A headline in the Tampa Bay Times reports: “Dunedin man fired 30 AR-15 rounds at pool cleaner he thought was intruder, sheriff says.” The story starts:
“A Dunedin man will not face charges after he fired 30 rounds from his AR-15 rifle at his pool cleaner whom he mistook for an intruder earlier this month, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced on Monday.”
It seems that last June 15th, around 9 pm, Bradley Hocevar (57) was watching a movie at home with his wife Jana (43). She heard a noise coming from their lanai. Investigating, she saw an unfamiliar man a few feet from her sliding glass doors and called 911. So far, so good.
The man was not a stranger. He was their regular pool cleaner Karl Polek (33), who worked for Bay Area Pool Techs. He was there to clean the Hocevars’ pool. However, Polek had never worked after dark during the previous six months he had cleaned the Hocevar’s pool.
Bradley yelled at Polek to go away. Unfortunately, Polek was going to his truck to get a flashlight and did not hear him. Security camera footage showed Polek returning to the pool area, using the flashlight to complete paperwork. As he went to place the paperwork by the door, Bradley saw the flashlight moving toward the house. He opened fire and sent two rounds through the sliding glass door.
Polek ran away, but the Hocevars could not see because the blinds were closed, and they had taken cover behind their couch.
Both the 911 dispatcher and Jana repeatedly pleaded with Bradley to stop shooting. But 47 seconds after the first two rounds, he fired a few more. Finally, 25 seconds later, Bradley unloaded his AR-15′s magazine — meaning he fired 30 rounds in about 90 seconds. Polek sustained minor injuries from shrapnel and flying glass but was not hit directly by the bullets.
Bradley will not face any charges because, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law protects Bradley Hocevar’s right to fire on someone he believed was a threat to him and his wife. “There was no crime committed,” Gualtieri said. “This is one of those situations we call lawful but awful.”
It seems strange to write that pool cleaners should be able to do their job without a death sentence looming over their heads. But that is not the America we live in — especially in the red states. Polek did admit he would have been wise to call ahead. But not doing the smart thing should not be a capital offense.
I agree that homeowners have a right to defend themselves. But what Bradley did goes well beyond what should be allowed by the law and common sense. After firing the first two shots, what did Bradley think he was firing at — 47 seconds later? The blinds were closed.
Deputies found stray bullets on the shuffleboard court behind the Hocevar’s home. What would the law say if some innocent bystander had been shot and killed? “Sorry, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time?”
Why did Bradley blindly fire twice? The last time a minute and 13 seconds after Polek ran away? And why is that not against the law?
The problem is that gun owners in the US are swamped by propaganda telling them to shoot first. This dumbass, macho approach to guns is encouraged by laws that enable people to blast away with few consequences. And the gun rights organizations never match their “use your 2A rights, or you’re a pussy” with a complementary message like “try not to shoot innocent people.”
Republican politicians and the NRA should face charges of abetting murder. They terrify the weak-minded with ominous messages of out-of-control crime and grease the skids to carnage. But they don’t care as long as it gets them votes and keeps Wayne LaPierre in Italian suits.
I have never robbed a house. But I suspect that should I wish to do so, I would sneak up on the place and keep my flashlight off. And if I wanted to kill two homeowners, I wouldn’t bring tools and clean their pool first.