Shot in the Dark

Chalk One Up For The Good Guys

Make no mistake about it – killing a human being, even in self-defense, is a tragedy.

In the case of homicide justified in self-defense, it’s the second-worst tragedy there is.

The Hennepin County Attorney has h declined to prosecute Christopher Lamotte – a bouncer at Grumpy’s Bar, in Northeast Minneapolis – for the shooting of Tirso Gomez.  Gomez allegedly attacked the bouncer with a knife after a closing-time altercation outside the bar:

Minneapolis police asked that no charges be filed, as investigators thought it was a justified killing. Prosecutors agreed, telling FOX 9’s Paul Blume on Friday it was “a valid claim of self defense.”

The Hennepin County attorney’s office said bouncers are not afforded any special privileges in their role as security enforcers at bars and clubs. The right to have a weapon on site is up to individual management and ownership. There was no sign on the door at Grumpy’s banning guns.

I wonder if a bouncer in Saint Paul could expect the same sort of justice.

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Mitch Berg

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26 responses to “Chalk One Up For The Good Guys”

  1. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    I doubt that St. Paul would give the same considerations. Their police officers practically have to ask permission of a driver before they issue a ticket.

    On a related note, everyone needs to take a look at the latest gun grab legislation that is being prepared for ramming down our throats. H R 45 is a serious threat to the R2KBA. Since large numbers of union members are hunters, I wonder if any of them are aware of this additional affront to our constitution from authors that are supported by their union dues?

  2. nerdbert Avatar
    nerdbert

    boss, union members don’t make decisions on campaign contributions, their betters in the union management do. So, no, expect no protests from the unions about the bill, that might further inflame passions the wrong way in this election cycle.

  3. Dog Gone Avatar
    Dog Gone

    So…….the law worked precisely the way it is supposed to work, contrary to all the wailing about what was going to happen that was posted here to the contrary, back when this happened.

  4. Badda Avatar
    Badda

    Let’s get some links to the older post, shall we? Put the “wailing about” that Dog decries.

  5. Badda Avatar
    Badda

    Dog,
    Another question… and yet another that I hope you actually read and answer.

    Which comments and statements wail about?
    http://www.shotinthedark.info/wp/?p=12056

  6. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    DG,

    There was no wailing.

    ‘splain, please?

  7. bubbasan Avatar
    bubbasan

    Doggone, we can quibble about what constitutes “wailing,” but reality here is that most good carry permit instructors can and do inform their classes that Minneapolis has a strong bias against carry permit holders, including an informal (perhaps formal?) policy of “arrest the gun.”

    Given that Ramsey County has about the highest rate of permit rejections, and accompanying highest rate of permit rejection overturnings, it is a logical inference that had Mr. Lamotte been there, he might not have fared so well. Makes sense?

    Did the law work exactly as planned? I don’t know; we don’t know what legal bills Lamotte incurred, and we don’t know exactly how clear the evidence was. Thankfully, Hennepin is not trying to make him an example like they did with Mr. Treptow.

  8. Chuck Avatar
    Chuck

    Union members objecting? Hardly. Recall that the union boys/girls in NE Minnesota (you know, miners) formed a “blue-green alliance” with enviromentalists. So the United Mine Workers is supporting a group that wants to end mining.

  9. Loren Avatar
    Loren

    As far as St. Paul goes, remember it is the Ramsey county Sheriff Fletcher who seems to have a problem with the permit to carry. I don’t know that that attitude carries over to the SPPD. I don’t know that it doesn’t either.

  10. Scott Hughes Avatar
    Scott Hughes

    I’m happy that Christopher Lamotte won’t be fighting criminal charges. I’m worried what might happen to him financially in civil proceedings. I’d be far less concerned if we had a “Stand Your Ground” law.

  11. DiscordianStooj Avatar
    DiscordianStooj

    including an informal (perhaps formal?) policy of “arrest the gun.”

    And this is false.

  12. joelr Avatar
    joelr

    Well, no, isn’t; I just had one of the gun-arrested guys in my class last weekend. And, as long as we’re on the subject, perhaps you’d care to claim that the guy pulled over on a DWB, who was arrested for possession of hollow point ammo by a “civilian” and then “unarrested” doesn’t exist, either. (Just as well he went quietly; he couldn’t later have been unthumped, untased, and unshod.

  13. joelr Avatar
    joelr

    Errr.. That s/b “unshot”.

  14. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    DiscoStoo repeats a piece of “government is my mother, it would never behave badly” conventional wisdom.

    JoelR refutes it.

    What will Disco’s response be?

  15. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    What will Disco’s response be?

    He will leave the thought unthunk.

  16. joelr Avatar
    joelr

    Well, I’d be happy for a fuller, candid response, actually. But I’ll not hold my breath.

    That said, and just to be clear: I’m not bluffing. I can, under proper circumstances (and with respect to the privacy of the offended parties) document both that particular “arrest the gun” by MPD, and the bizarre arrest (including what the [female, as it happens] cop wrote as the utterly silly charge — what she said was the crime, well, isn’t — when she booked him in, before the “unarrest”) of the guy who got pulled over on a DWB.

    The cop, by the way, did not ask him, “Excuse me, sir? Did you realize how black you were driving?”

  17. Scott Hughes Avatar
    Scott Hughes

    “I wonder if a bouncer in Saint Paul could expect the same sort of justice.”

    I think it can be said (pretty much with certainty) that you shouldn’t expect the same sort of justice from Anoka County. Especially if you’re an off duty security guard, traveling with your young family through Coon Rapids, and have the misfortune to encounter a deranged undercover Robbinsdale cop named Landen Beard.

  18. Troy Avatar
    Troy

    Scott Hughes said:

    “you shouldn’t expect the same sort of justice from Anoka County”

    Since election time is coming right up, is there anyone on the ballot in Anoka that might need to be helped out (of office)?

  19. DiscordianStooj Avatar
    DiscordianStooj

    DiscoStoo repeats a piece of “government is my mother, it would never behave badly” conventional wisdom.

    I said no such thing.

    I said there is no formal or informal policy. I can’t dispute that individual cops have/do/will make mistakes, but Joel’s anecdotes do not a policy make.

  20. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    Yeah but when those “anecdotes” seem to repeat themselves more often than chance would allow, one can certain infer that there is an unofficial policy.

    Just because it’s not written down, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

  21. joelr Avatar
    joelr

    I said there is no formal

    I’m not sure. While all of the policy manuals are “public data” under the MGDPA, the MPD refuses to release most of them. Don’t think anybody’s taken them to court over that; lawyers cost money. “How much transparency can you afford?” and such. Still, the FTO handbook, which is easily available provides some intriguing hints.

    or informal policy.

    Bull. There’s just too many of those “isolated incidents” that I can verify, and scads of others that I can’t.

    I can’t dispute that individual cops have/do/will make mistakes, but Joel’s anecdotes do not a policy make.

    True. But the evidence makes it clear that there’s a lot of at least unofficial policies. Look at the reports and the numbers at the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project, for example. (His methodology is sound, although it only deals — and can only deal — with reported incidents.)

    One more anecdote. We all remember how Boomer got a slap on the wrist for shoving those two drunk Indians in the trunk of his car, and riding them around a while before taking them in.

    What’s happened since? With the case long over, Boomer’s “improved” the story, and will regale younger officers with exaggerated (at least I hope they’re exaggerated) recounts: shoved them into the trunk? I flung the bastards like they were fucking frisbies, and then gave them a half dozen squats before I finally got them to the precinct. Wonder why the city of Minneapolis can’t find an insurance company to underwrite them?

    Maybe you could ask Mike Sauro, or Mike Parent or Billy Hannan — the latter of whom did beat the wife-beating charges, but not got caught dirty enough on other things that he was suspended three times and fired once, but was rehired even after the assault conviction (Hannan was convicted on *all* of the charges) on his ex and her new boyfriend.

    Heckuva department you got there, Disco.

  22. joelr Avatar
    joelr

    And, just to pile on, this was a baaaad time for Disco to talk about “mistakes.” The Metro Strike Force Gang, dominated by the MPD, just copped a plea. http://is.gd/eDxOz for the news; http://www.gangstrikefarce.com/ for the background.

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