Nov 4, 6:30 AM EST
Judge: Mich. man can sue store he robbed
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge says a man who claims he was chased, shot and beaten by workers at a store he’d just robbed can sue the men. But only if he comes up with $10,000 within two weeks.
Scott T. Zielinski is serving an 8-year prison sentence after being convicted of unarmed robbery for the November 2007 heist at Nick’s Party Stop in Clinton Township.
The 23-year-old filed a lawsuit against the store, its owner and three employees in April. Zielinski was shot twice and claims he was excessively beaten.
Circuit Judge David Viviano ruled this week that although Zielinski is indigent and imprisoned, he must post a $10,000 bond to cover the store and employees’ attorneys fees if he looses the case.
Zielinski is seeking $125,000.
Every so often you read a story that makes you wonder.
We do have laws in this country that protect people from vigilante action. However, we also have laws that permit deadly action in self-defense. There is an old joke that says that if you shoot someone at the door of your home, then either make sure that s/he falls inside the house or drag them in. Usually the joke is made in a very negative way, but most people do not think it through. Do you really want scared homeowners buying AK-47 Rifle parts to assemble the gun and then chase people into public areas while holding firearms and trying to shoot? No, we really do not want that, and the joke about the doorway implies that once someone enters your home, you should be able to chase them down and kill them.
On the other hand, we are allowed to do citizen’s arrest. And, under that law, we are allowed to chase someone who has broken into our house, arrest them, and detain them for the police. However, people who use those laws are bound by regulations similar to those of the police. That is, one is bound by the same rules against excessive violence that bind the police. There is some leeway, since it is not expected that civilians have all the training that a police person has. Nevertheless, civilians are not free to simply wreak violence on a law breaker.
The inmate in this lawsuit has way too much time on his hand. And, since he does have that time, he found a small seam he could attack. That seam is the difference between self-defense in your home or place of employ, and the legal change that takes place when you turn into a pursuer acting under the civilian arrest laws. It does not matter to him is he wastes the court’s time, he has time to waste. And, he thought, it does not matter if he wastes the court’s money and the money of those who must defend against him, why should he care, he is already a thief.
My only question is why the judge did not dismiss this suit out of hand. The police and the prosecutor did not see the employees as committing excessive violence in their pursuit of the thief, otherwise they would have charged them as well. I think that the judge was being too cute by half. It is unlikely that the inmate will be able to come up with the money necessary, but then, it only takes one donor and the suit could be filed. The judge may have thought that he could pull a joke on the inmate, but the joke could come back to bite him. And, so, this is crazy season again. An inmate files a crazy lawsuit. A judge makes a crazy ruling.
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