Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law Saves Father Legal Battle After Bullies Attacked Son

Florida's Historic Capitol and Florida State Capitol, top view (Michael Rivera / Wikimedia Commons)

A Florida father who displayed a pistol while confronting bullies who attacked his son over a pizza will not face charges, local media reported.

The Sept. 18 incident occurred a day after the father’s son was attacked after refusing to hand over pizza from a “church fellowship program” at a local high school, according to a report provided by the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office. The father had driven his son to the bus stop to discuss the incident with the driver when the student who’d previously accosted the son confronted the father.

“Now you have students on the bus that are yelling. You have the 14-year-old boy that came off the bus that’s yelling, screaming at the dad,” Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek told WPBF, a West Palm Beach-area TV station.

A second teenager, who according to the police report had been suspended for drug possession, also arrived and confronted the father.

“Both boys approached [Redacted] and [Redacted] and that’s when [Redacted] displayed a firearm and pointed it at both [Redacted] and [Redacted], causing them to back away,” the report reads.

“You have two young men who look like grown men that are happening upon the dad, going at the dad and yelling at the dad,” Budensiek told WPBF, adding that the father initially tried to deescalate the situation.

The report also stated that the driver described the two students as having “ongoing behavioral issues” that led her to consider quitting, while the son had ridden the bus for two years and “had never been a problem.” The report noted that the school bus had video surveillance that recorded the Sept. 17 and Sept. 18 incidents.

Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, enacted in 2005, removed the duty to retreat outside the home, added civil and criminal immunity and created a home/vehicle presumption of reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm if someone is unlawfully entering. Florida was the first state to enact a comprehensive modern Stand Your Ground statute of this type. In 2017, the state Legislature added a requirement that the state must disprove a self-defense claim with “clear and convincing evidence.”