Would-Be Robber Sues 2 Who Foiled Plan

[dla4122]

Would-Be Robber Sues 2 Who Foiled Plan

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 10, 2006
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(CBS/AP) A man who was beaten by employees of an auto parts store he
was trying to rob is now suing the store and those employees.

Police say Dana Buckman entered the AutoZone in Rochester, New York,
last July, brandished a semi-automatic pistol and demanded cash.

Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega – who were working that day – didn't
cooperate. The pair beat the would-be robber with a pipe and held him at bay
with his own gun.

Buckman escaped when the employees retreated into the store to call
911, but he was arrested a week later. Buckman pleaded guilty to
first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a repeat violent
felon.

But now, Buckman is suing the auto parts store and the two men who beat
him, claiming they committed assault and battery and intentionally
inflicted emotional distress.

"It seems to me a bit audacious," Patrick Naylon, the attorney for
AutoZone, Crespo and Vega told CBSNews.com's Lloyd de Vries. "The plaintiff
first tried to rob AutoZone with a gun, and now he's trying to rob it
with a civil lawsuit."

But lawyer Phillip R. Hurwitz, who represented Buckman in the criminal
case and also filed the civil suit in April in state Supreme Court,
told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle that Crespo and Vega crossed the
line by pursuing Buckman and attacking him.

"The danger was past," Hurwitz told the paper. "These two employees
took it upon themselves to go after Mr. Buckman after he left the store."

The lawyer for Crespo and Vega – who no longer work for AutoZone – told
CBSNews.com his clients shouldn't be too worried about the outcome. "If
they were brave enough to handle an armed robbery, a civil lawsuit
certainly shouldn't scare them, especially one like this."

Monroe County District Attorney Michael C. Green would not comment on
the suit's chances in court, but he told the Democrat & Chronicle,
"There doesn't seem to be any question that they were justified."

[wvd1979]

I think this will be discounted by the courts. If a man is threatening the public with a firearm, it's hard to punish civilians for attempting to stop him. For example, about 10 years ago a man was shooting at The White House with an assault rifle. A tourist tackled him to stop the threat. Now this was captured on video, but I don't think the lawsuit in question will be successful.

[dla4122]

I am not so sure, I can remeber reading a story of a man who sued someone cause he broke into their home and was injured inthe process and won.