This Week’s Wacky Wednesday: Armed Robber Considers Suing Good Samaritan for Excessive Force
If the title sounds strange, you are certainly not alone in thinking that. However, it turns out that is exactly what one criminal considered doing. In July of 2017, a man named Michael Ryan Flores, 30, decided that he was going to rob a Starbucks in Fresno, CA. He walked into the establishment while wearing an Optimus Prime mask that features a voice changer built into it. He then pulled a gun on the cashier (the gun turned out to be fake), as well as a knife, which was very real. He told the cashier to give him all of the money.
There was another person in Starbucks at the time. A 58-year-old man named Cregg Jerri grabbed a chair and smashed it over Flores’ back and head, which started a fight between the two of them. Flores then stabbed Jerri in the neck with the knife. Jerri was then able to wrest the knife from Flores’ grip, and he then stabbed at Flores, ultimately inflicting 17 wounds on the robber. The altercation was caught on surveillance cameras.
When the police arrived, they took Flores and Jerri to the hospital. Fresno police said that Jerri was a hero. However, Flores’ parents did not think that was the case at all. They think that Flores should sue… because, of course they do.
The Defensive Mother
Parents are naturally defensive of and protective of their children, and that’s a good thing. However, there are times parental blinders never seem to come off no matter what the child does and no matter how old they are and how much they should know better. Although the family said that they don’t condone what Flores did, they believe that Jerri should be sued for the fight that ensued.
Flores’ mother, Pamela Chimenti, took to the news outlets several times, including CNN, to say that Jerri used excessive force against her son and that he could have died in the emergency room because of the injuries that he was given. They believe that Jerri, who thwarted the robbery, should be charged with committing an offense more serious than what her son faced.
Ashleigh Banfield, from CNN Headline News, asked if Chimenti was considering a lawsuit, Chimenti said that is wasn’t going to be her that was filing. When asked who was going to be suing, Chimenti insulted the reporter. Banfield responded by saying that Flores should have thought about the potential consequences before picking up a knife and a gun and trying to rob a place. Banfield also said that Jerri was trying to save his own life during the fight with Flores.
Flores Found Guilty
It took the jury several hours to decide if Flores was guilty on two charges. He was charged with attempted robbery with a knife and assault with a deadly weapon against Jerri. He will be serving five years and eight months in prison for his crimes.
Getting Involved Can Be Dangerous
While many believe that Jerri is a hero in this case and he helped to take a criminal off the streets, we must also understand that what he did was quite dangerous. Not only did he put himself at risk and end up getting stabbed in the neck for it, but he also opened himself up to a lawsuit. It seems strange that it is possible for people to sue victims when they are involved in a criminal act, but that is the world in which we live today. It’s a strange one and it happens more often than you might imagine.