statement at (1) indicates either candidacy for sainthood, or is a not-so-terribly oblique indication that something else, something that the Diaz family very much does not want exposed, is going on.

The statement at (2) only fans the flames. Why would they go through such pains and minutiae to make the "public understand" that Rodrigo junior was so very clean? Had MY son been murdered by some presumed old bastard such as Sailor, I would not be giving the least damn about whta the public understands. Furthermore, I would be seeking custody of Mr. Sailors testicles for display from the rear-view mirror of my '63 lowrider, right where my fuzzy dice used to be.

Perhaps they are higher class Columbians. Perhaps the passage of time has softened their grief. Who can say? I certainly cannot, but I can take note that some of this story has the weird about it. Given what goes on in this land these days, it becomes almost reflexive to hold suspicion-laden questions such as mine. Sad it is, methinks, when this becomes the "normal" response where acceptance of what may simply be good grace used to be the norm.

Insanely, when the Lilburn Police arrived, with Rodrigo dead in the car, they arrested his girlfriend and the two other passengers and held them overnight in jail.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/1...pay-a-500-fine

An interesting tidbit from that output page:

In January, 2013, Rodrigo Diaz, a Gwinnett Tech student from Colombia, was going skating in suburban Atlanta with his girlfriend and three of their friends. They had one last person to pick up, and as they pulled into the driveway of Phillip Sailors, a retired Vietnam veteran, to pick up their friend, they soon realized that it was the wrong address.

Perhaps this is just a matter of poor writing style? If the last person to be picked up was a friend, why did Diaz not already know how to get there? Perhaps it was not one of his friends but a friend of a friend? It's the small details such as this that get my attention, mainly because the presumption of proper and sufficient precision of expression is the only thing that makes these sorts of articles even remotely worth reading. Given all this, all I can conclude here is that either the author is an inept fop at that task, or something terribly significant is going unreported because as written, the reportage raises more questions than it answers.

[specsaregood]

OK, neither of these "positions" read like typically bereaved family. The statement at (1) indicates either candidacy for sainthood, or is a not-so-terribly oblique indication that something else, something that the Diaz family very much does not want exposed, is going on.

The statement at (2) only fans the flames. Why would they go through such pains and minutiae to make the "public understand" that Rodrigo junior was so very clean? Had MY son been murdered by some presumed old bastard such as Sailor, I would not be giving the least damn about whta the public understands. Furthermore, I would be seeking custody of Mr. Sailors testicles for display from the rear-view mirror of my '63 lowrider, right where my fuzzy dice used to be.

Indeed, methinks there is more to this story than has been publically reported.

[69360]

Sometimes people make a wrong turn. They don't deserve to be shot for it.

Folks who feel compelled to draw a weapon because someone whom they do not know shows up on their property are cowards. Intelligent people do indeed assess the situation, and keeping means of protection handy is reasonable, but pointing a weapon at someone who's done nothing more threatening than pull into the wrong driveway is sociopathic.

City people problems. Meeting an unknown car coming up your long driveway armed is no big deal. Shooting at them obviously is, but nothing wrong with being cautious.

From the article;



^^^^^Not a place to draw or use weapons on a turn around.^^^^^^^

And here's the typical backwoods driveway....

Obviously designed with the intention of keeping the public out...

Mine looks like #2 and is over 1000 feet. Nobody should be up there if they don't belong and I will be awfully suspicious if a car pulls up.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

A somewhat similar thing happened to me.

I knocked on my neighbor friend's door at dusk, when it's almost dark. He's not home and his wife can't identify me on the stoop. I'm not on the porch because his porch dog is barking at me. I sort of crane my next to see in the window because it looks like someone is home. I even call out, but maybe it's distorted with the windows closed.

Guy's wife calls her landlord, who owns the house where she lives. He lives right next door, bolts over, and starts reading me the riot act without the benefit of the doubt. We've even met in the past. I also take exception to this $#@! because he's a career criminal and I'm told he poisoned my other neighbor's dog. Anyway, some heated words are exchanged.

I eventually turn to leave. He then kicks me right in the ass. I turn around and he pulls a gun on me, firing it into the ground.

I'm guessing this Georgia thing had some similarities. Sailors' wife reports a ruckus, so maybe Sailors and Diaz exchanged words. Sailors said Diaz drove towards him. So does Diaz rev his car or spin some gravel? If he drives toward Diaz, then how far?

Diaz was shot in the side of the head, so it does appear that he was not driving right into Sailors at the bullet's impact. Does Sailors take exception to Diaz the way my neighbor took exception to me? I was leaving after a simple argument, but he kicks me. I'm walking away hoping he doesn't shoot me in the back, so is Diaz also just pulling away when Sailors takes exception and shoots at him anyway?

Anyway, not totally similar circumstances, but guess I'm saying that one thing can lead to another. The real kicker of my story is that my neighbor half-heartedly takes his landlord's side. I never speak with my neighbor friend again, but learn later that the landlord poisons the very dog that kept me off the porch that night. That landlord $#@! was about the same age as Sailors, and died last year. All dogs and I say good riddance, you piece of $#@!. LOL.

[RonPaulMall]

One of his kids could have been in the car. Or one of his relatives kids. That was very irresponsible and he should have gotten a manslaughter charge at least. If this was a real threat the perp would have had to get out of the car to cause harm. Really, was he expecting a car bombing or something?

Read the article. He was charged with manslaughter, and that is what he ended up pleading guilty to.