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Florida man pulls assault rifle on father and daughter over a parking dispute [1]
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Date: 2022-07-13
Mark McCloskey, is that you?
In Clearwater last Thursday, 44-year-old David H Berry of Fat Finger Construction has pulled an AR-15 style rifle on 46-year-old Jeremy Lee and his 22-year-old daughter, Carrie Lee.
This all started after Jeremy Lee’s ramp of his parked trailer was partially blocking the driveway of Berry’s residence; around that time, Jeremy Lee was landscaping a lawn across the street from Berry’s home. Although Lee apologised and decided to move his pickup forward to clear the driveway, Berry nevertheless continued to have a heated argument with Lee. That’s when Berry decided to get his assault rifle at the ready, continuously flaunting his Stand Your Ground privileges at Jeremy and Carrie.
“I was really worried about her,” [Jeremy Lee] said. “I was stunned. I think I said you’re going to kill me in front of my daughter?” His daughter said she feared the worst. “I thought he was going to take my dad’s life, honestly,” Carrie said. “Then I was like, ‘well, if you take his, he’s probably going to take mine.'”
x Really Florida??
Construction Co. owner David Berry held a rifle as he yelled at landscaper Jeremy Lee because his driveway was partially blocked by Lee's equipment
In Clearwater Berry has been charged in the past w/ battery, burglary & theft. All reduced to misdemeanors pic.twitter.com/YgqxUfCgxp — DrawOutsideTheLines (@lines_draw) July 12, 2022
The incident has grabbed the attention of the Clearwater Police Department, given that the since-deleted video was posted on TikTok. Although, the video was taken after Berry pointed his rifle at the Lees. Berry claimed that he was threatened by the Lees. Police are still trying to put together this exchange before filing any needed charges, particularly Berry being charged for aggravated assault with a firearm. Also, note that according to Florida Statute 790.10, any person brandishing a weapon "in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner” without an act of self-defence can be charged with a first-degree misdemeanour in the state of Florida. Clearwater Police Department will try to seek cooperation with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office for this investigation.
“We are actively investigating this incident and will be presenting the case to the Office of the State Attorney,” Police Chief Dan Slaughter wrote in a statement. “The bottom line is a dispute over parking should never have escalated to something like this. If you have a problem with someone partially blocking the driveway, you call the police. You don’t grab a gun like some vigilante.”
With that being said, Jeremy Lee has posted a video on Facebook where he stated that “the finest … do not see a problem with this”, given how it doesn’t seem as if David Berry was treated by authorities as a serious threat. Berry has a fair amount of criminal history, given that he had three felonies, including battery and burglary; all were eventually pegged down to misdemeanours. Gjyle Lazri, the owner of the home being landscaped by the Lees, remained shaken by this disturbing incident, especially given that the surrounding area is peaceful, for the most part. Lazri managed to have the incident recorded on a security camera.
"I see the neighbor out there arguing , unfortunately I didn’t see the part when he pointed the gun, but I was able to go on my mic to talk back and forth with the daughter and she briefly told me what happened," Lazri told CL. "She sounded so scared, I felt so bad that there was nothing I could do at the moment. I just kept apologizing and she said they were OK and that her dad called the cops." She went on to say that she feels like Berry, "completely overreacted because [the trailer] honestly was a few inches near his driveway and even after the fact of them moving it up more, he still was threatening them."
Furthermore, Carrie Lee has stated that the incident may be an act of racism. That statement is definitely not off the mark, given that it is extremely likely the incident will have a different outcome if the AR-carrying man was black.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/13/2110177/-Florida-man-pulls-assault-rifle-on-father-and-daughter-over-a-parking-dispute
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