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by marcusverus
1993 days ago
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Rittenhouse was in the open, chased and later surrounded by hostile protesters who variously threw things at him, hit him, and attempted to take his rifle. The NYT reported that there had been gunfire as Rittenhouse retreated, and he may have thought it was aimed at him. The Policeman was with a number of other cops. They had ample room and time to retreat. There was a closed and barricaded door between him and the woman he shot. He fired the first shot. They both have a case for self-defense, but the Cop's case is going to be a harder sell. |
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She was in the middle of climbing through the top of the barricade, which is what got her shot.
DC is also a stand your ground territory, there is no duty to retreat even in civil matters. I think it would be very easy to convince at least a single juror that "a riot attempting to break into your place of work" would instill a reasonable fear of bodily harm. Doubly so when your place of work is the center of the nation's legislative branch. Quadruply so when the rioters are known to be armed.
Even if the officer didn't have reason to fear for his own life, shooting someone because you have a reasonable fear that they will cause bodily harm to someone else is legal. These people were armed and attempting to break into a session of congress. Fear that they might attempt to shoot a legislator would not be an unreasonable concern.