TimC

[link=http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080502/NEWS/805020340/1001/NEWS18]Link to Story[/link] I ran across this at another web site.
"What would you have done?
A dispute over a model airplane landed one Medford man in the hospital and another in jail on more than $1 million bail.

At about 8 p.m. Wednesday, Gregory Dean Hunt, 48, of the 900 block of Maple Park Drive, Medford was flying his radio-controlled model plane in a field north of McAndrews Street and east of Timber Products. A homeless man, Jeffrey Michael Hobson, 33, came up to him, displeased about the little plane, Medford police Detective Sgt. Mike Budreau said.

Hobson punched Hunt in the face and kicked him, knocking out six teeth, police said. The model plane circling above spiraled out of control and crashed. The white, turquoise and purple "Hangar 9" plane, valued at $800, hasn't been found, police said.

After assaulting Hunt, Hobson got on his bike and pedaled away, heading south along Central Avenue. Hunt got in his red, 1996 Chevrolet Tahoe and chased after Hobson.

Witnesses told police that they saw Hunt swerve across the road to hit Hobson and pin him and his bike against a chain-link fence, then drive away. The witnesses called 9-1-1 to report the crash, and police, firefighters and emergency medical professionals responded. Hunt returned to the scene moments later.

Hobson was taken to Rogue Valley Medical Center, where he underwent surgery on his badly broken lower leg, police said. He was cited and released on charges of fourth-degree assault and first-degree criminal mischief.

Hunt also was taken to the hospital for treatment of facial injuries, then he was lodged at the Jackson County Jail on charges of second-degree assault and first-degree criminal mischief. He remained there today on $1,005,000 bail."

MetallicaJunkie

thats a messed up situation......the homeless man was probably drugged up drunk or both... the modeler messed up by ramming him with his vehicle, i can understand he was outraged by what the homeless man did, but if he wouldnt have done that he'd be a free man... best thing to do would have been to pursue the man while calling the police and follow him till the proper authorities arrive

*JCB*

My Feedback: (9)

Unreal...how does the frickin bum get to walk away and this other guy is in jail?!? They BOTH should be in jail. He cold-cocked a guy who is flying an airplane and virtually defenseless. The bum obviously is a danger to society and probably himself...what a joke, un-f'ing-believable

goliathman

My Feedback: (3)

Well the flyer tried to KILL the hobo with his car thats MURDER, and you cant KILL people over a TOY plane. That being said the hobo got what he deserved and he is a crazy scum bag.

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

He didn't try to kill him over a toy airplane. He tried to kill him because he kicked him when he was down and knocked 6 of his teeth out for no reason. If it were me I would have shot the SOB!

Nathan King

Yeah, the homeless guy got out that fast? That's not right. Since the guy is homeless people give it a bit of a pass. That's bull poo. Of course, the modeler wasn't right to chase him down in his truck, but in the heat of the moment I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing.

Strykaas

Well said !!

Live Wire

I started this last night and changed my mind The bum is going to be living on Maple and the other guy" well you figure that is the LAW

Brokenprop

My Feedback: (6)

How many times can you swing a Futaba at someones head before the handle breaks off? Guess we need to add a really large prop nut wrench to the list of necessary tools in the flight box.

TimC

I'm hoping one of our fellow RCUers that lives up that way will keep us informed on this incident. I also hope that if it goes as far as a trail, the jury will give him a break.

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

Hitting the man with his car was not a good move. Driving up to him, getting out and beating the hell out of him would have been a better choice.

I mean either one is not the proper way to solve it all but hey, we're guys and we do stupid things. So take the lesser of to evils.

It's like these guys who hit people on bikes. IMHO the street is no place for a bicycle. Thats just how I feel and it doesn't matter who is at fault when one gets nailed by a car, If the driver of the car leaves the scene, it doesn't matter who was right or wrong, if you leave the scene, your automatically viewed as "wrong" when it could have been that cyclists fault.

Maybe a bad example-heres one we can relate to.

A guy is flying all over the pattern getting in everyones way following no rules of general aviation or common sense. Do you go speak to him? No if he is to stupid to realize what he's doing, talking to him does nothing. Do you just go beat the heck out of him? Well maybe a slight learning lesson here. Best thing is to take up a POS "kill plane" and just do the same thing but more in line of causing a midair. If he gets upset as to why your always in his way barely missing you or a midair. Well, lesson over.

If the guy comes walking over asking if there is any type of traffic flow here. Simply tell him yes there is and we're demonstraing to you what it's like when people don't follow it.

P-51B

My Feedback: (5)

He didn't try to kill him at all, he merely detained him. I'm pretty sure that if he was trying to kill him with a Tahoe he would have easily succeeded.

Lock up the bum (I could care less if he was crazy or on drugs...either way he is a danger), let the model flyer out with no charges.

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

I wonder which Hangar 9 plane it was.

Just keeping it RC related [)]

P-51B

My Feedback: (5)

Based on the color description it could have been a twist PNP!

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=HAN2875

pkevinb

Conceled carry, double tap center mass! End of story.

knotnuts

They were both on the wrong freak-1-see.........Now where did that Hanger 9 go?????

TimC

I think in most states you would be ok with the double tap right up until the time the attacker turned to flee. At that time a double standard comes into play. While the police can use deadly force to stop a fleeing felon (which the bum was), most places a victim can't use this deadly force unless he thought someone else might be harmed by the perp. I think this would be my defense if I was the one attacked in the incident. I'd claim I thought this bum was on some kind of rampage and needed to be stopped any way possible.

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

wuzzz itt the reddd onnnne oh da blue wun?

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

Valued at 800.00 ?? Must have had a twin on it.

Brokenprop

My Feedback: (6)

He just included the cost of the gas for his truck to get there.

ClemenTang

I find that fair and just.
The Chinese way would be to run over him then hit reverse and so on...

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

There was a time in this country when folks, including the law, would consider that the bum got what he deserved. I'm not saying that would be right, but what we have now certainly isn't right. Maybe we go too far to protect the bums' rights and forget about the rights of victims. Somewhere about halfway between what we had in the old west and what we have now might be more sensible.

BUDMAN27

If I,m flying a deadly weppen (whitch is what we do) and someone came up and did what this bunb did. I realy don,t know what would happen.You have to remember you are controling a deadly weppen. I wish I could be on the jurry. I do a lot of pylon racing and I have allways said that my caller has a more important job than the pilot. Maybe we should allways fly with a helper with us. Rule number one You just don,t bother a pilot when he or she has a plane in the air.[)]

Hill202

My Feedback: (24)

I suppose an airplane could be "deadly" if you're struck by it. However, I do not consider them to be "weapons".

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

The way I see it, the guy flying the plane made two mistakes. The first was not killing the bum at the original scene. The second was having witnesses. Think about it. Had he polished off the bum at the original assualt scene there would have only been one story and he had injuries to back up a claim of self defense.