The Gunshine State’s ludicrous Stand Your Ground law—and the mindsets it creates—has left the family of an unarmed black man demanding justice, and the white man who killed him in hiding with no charges pending.
Britany Jacobs had just gotten off work, so she stayed in the car with the babies on Thursday afternoon, while her boyfriend, Markeis McGlockton, took their young son into a Clearwater, Florida, convenience store. While Jacobs was waiting for them to buy snacks and drinks, an SUV entered the lot and stopped in a non-spot, perpendicular to Jacobs’ car.
Surveillance video shows Michael Drejka, 47, getting out of the SUV. He immediately checks the front and back of Jacobs’ car before accosting her for illegally parking in a handicapped spot. As Drejka continues to rant, customers come and go without paying much attention to the altercation, except for one looky-loo in a blue shirt, who pauses before entering the store, but doesn’t intervene.
Footage then shows Jacobs, 25, getting out of her car—just as McGlockton leaves the store, with Blue Shirt on his heels. Upon seeing a stranger arguing with the mother of his three children, McGlockton, 28, shoves Drejka to the ground and away from Jacobs, and Blue Shirt moves as though to break things up. Without a moment of hesitation, Drejka pulls out a gun; Blue Shirt sees it and hurries away. Just a beat behind him, McGlockton also sees the gun and starts to back away, but Drejka pulls the trigger immediately. McGlockton, hit in the chest, flees into the store, and Jacobs soon follows. Drejka sits for a few moments before walking to his SUV.
Five-year-old Markeis McGlockton, Jr., still in the store, watched as his father collapsed, bleeding, and his mother applied pressure to the wound. Markeis McGlockton, Sr. later succumbed to his wounds at a local hospital.
On Friday, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced that his office would not pursue charges against Drejka. Because McGlockton pushed him, the shooting "is within the bookends of ‘stand your ground’ and within the bookends of force being justified."
"Just because you can doesn’t mean you should," Gualtieri said at the start of a news conference on the case.
"Does this law create a situation where people shoot first and ask questions later?" Gualtieri said. "You can have that discussion. You can have that debate. I don't make the law. I enforce the law."
"I'm not saying I agree with it," he went on to say, "but I don't get to make that call."
Florida’s always controversial Stand Your Ground law essentially grants immunity to anyone who uses lethal force and then manages to convince authorities that they were in fear for their life. The law, which doesn’t require people to attempt retreat before shooting, was strengthened by Florida legislators last year; before someone can even be arrested, authorities now must prove the self-defense-on-steroids statute doesn’t apply. Previously, defense attorneys had to prove it did.
Even the police acknowledge that the change could have made all the difference in this case.
Sheriff Gualtieri, who is also a lawyer, said the outcome may have been different before "stand your ground," and maybe even before last year’s revision, pointing out there’s a few-second pause between the time Drejka hits the ground and the time he shoots.
"That pause gives me pause," the sheriff said.
He continued: "But I don’t get to, and we don’t get to, substitute our judgment for Drejka’s judgment."
Predictably, Drejka, who had a valid concealed carry permit, could not be reached for comment.
While Drejka hides, a family of five just became a family of four. Jacobs, who describes McGlockton as her high school sweetheart, finds herself struggling to make sense of it, because this makes no sense.
Britany Jacobs says she feels like (Drejka) “got away with murder." “How is this stand your ground law? It’s not! Markeis pushed him, how does that justify a bullet?” Jacobs questioned.
“My son saw the whole thing. I'm hurting. My kids are hurting. They've been asking where their dad is. My 5-year-old saw it all! This is not right. This case cannot be thrown out," Jacobs said while sobbing.
Jacobs and the family have secured their own attorney as they explore options for justice. Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office has referred the case to the State’s Attorney’s Office, who may still opt to pursue charges.
Those who work at the convenience store report that this is not the first time Drejka has had an altercation in the store’s parking lot over the handicapped spot.
Ali Salous, the owner of the Circle A convenience store, told us Drejka has caused problems at his store before.
"This guy -- he did this before," Salous said. "He always hangs out in the parking lot and if he sees someone parking, he just wants to start trouble with people."
One of his cashiers, and another of Drejka’s victims, offer a few more details on just what kind of “trouble” the legal killer has started in the past.
Mustafa Hashen, a clerk and witness, said it wasn’t the first time he saw Drejka in a fight with another customer. A couple of months back, Rick Kelly stopped by the store, parking his tanker truck in the same handicap spot.
The details to Thursday’s incident are similar: Drejka walking around the truck checking for decals, then confronting Kelly, 31, about why he parked there. The fight escalated, and Drejka threatened to shoot him, Kelly said.
"It’s a repeat. It happened to me the first time. The second time it’s happening, someone’s life got taken," Kelly said. "He provoked that."
What a deadly hobby, to appoint oneself as a parking lot patrolman. It’s eerily familiar to the neighborhood watch-obsessed George Zimmerman, who made Stand Your Ground infamous after he killed Trayvon Martin.