It is a matter of political correct bull#$&* when people are arguing for the villain's rights. Don't do bad things, and the odds of you getting smacked in the face by a skateboard (or whatever else) go down by 99.99999%. If said villain hadn't acted aggressively and threatened people and still gotten smacked then the skateboarder is 100% at fault, and deserves punishment, but that isn't the case.

chill out, RandoDan. These guys just like to argue for fun, it means less than nothing.

Exactly what happened.

Skateboarders who don't talk **** don't usually get into confrontations. The ones that do, 80% are ball-less. Sorry for the confusion.

lol

Villain does have rights. Whether you think the skateboarder was justified or not in defending his own rights has absolutely no bearing on political correctness. It makes me wonder if you know what the term means.

I never claimed it was. The intention of not wanting to kill him just doesn't matter as much as some people make it out to be though. You're still taking the risk of killing him with the whole range of shoved/slapped/whacked/shot actions, according to some of ya'll it seems like the outcome should in fact be the same if he shot him (lets say in the gut for the sake of not polarizing) as long as he didn't mean to kill him.

If the outcome does change my simple question is, at which point would that be ? Shoving the guy with him landing head first on a table edge and dying shouldn't have the same consequences as smacking him in the face with a skateboard and him dying is where I'm at. The latter is obviously worse and not something I'd condone (in this specific situation).

Ok that makes a bit more sense and no-one would argue that people who go looking for trouble and are mouthy deserve a slap. That's true of anyone though, regardless of hobbies. Indeed that seems to be what happened to this drunk guy on this occasion.

this is completely ridiculous from a legal, moral, or any standpoint

Yak,
What would you have done if you were in the skateboarder's position?

It really isn't. I didn't say it doesn't matter at all, it just doesn't exonerate you from everything that happened. Answer the question, what if he shot him in the gut, stabbed him with a knife that he grabbed from a table, etc. Do you still think intention says it all in those situations ? He willingly took the risk of hurting and possibly killing someone, whether that was his intention or not.

I would have walked away. Pushed him and walked away. Yelled and walked away. Taken a punch and walked away. This was a hostile situation but not one that had to be escalated into a violent one.

I'm against any sort of violence unless you are in immediate/direct and preferably even life threatening danger. A guy amidst a crowd in a coffee shop yelling at you isn't that. I can also hardly believe he was as helpless as he was portrayed to be (a young skateboard guy vs what seems to have been a junkie), these eye witnesses were probably raised with the same kind of attitude that a lot of Americans were which means that defending yourself is a given right (as seen in this whole stand your ground bs), pretty much unconditionally. Which is funny since the Christian morals would dictate to turn the other cheek. Escalating to violence seems much more accepted within the American culture which is fine but it doesn't mean its always right.

I for one think defending yourself is a given right. I can't imagine how ****ty society would be if it wasn't.

I'm never 'taking it easy' on a crazy violent rapist accosting me at a coffee shop.

That is the most absurd leap of logic I've seen yet on these forums.

you new around here?

Now that I think about it, babs thinking he's a winning sports bettor is more absurd

That would take a world where there was no human to human violence. Everyone was sane, sober, treated each other equally, no one owned skateboards, and there was nothing to fight over, like ever.

Yak,

If Americans can't stand ground with firearms, or initiate incapacitating force with external objects at any minute threat of possible violence, then 'Merica would have to stay fit, and that's un-American.

It is when you're in immediate danger. This was not it. Your right to defend yourself doesnt trump the others right at life. Im happy with the progress were making ITT though, I never saw it coming.

lol Euros. I'm minding my own business in a place i'm totally allowed to be when a guy comes up to me and picks a fight and you want me to legally be obligated to run away? GMAFB.

One lucky punch could kill you, or knock you unconscious. If running away isn't an option, fighting a stranger where you aren't trying your hardest to win via any means necessary is terrible life planning.

Like, sorry I killed you, but I had to try and paralyze you before you had the chance to either do me the same, or I was sure that wasn't your intention.

Yeah, it's the rest of the modern western world who are crazy! You tell em! Maybe you guys can teach us more on some violence related subjects like police violence, gang violence and gun control, dying to hear how we are lol euro's! I never expected you guys to get it just like I wouldnt expect to convert a christian through the magic of internet posting.

I have 6 skateboards and decided to test how I'd use each one as a weapon. Normal skateboard decks are insanely lethal if held by the trucks in a dominant hand and swung while the kick tail is pressed against the wrist. The edge of the deck is incredibly sharp and could probably deal a crippling blow very quickly in a short range.

My longer boards do not have the one handed lethality of the shorter decks but if I hold the trucks in each hand it becomes a shield and a 2 handed weapon that's pretty scary.

I do not think a gun or knife in this situation is acceptable unless the person threatening had a weapon as well but how dangerous is a skateboard? After taking the time to be a weirdo and analyze the lethality of my skateboard collection I know that they are dangerous. I think longboard vs bat or knifeis a way more interesting scenario.

No way that if everyone in the shop says he was threatened is true he is 100% innocent. This was not reckless, negligent, malicious, or premeditated. This seems like a very very large fluke where the attacker was justified to take 1 swing with the most effective, arguably seemingly non-lethal weapon at hand to move past a threat.

It's hard to say, I was not there and I'm really happy I wasn't.

+1 ^. I would expect a skull fracture if the board was used aggressively.

There's probably surveillance footage to look forward to...

Is the general consensus itt that Americans are a lot better at logic than Europeans, would Americans completely crush Europeans in an IQ test?