A recent controversy that exploded following a not guilty verdict in a Saskatchewan courtroom seems to have stoked deep-seated resentment from two camps.
"Murderer!” the one side declares.
"Thieving thugs!” retorts the other.
In a nutshell, Gerald Stanley, a 56-year-old father and farmer, was acquitted of all charges in the shooting death of Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old indigenous male who back in August 2016 had been drinking during a day of swimming with some friends that were also under the influence.
There were essentially two conflicting accounts presented in court — one being that Boushie and his friends sought help at a rural property after their SUV punctured a tire, and shortly thereafter tried to flee after Stanley confronted them.
The other version of events claims they were trespassing in a failed attempt to steal a truck from a neighbouring property, prompting them to proceed to another where they attempted to take an ATV before being confronted by the defendant in the moments before the fatal shooting.
The controversy since Stanley’s acquittal has devolved into a demoralizing display of black and white discourse.
For the record, it is possible to understand two opposing perspectives without committing fully to siding with either one. In fact, also well within the realm of reason is even actually being able to agree with arguments from both sides.
Theft and murder are both wrong. The latter, more so, regardless of whether it was unintentional. Taking material possessions that can be replaced should never be equated with the permanent, irreversible act of snuffing out a life forever.
Of course that does not exonerate those young adults from making the conscious decision to drive impaired. What would the story have been had the driver crossed the centre line and slammed head-on into a minivan, killing an entire unsuspecting family?
Surely the last thing Stanley expected as he got out of bed that morning, starting to mentally plan out the day’s chores, was to deal with unexpected and drunken visitors.
Although I personally feel he went way too far in deciding to reach into their vehicle in an attempt to take the keys with his left hand, which resulted in his supposedly inadvertent fatal discharge from a handgun in his right hand, calling for second degree murder seemed difficult to prove.
Yet considering the circumstances, I am stunned he was not found guilty of manslaughter: the accidental, albeit completely preventable, killing of another person. And in this instance, the killing was not only unnecessary, but also completely preventable. Unintentional, perhaps — or perhaps not.
But definitely avoidable.
Authorities never recommend direct confrontations with intruders. In fact, they advise against such hotheaded, impulsive acts that only put lives in even greater danger.
The safest course of action, for everyone involved, is to from a distance record as many details as possible while immediately contacting police to report the unfolding situation. With today’s prevalence of smartphones and other high-tech devices, never has capturing a scene on video and promptly reporting it been so easy.
And let’s face it. If a person truly desires to keep his or her family safe, attempting to engage in a shootout as though it was high noon at the OK Corral might not be the most advisable course of action.
Escalating a potentially deadly situation by dousing the flames with fuel is not commonly known to diffuse any tension, and running the risk of prompting the trespassers to start returning fire simply does not sound sage. Of course there is an argument to be made for shooting back in self-defence, but that involves returning fire, not initiating it in the first place.
Life is not a Clint Eastwood movie — those perceived by some people as "bad guys” are not just nameless extras who should so conveniently and callously be killed and just as quickly forgotten, dismissed as the dredges of a society that does not seem to care about them.
They are human beings, and perhaps flawed and in need of help as they may be, have friends and family who will miss them deeply. Unlike a pickup truck or an ATV, they cannot be replaced.
Nowhere in our freedoms is included a right to with impunity act as judge, jury and executioner.
So anyone who is tempted to shoot a gun at trespassers should consider shooting a video instead, because no pickup truck or ATV is worth a human life.
