Jury acquits delivery driver of main charge in shooting of YouTube prankster

[Stevicus]

Jury acquits delivery driver of main charge in shooting of YouTube prankster - WTOP News

A Loudoun County jury ruled Thursday that a delivery driver acted in self-defense when he shot a YouTube prankster who was following him around a mall food court earlier this year.

wtop.com

Alan Colie, 31, was acquitted of aggravated malicious wounding in the shooting of Tanner Cook, 21, who runs the “Classified Goons” YouTube channel.

The jury was split though on two lesser firearms counts, and decided to convict him on one and acquit him on the other.

The April 2 shooting at the food court in Dulles Town Center, about 45 minutes west of the nation’s capital, set off panic as shoppers fled what they feared to be a mass shooting.

Cook, Pouilliard said, “is trying to confuse people to post videos. He’s not worried that he’s scaring people. He keeps doing this.”

Jurors saw video of the shooting, which captures the confrontation between Cook and Colie lasting less than 30 seconds. The footage shows Cook approaching Colie as he picks up a food order. Cook looms over Colie while holding a cellphone about 6 inches (15 centimeters) from Colie’s face. The phone broadcasts the phrase “Hey dips—, quit thinking about my twinkle” multiple times through a Google Translate app.

In the video, Colie says “stop” three different times and tries to back away from Cook, who continues to advance. Colie tries to knock the phone away from his face before pulling out a gun and shooting Cook in the lower left chest. There is no pause between the moment he draws the weapon and fires the shot.

Prosecutor Eden Holmes said the facts don’t support a self-defense argument. The law requires that Colie reasonably fear that he was in imminent danger of bodily harm, and that he use no more force than is necessary. She said Cook’s prank was bizarre but not threatening.

“They were playing a silly phrase on a phone,” she said. “How could the defendant have found that he was reasonably in fear of imminent bodily harm?”

So, there's some YouTube prankster going around taking videos of people he decides to prank, then posts it on YouTube. Apparently, he makes between $2000 to $3000 a month doing this, according to the article. He apparently followed some delivery driver who didn't appreciate being the object of a prank, told him to stop three times, and then shot him.

I remember seeing another YouTube prankster video, where he would confront people in supermarket parking lots if they didn't return the carts to the store - as opposed to leaving them in the parking lot. He would throw these magnets on their cars which said "lazybones," which some people did not appreciate. One guy was seriously angry, while the prankster kept taunting him and goading him. I thought the guy was going to pull out a gun and shoot him.

Occasionally, in situations like that, someone might walk away and just mutter "No jury would convict me," if they were taunted beyond endurance.

Yet in this case in Virginia, it actually turned out that way, at least for the major charge. The jury said it was self-defense, even though the victim wasn't armed nor presenting an imminent threat of deadly force. He was a big guy, about 6'5", but I don't know if that played a role in their decision.

I don't know if this kind of "pranking" is legal or not. It does appear that they're definitely pushing the envelope of legality if not breaking it outright with some of these hijinks. I don't think they deserve to get shot, though. This jury seems to think otherwise.