commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Fear is a funny thing. It can make you extra careful sometimes to the point of driving your loved ones crazy with your timidity, but it can also – in certain delicate situations – make you lash out like a man possessed because, in fact, you are possessed – possessed by fear. Now this is bad enough if you’re proceeding with mere fisticuffs or with even a kick or two thrown in, but it can get really dicey if you are unfortunate enough to have guns involved, whether you are the victim or the perpetrator.
In the recent Pasco County theater shooting case, which cost the indefatigable (and allegedly impolite) text messenger Chad Oulson his life, the shooter, retired Tampa police officer Curtis Reeves, claims that he was scared and acted in self-defense because Oulson said mean and threatening things to him and even threw popcorn at him.
Here are some of the reasons an individual might shoot another man: 1) you are crazy; 2) you place little value on life; 3) you are paralyzed with fear (but not too paralyzed to twitch the trigger finger); or 4) you are frustrated and just feel like killing somebody.
Now in the case of 71-year-old Curtis Reeves, it was probably not #4. We believe this because his wife — who was naturally crying during the interview with detectives after the shooting — said she didn’t know why her husband fired the single shot that killed Oulson, adding, “He was in law enforcement 20 years, and he never shot anybody. He’s never threatened anybody with a gun.”
By the same token — although to me you are totally nuts if you carry a loaded pistol into a theater to see a matinee on an ordinary weekday afternoon – there is no reliable evidence that poor old Reeves was “crazy” or that he placed “little value on life”. The latter supposition is supported by the fact that he never shot anybody in 20 years on the force and never even threatened anybody with a gun. So we can dispense with #1 and #2.
So that leaves us with #3, paralyzed with fear (but not too paralyzed to twitch the trigger finger).
If you think about it, fear is an integral part of the basic stand your ground/self-defense argument: “I was afraid for my life so I shot him.”
According to Curtis Reeves, this is precisely what happened to him during his ill-advised confrontation with Chad Oulson.
Tamara Lush of the Associated Press has the story:
A retired Tampa police officer who fatally shot another man in a movie theater told detectives hours after the shooting that he was scared and shot in self-defense, according to a police interview played in court Friday.
“If I had it to do over again, it would have never happened,” Curtis Reeves told Pasco County sheriff’s detectives. “But you don’t get do-overs.”
The interview was played on the second day of a bail hearing for Reeves, 71, who is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Chad Oulson, 43. Reeves has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Judge Pat Siracusa also heard a recording of Oulson’s widow, Nicole, speaking from a Tampa-area hospital on Jan. 13, the day of the shooting. (She was struck in the hand by the same bullet that killed her husband, according to the authorities.)
Nicole Oulson states on the recording: “He kept saying stuff to my husband. Immediately it didn’t even register with me, I just saw a spark and saw him go down.”
According to Nicole, Reeves’ response to his own violent action left something to be desired:
“(He) just sat in his chair, he just kind of leaned back and just sat there, didn’t try to help. As all the chaos was going on, he was just sitting there.”
As everyone who has been following this case knows, Reeves became very upset when Oulson was texting during the movie previews and apparently wouldn’t stop when Reeves asked him to. The Oulsons were sitting one row in front of Reeves and his wife.
Witnesses have stated that they didn’t see Oulson hit Reeves, but some did see popcorn flying toward him. Thus, there appears to be compelling evidence that Oulson did make the atrocious decision (which cost him his life) to throw popcorn at Reeves as a sign of the contempt he was feeling for the old man and his needs.
There is also some evidence that it happened so fast that Reeves did not make a conscious and considered decision to pull the trigger but rather lost his cool in a fit of pique and fired the fatal shot.
“This happened so damn fast,” Reeves told Detective Allen Proctor in the recording.
The bond hearing, which began on Wednesday, has taken a somewhat unusual turn. The prosecutors want Reeves to be denied bail which would mean the old fellow would have to sit in jail until his trial. The judge stated that he wanted to give both sides ample time for testimony.
Generally speaking, there are two criteria for making bond. 1) The defendant must not be a flight risk; and 2) the defendant must not be a danger to the community.
Reeves did have some colorful things to say during his police interview, which were revealed in open court via the recording. He told the detective that Oulson hit him in the face and that his glasses became crooked.
“It scared the hell out of me.” Reeves added that had he been younger, he would have “wrassled” Oulson to the ground. “The guy was very aggressive.”
Reeves’ wife Vivian told a detective that she didn’t see Oulson strike her husband, but explained that right after the shooting, her husband told her he had been hit.
Vivian Reeves, who may well be the epitome of an honest witness, also told detectives that Oulson used expletives, but didn’t make any threats. She said he stood up and turned around, leaning over the aisle toward Reeves.
The story coming from Nicole Oulson’s vantage point is somewhat different. In an interview on ABC’s “The View,” Nicole said her husband was exchanging texts with their daughter’s baby sitter when the altercation occurred.
Reeves “had confronted my husband several times, which my husband ignored and ignored and ignored. And it just got to a point where my husband spoke up.”
Reeves’ defense team called four witnesses on Wednesday in order to establish that Reeves does not have an anger issue and that he would not be a risk to the public if the judge released him on bond.
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I don’t care what anyone says. Unless the prosecution can clearly establish that Reeves has a history or pattern of inappropriate violence, he should be given bail. It is his constitutional right and though it is a right that is often breached in Federal court, the judge handling the local Pasco County proceeding appears to have his head screwed on straight, or at the very least, he is making a brave attempt to give that impression by allowing both sides to have their day in court.
At this early stage, I don’t have a strong opinion on whether Reeves has any valid self-defense argument, though my preliminary sense is that he may not. What is crystal clear to me, however, is the absurdity of the situation. What in the hell was Reeves doing packing heat in the theater? What an utter moron! And now Oulson, who may well have had an unpleasant side to his personality, as Reeves learned the hard way, has left a widow as well as at least one fatherless child.
Gun control, anyone?
Please click here to view our earlier post on the Curtis Reeves shooting:
Don’t Text at the Movies, The Life You Lose may Be Your Own!