Craig Sumner Elliott, 68, allegedly shot Antonio Garcia Avalos, 40, in incident in Orange county

A California jogger was charged this week in the killing of a homeless man who was blocking the sidewalk.

Craig Sumner Elliott, 68, was jogging with his two dogs and pushing a cart on 28 September when he came across Antonio Garcia Avalos, 40, who was sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk, prosecutors in Orange county, California, said.

Elliott allegedly tried to wake Avalos by nudging him with the pushcart, whereupon Avalos started yelling at Elliott to leave him alone.

Elliott, who allegedly filmed their encounter, then brought a handgun out of his cart, prosecutors charged, adding that when Avalos stood and threw a shoe at Elliott, he ducked and responded by shooting Avalos three times.

Avalos subsequently died from his injuries. Elliott, who does have an active concealed carry permit issued by the local sheriff’s office, was arrested on 17 November in the incident.

  • TheBananaKing@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ve seen countless americans claiming that it’s perfectly justified to drive over people if they get in the way of your car, so this is pretty on-brand.

    • tygerprints@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      That’s a fact of life here in Utah. Polls have shown most Utahns believe they are justified hitting or killing someone with their car, if that person is in the road (even in a crosswalk) and happens to impede their car. They truly believe this. Of course page one of our driving handbooks states “no matter the situation, pedestrians always have right of way over oncoming cars.” This should be obvious to even the lowest grade moron, but I guess that explains why it’s not obvious to Utahns - they get most of their information from supermarket tabloids and Fox news.