When I first saw this story on my feed I didn’t spend any time looking into it. I didn’t watch the video, but I did read the headline and was aware of the race of the players which isn’t important to me. My understanding was that a couple of guys wanted to make a citizen’s arrest on a man they saw running through their neighborhood because of recent property thefts, and ended up shooting him. I posted a comment on that article that the two men essentially shot Arbery over personal property because they thought he may be a thief, and that they should be prosecuted, because nobody should be killed in order to defend personal property.
Then I saw a comment about the incident on a subsequent post that stated that Arbery made an attempt to wrestle the gun from the younger McMichael. This raised a red flag for me so I dug into it a little more. I have since viewed the longest video I could find, and read some more reporting which also mildly explained the law governing citizen’s arrests. Until more facts come out, this is my analysis currently.
There were two pivotal mistakes made, one by the McMichaels, and the other by Arbery. The first pivotal mistake was made by the McMichaels for trying to make an illegal citizen’s arrest because they had no probable cause to arrest Arbery. Apparently they saw him doing nothing but running through their neighborhood. It wasn’t like they just saw him murder someone or commit some other type of violent crime. However, the video evidence does show that they didn’t chase him down just to kill him because he was black. They could have done that without getting out of the truck. They were indeed trying to effect a citizen’s arrest as misguided and illegal as it was, and there is no evidence that the encounter was motivated by racism.
I don’t think they were wrong in taking a gun because they had no way of knowing if Arbery was armed and capable of being violent. However they should not have approached Arbery in such a reckless manner with their guns brandished. Brandishing guns the way they did only added great a deal of tension to the situation. They should have left their guns stowed, but accessible if needed for self-defense purposes. They should have only tried talking to or monitoring him without trying to detain him. That is the job of the police.
The second and most consequential mistake was made by Arbery when he attacked the younger McMichael and made an attempt to take the gun away from him. This is undeniable, the video shows this. In the video you can see Arbery running down the middle of the road with the McMichaels truck stopped in front of him with the younger McMichael standing outside the truck trying to stop Arbery. Arbery then diverts around the truck and then swerves toward McMichael and initiates a physical confrontation with McMichael and begins to try to wrestle the gun from him.
All of the reporting I saw stated that Arbery was unarmed. This is true up to a point, but the moment Arbery grabbed the gun he became just as armed as McMichael. The moment Abery charged at and tried to wrestle the gun from McMichael is the moment the entire dynamic changed. It does not matter that what the McMichaels were doing was illegal or unwarranted. This encounter was reduced to two men, one holding a gun and the other trying to take it from him.
I think the McMichaels should be charged with something, what, I do not know. They were wrong when they chased after Arbery in such a reckless manner, but Arbery was wrong when he attacked the younger McMichael and tried to take control of the gun. Again, it does not matter that what the McMichaels were doing was illegal, it was happening. Arbery could have swerved away from McMichael or stopped and allowed the arrest or detention to occur. He could then file charges against the McMichaels for false arrest or illegal detention, and then maybe they would be sitting in jail while he was out running in the streets again.
The moment he created the scuffle for the gun, he changed the dynamic and put himself in deep jeopardy and even made it possible for the Younger McMichael to claim self-defense. Arbery should have conducted himself the way most businesses want their employees to act when confronted with an illegal actor such as an armed robber…give him what he wants and don’t try to be a hero….comply and survive.