repsychler
Member
This is from my home state of Minnesota...
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/973089.html
At age 74, Kenneth Englund has a long record as an Isanti County farmer, Township Board member, livestock hauler, church member, road maintenance guy and good neighbor.
And now, because he used a shotgun to hold a thief after he gave chase at 70 miles an hour, he is an accused felon, too.
While chasing a vehicle carrying the man, a woman and a 3-year-old child, Englund asked the Sheriff's Office via cell phone if he should "blow them away," according to a criminal complaint. However, his shotgun was found to be unloaded.
Englund is facing second-degree assault charges; the thief, who the sheriff said admitted stealing about $5 worth of gasoline from Englund's neighbor, was charged with misdemeanor theft.
The situation has touched nerves beyond Bradford Township, about 45 miles north of Minneapolis, where rising crime has brought unusually large numbers of people to town meetings.
More than 350 people attended a fundraising dinner for Englund last month and a petition has gone around supporting his case.
A prosecutor said communications to his office are running 70 to 80 percent in Englund's favor.
But Sheriff Mike Ammend said that people can't take the law into their own hands, and that Englund's actions were "an invitation to a shootout. There's so many things that could have gone wrong here."
The vehicle Englund chased also carried a woman and a 3-year-old child, the sheriff said, and "what happens if there was a crash?"
A long history of legal decisions runs against people who use force to protect property.
In a 1983 case that drew national attention, a jury ruled that a man in Holloway, Minn., should pay $77,000 to a burglar he chased down and shot in the foot. The case was settled for half that or less; the burglar got probation.
In 1999, a Red Wing man was sentenced to six months in jail after he booby-trapped his Wisconsin cabin and injured a burglar. According to media reports, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld $30,000 in damages against the owner of a booby-trapped abandoned farmhouse in 1978, and a California homeowner was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon when his spring gun shot a teenage burglar in 1974.
Prosecutor: Jail would be 'silly'
In Isanti County, Dan Conlin, chief deputy county attorney, said that no one is looking to put Englund in jail -- "that is silly," he said -- and that the charge "doesn't need to be resolved as a felony, obviously," but that the charge fits the facts.
Those facts, according to a criminal complaint:
Englund confronted Christian Harris Smith, 28, and the woman at the vacant farm next to Englund's place about 10 a.m. on Oct. 15, pointed a gun at them, then chased them.
Englund didn't see the theft in progress, but said the vehicle was the same one that was there a day earlier when a radiator disappeared from a truck. He pleaded not guilty, was released without bail and is scheduled to return to court Feb. 22.
Smith also was charged with another theft and was held in the county jail on a felony warrant from another state.
Concerns about rising crime
Richard Hansen, chairman of the Bradford Township Board, said that crime has risen so much that 40 to 60 people have shown up at board meetings, and that a committee has been formed to meet with the sheriff and county attorney. The township does not have a police force.
Barbara Ford, of Ham Lake, who owns the land where the theft took place, said there have been attempted break-ins on the property.
"I'll do anything I can to support Mr. Englund," she said.
Englund said criminals can be long gone by the time a deputy arrives from Cambridge, the county seat, about 14 miles away. The sheriff said that, with a rising call rate and 14 deputies to patrol 440 miles of roads, his department is understaffed.
"We want people's help, we need their help [calling with information], but we don't want people taking the law into their own hands," he said.
Hansen said Englund has been a Township Board member for 37 years and has overwhelming support in the community.
"Somebody's got to look out for the people," Hansen said, "and I guess that's what he's been doing for 40-odd years."
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/973089.html
At age 74, Kenneth Englund has a long record as an Isanti County farmer, Township Board member, livestock hauler, church member, road maintenance guy and good neighbor.
And now, because he used a shotgun to hold a thief after he gave chase at 70 miles an hour, he is an accused felon, too.
While chasing a vehicle carrying the man, a woman and a 3-year-old child, Englund asked the Sheriff's Office via cell phone if he should "blow them away," according to a criminal complaint. However, his shotgun was found to be unloaded.
Englund is facing second-degree assault charges; the thief, who the sheriff said admitted stealing about $5 worth of gasoline from Englund's neighbor, was charged with misdemeanor theft.
The situation has touched nerves beyond Bradford Township, about 45 miles north of Minneapolis, where rising crime has brought unusually large numbers of people to town meetings.
More than 350 people attended a fundraising dinner for Englund last month and a petition has gone around supporting his case.
A prosecutor said communications to his office are running 70 to 80 percent in Englund's favor.
But Sheriff Mike Ammend said that people can't take the law into their own hands, and that Englund's actions were "an invitation to a shootout. There's so many things that could have gone wrong here."
The vehicle Englund chased also carried a woman and a 3-year-old child, the sheriff said, and "what happens if there was a crash?"
A long history of legal decisions runs against people who use force to protect property.
In a 1983 case that drew national attention, a jury ruled that a man in Holloway, Minn., should pay $77,000 to a burglar he chased down and shot in the foot. The case was settled for half that or less; the burglar got probation.
In 1999, a Red Wing man was sentenced to six months in jail after he booby-trapped his Wisconsin cabin and injured a burglar. According to media reports, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld $30,000 in damages against the owner of a booby-trapped abandoned farmhouse in 1978, and a California homeowner was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon when his spring gun shot a teenage burglar in 1974.
Prosecutor: Jail would be 'silly'
In Isanti County, Dan Conlin, chief deputy county attorney, said that no one is looking to put Englund in jail -- "that is silly," he said -- and that the charge "doesn't need to be resolved as a felony, obviously," but that the charge fits the facts.
Those facts, according to a criminal complaint:
Englund confronted Christian Harris Smith, 28, and the woman at the vacant farm next to Englund's place about 10 a.m. on Oct. 15, pointed a gun at them, then chased them.
Englund didn't see the theft in progress, but said the vehicle was the same one that was there a day earlier when a radiator disappeared from a truck. He pleaded not guilty, was released without bail and is scheduled to return to court Feb. 22.
Smith also was charged with another theft and was held in the county jail on a felony warrant from another state.
Concerns about rising crime
Richard Hansen, chairman of the Bradford Township Board, said that crime has risen so much that 40 to 60 people have shown up at board meetings, and that a committee has been formed to meet with the sheriff and county attorney. The township does not have a police force.
Barbara Ford, of Ham Lake, who owns the land where the theft took place, said there have been attempted break-ins on the property.
"I'll do anything I can to support Mr. Englund," she said.
Englund said criminals can be long gone by the time a deputy arrives from Cambridge, the county seat, about 14 miles away. The sheriff said that, with a rising call rate and 14 deputies to patrol 440 miles of roads, his department is understaffed.
"We want people's help, we need their help [calling with information], but we don't want people taking the law into their own hands," he said.
Hansen said Englund has been a Township Board member for 37 years and has overwhelming support in the community.
"Somebody's got to look out for the people," Hansen said, "and I guess that's what he's been doing for 40-odd years."
