The Florida man who says he was legally standing his ground when he killed an unarmed black man in a dispute over a parking space has been charged with manslaughter. When Markeis McGlockton emerged from a store to find Michael Drejka yelling at his girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, for having parked in a handicapped space, he came to Jacobs’ defense and shoved Drejka to the ground. Drejka then fatally shot him.
An attorney for McGlockton’s family points to a key flaw in Drejka’s “stand your ground” defense:
Rayner pointed out that the security video shows McGlockton retreating from Drejka after he pushed the man down in an effort to protect Jacobs and his children. She said that it took four seconds for Drejka to make "the conscious decision" to shoot McGlockton.
Drejka has a long record of road rage and threatening people with his gun. In two separate incidents in 2012, Drejka threatened other drivers with his gun, then denied having done so when questioned by police—in both cases, the police pointed out that the other drivers somehow knew that Drejka had a gun, which would be an unusual piece of information for them to have if he hadn’t brandished the weapon. In another case, Drejka was cited for causing a crash when he braked hard in front of a woman driving with two small children. And just a few months ago Drejka even threatened to shoot a man for parking in the very same handicapped space at issue in his verbal assault on Britany Jacobs and shooting of Markeis McGlockton.
One hopes that prosecutors will make good use of all of this information in Drejka’s trial. It’s clear that the man is a menace, and getting away with murder once won’t make him any less dangerous.