In Ron DeSantis’ best world, things like this happen: Charges have been dropped against one of the two men who shot each other’s daughters in a road rage incident in Florida. The man who shot first is the one whose charges were dropped.
To See President Biden's 5 Best Jokes At The White House Correspondents Dinner visit The Daily.
Yes, two grown men driving down the highway in Florida ended up in a road rage semi-automatic handgun battle stemming from brake checking. They both ended up shooting each other’s daughters. Only one will face charges, because shooting at an aggressive driver’s vehicle is permissible in Florida if they have thrown a water bottle at the shooter’s vehicle.
By the way, those charges weren’t even filed until March 30 of 2023, after First Coast News reached out to the State Attorney’s office in January asking why no charges had been filed.
Prosecutors dropped charges against Frank Allison, 43, because they say he acted in “self-defense.” William Hale, 36, faces three counts of attempted murder. Allison’s first shot was “justifiable use of force” because Hale threw a water bottle first, after trying to run Allison off the highway.
Janet Johnson, identified as a criminal defense attorney, explained, “Some people would say well water bottles shouldn’t be more aggravated than a gun but under the case law that the state cited a water bottle is considered a deadly missile. The same as a bullet would be so if you’re the first aggressor even if you didn’t use a gun and you used a water bottle you don’t get to hide behind stand your ground because you caused the conflict.”
In Florida, a water bottle is considered a deadly missile, the same as a bullet.
Eating Skittles might also be seen as aggressive, depending on the darkness of your skin color. The law is applied very haphazardly and unevenly in Florida. Over a decade ago, under another Republican Governor (now Senator Rick Scott), George Zimmerman shot and killed an unarmed 17-year-old black boy named Trayvon Martin, whom Zimmerman pursued without provocation.
While Zimmerman did not actually invoke Stand Your Ground as a defense, Zimmerman’s jury did receive instructions about the Stand Your Ground law and initially, he was released because there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman’s claim of having acted in self-defense.
Zimmerman is free and his defense gave rise to a proliferation of Stand Your Ground laws, which are growing even more extreme.
Studies show Stand Your Ground laws are linked to an 11% increases in firearm homicides. Stand Your Ground laws remove the duty to retreat from an attacker when possible. They are interpreted in such a way that if the right kind of someone can convince authorities they felt threatened, they are allowed to shoot to kill or use deadly force.
In Florida, this didn’t apply to Marissa Alexander, though. The black woman “spent almost a half-dozen years either locked in prison or confined to her house after she was convicted of aggravated assault charges in 2012 for firing a warning shot at her husband, who she said had abused her. According to her account in court documents, he had threatened her nine days after she gave birth to their daughter.”
The judge denied Alexander’s Stand Your Ground defense because he said there was a “factual dispute†on her Stand Your Ground defense. In other words, Alexander’s feeling of fear – based on admitted history of violence against her – was unacceptable defense, but others who have claimed fear and actually murdered someone else have been allowed this defense based on their feelings. “Her husband at the time, Rico Gray Sr., acknowledged in a hearing that there had been previous instances of violence, and the trial judge allowed the testimony to be introduced as evidence”.
Prosecutors argued that the issue in her case was the bullet hole in the wall suggested that she had fired out of “anger.”
I would submit for consideration the concept that ongoing abuse, especially post-partum, would make anyone angry and additionally, that these two road rage white men were “angry” when they fired at each other. This is why representation matters because much of the more well-known interpretations of Stand Your Ground laws have been based on identifying with or not identifying with the victim and the aggressor.
So previous abuse doesn’t count for a feeling of fear or intimidation, but there is no duty to retreat from an attacker.
The premise of this law is a mess and in effect, subject to bias and favoritism, where certain people’s feelings of being threatened can’t be disputed, while other less favored people’s documented history of being threatened is not an acceptable defense. (I am not defending anyone use of a gun on another person; however, the application of the law is wildly uneven.)
Back to these two white men who shot each other’s daughters.
Bodycam footage released in October of 2022 showed the moments after two fathers shot each other’s young daughters on the side of a Florida highway, published by the New York Post, which wrote then (warning, while much is blurred and bleeped, this is disturbing and I haven’t embedded it for this reason):
The footage captures police officers arriving after strangers William Hale, 35, and Frank Allison, 43, shot at each other’s vehicles with semi-automatic handguns during a high-speed “cat and mouse†chase late Saturday, police said.
During the shootout, Hale’s 5-year-old daughter was struck in the leg and Allison’s 14-year-old daughter was shot in the back, leaving her with a collapsed lung, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said Monday.
While this is giving strong Florida Man vibes, the shirtless Hale seen in the bodycam footage is from Georgia and Allison from Florida. Hale pulled his Dodge up to Allison’s Nissan to shout at the driver, while Hale’s wife flipped the middle finger.
Allison rolled down his window to shout back, when a plastic water bottle was thrown from the Hale truck into the Allison SUV, which later was referred to as a “missile” that gave Allison the right to shoot Hale’s daughter under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
Allison drew his gun and shot at Hale’s vehicle, hitting his 5-year-old daughter in the leg.
Hale retaliated by firing “everything that was in the magazine- seven or eight rounds” at Allison’s SUV, which hit Allison’s daughter. Both men were arrested and faced charges of second degree attempted murder at that time.
But now, charges have been dropped against Frank Allison. The man who returned the fire, though, has been charged with seven counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault and shooting or throwing deadly weapons.
The charging documents refer to Hale driving in a reckless threatening or intimidating manner, which they say created a well-founded fear in Allison that violence was imminent. Hale threw a “stone or other hard substance” they charge, which “would produce the death or great bodily harm.” It was actually a water bottle that was thrown, which is clearly unsafe and not okay, but is not a stone or other hard substance.
Let’s pause here, because there is only one witness to the lead up of the shooting (witness did not see the actual shooting) and not a lot of detail about what specifically justifies shooting into another vehicle, although they mention Allison was trying to get away while Hale was trying to force Allison off the road.
“Because of that, prosecutors say, Allison was justified in using force because he “reasonably believe[d] that using or threatening to use deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.â€
Prosecutors say Allison was justified in using deadly force because he reasonably believed it was necessary to prevent great bodily harm. This would apply to a domestic violence victim, clearly, and yet it did not.
He (white man) believed it was necessary: This works.
She (black woman with documented history of abuse by person she did not actually shoot but tried to or fired a warning shot at) feels it was necessary: This does not work.
The problem isn’t that one or the other are right. The problem is that human beings have conflict and easy access to guns escalates conflict.
In this road rage incident, Hale was clearly aggressive and driving recklessly. The issue is that throwing a water bottle at someone’s car would not lead to a shoot out without easy access to guns.
The very same gun culture that tells people they need a gun to protect their families is the one that over and over again ends up with family members being shot in a situation that would not have escalated to the same level without the guns. In this case, two young daughters were shot and hospitalized because two men had guns in their car.
Both of thee men had concealed carry gun permits.
Stand Your Ground didn’t start under DeSantis, but he ever so quietly signed a law on April 3rd that will go into effect on July 1, 2023 allowing anyone who can legally own a gun in Florida to carry a loaded gun without a permit. Training and background checks will not be required for concealed carry guns.
DeSantis signed the bill in a nonpublic event in his office with only bill sponsors, legislative leaders and gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, in attendance.
Weapons of war given without even a basic check or training? Sure! Why not. What could go wrong, other than children being shot at even more.
Naturally this is wildly unpopular, even among Republican voters, with 77% Florida voters polled saying they were somewhat or strongly opposed to permitless carry, a number NBC pointed out “that included 62% of Republicans.”
Americans don’t want to live or die like this. It is literally being forced upon us by gun manufacturer puppets, who largely reside within the Republican Party.
This is not normal. A civilized society would not tolerate this. This is actually insane and it’s even worse that the people bringing this lawless, toxic and basic wild west culture do so under the phony guise of “family values.”
“Family values” brings us two young daughters being shot and the man who shot first is the one whose charges were dropped.
Welcome to the Republican-led hellscape of Florida, where DeSantis is known for his “Parental Rights” law. Parental rights: The state will tell you what your kids can say while children are shot at in their family vehicles and at school.
Everyone cool with this?
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
