The trial – as some of you may be aware – is underway. If you read further down in the blog, you will find my analysis based on the 911 Call (with a link to it) and the Probable Cause Statement (with a link to it). It has been VERY interesting to see how things have progressed.
I had an individual question my credibility based on the fact that I pointed out that it is entirely possible for the safety on the firearm to have changed position based on the statement that Mr. Serbeck put his gun down and kicked it away. They claimed that it was highly unlikely.
Yesterday in the courtroom, an expert dropped the gun and kicked it away. The safety lever moved from deactivated to activated. The gun was also stepped on, and again the lever moved from deactivated to activated. Apparently, not only was the gun kicked away from Mr. Serbeck, but it was also turned again by the foot of another individual. It also had blood on it. Interesting that it would have blood on it when Mr. Serbeck claimed to have kicked it away before he was shot.
I have always said that there is something not right about what Mr. Serbeck claimed – how he was holding the firearm and what he did with it. I think we are starting to see that his story is not making much sense.
NEITHER ONE of these men should have been where they were. This situation was the result of an entire series of bad decisions made by both men – starting with the bad decision by two older white males to confront two underage females. In an age where avoiding even the appearance of evil is a good idea (schools are locked down over incidents like this), they really screwed up. They also apparently tailgated the girls at another point. Again, a VERY bad decision on the part of two people that were acting as if they were on a neighborhood watch – even though they apparently have no training to do so (where you are trained to OBSERVE and REPORT, not to confront) and there was no officially organized or recognized neighborhood watch program.
At each point in the situation there were decision points where it could have been stopped. Even Mr. Campos confronting them did not have to be such a tragic decision.
This incident does need to be analyzed decision-by-decision. Right up to the decision where Mr. Campos decided to fire his gun.
The moral of the story is that NEITHER MAN SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE. Both parties made a series of very bad decisions, and they are now paying for them.My advice to you is to simply keep a clear head at all times. Don’t be there.