Convicted Thief Sues Store He Robbed

America has problems. *LOTS* of problems. And crap like this just ain’t helping.

 According to police and court records, Zeilinski came in wearing a mask and carrying a knife that he put to the throats of several employees, threatening to kill them before stealing cigarettes and cash. As he was leaving–reportedly still making threats–one of the young clerks grabbed a gun and shot him in the arm and back. Zeilinski’s lawyer says his client is asking in excess of $125,000 for pain and suffering and emotional distress.

With luck, the lawsuit will get thrown out. And if we lived in a rational society, Zeilinski’s lawyer would be disbarred, fined the court costs and legal costs of the defendants and put in stocks in the town square for a day or two for children to mock and throw rotten veggies at.

There is an important lesson here: If you are going to shoot a robber, aim for the head and center of mass. Dead criminals rarely hire lawyers to sue their victims. Dead criminals also cost society a hell of a lot less to incarcerate. Think it’s harsh to suggest killing this man? I don’t. He chose of his own volition to threaten death upon the innocent, a threat that he seemed capable of carrying out. Had he escaped without harm, there’s no reason to think he would not have done it again, but with lethal consequences for some other poor clerk.

One of the problems is that he was shot in the back. From a legal standpoint, this could be a problem… according to our degraded legal system, once the threat is over, lethal force is not to be employed. And the flawed assumption somehow is that if the criminal has turned his back on you, the threat is over.

Well, there’s another legal line of thought: SSS. Triple S. However you want to call it, it boils down to:

Shoot.

Shovel.

Shut up.

Dead criminals buried in shallow graves far off the beaten path also don’t hire lawyers to sue their victims.

Remember… friend shelp you move. Real friends help you move bodies.

A movie I saw long ago:

A) Cowboy shoots another cowboy in the back

B) Witness, a cityboy enamoured of “the code of the west” and similar mythical hero rubbish, is shocked. “You shot him in the back!”

C) Cowboy: “It was to me.”