imported post
At no time did I say allow him to return INSIDE the club. If, if, if, if he went TO the car under the possibility he was going to retrieve a weapon, and then he made an attempt to go back INSIDE the club, then you'd have more probable cause to conduct a stop. Speaking a threat is one thing, but making an attempt to carry out that threat is another. Getting in his car, POSSIBLY leaving the scene just doesn't qualify as an attempt to carry out his idle threat, unless Sean verbalized something about running OVER the other guy. "While in the car........." Yep, we all see how well THAT worked out. One dead, two injured, other lives permanently harmed.
You've got not one, not two, but THREE cops involved. Sean is walking back TO the club, you're outside. Let's suppose, for the sake of discussion, his hands were in his pockets. Only a moron would surrender the advantage of surprise and actually allow this citizen to pull ANYTHING out of his pockets.
No, the "common man" would NOT conclude anything. Wait a minute. Maybe I'm not the "common man." I wouldn't have assumed anything. But, then again, I've never been indicted for mistakenly shooting (fatally)anyone, either.
One of the minor details about all of this really sums it up quite well: the two injured victims were HANDCUFFED to their hospital beds. THAT, in and of itself, should suffice.
