Iraq veteran's shooting into car with two women inside is called 'reasonable'

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.oregonlive.com/metronorth/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_north_news/122334631835450.xml&coll=7

Defense attorney cites stress in the road-rage incident, but the prosecutor says it's not a "flashback"

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

HOLLEY GILBERT The Oregonian VANCOUVER -- A road-rage shooting was "reasonable," considering the experiences U.S. Army Reserve veteran Christopher P. Partridge had as a combat truck driver in Iraq, Partridge's attorney told a Clark County Superior Court jury Monday.The Oregonian Partridge, 26, faces two counts of first-degree assault stemming from the incident on Sept. 18, 2007.

During opening statements at his trial, attorney Edward L. Dunkerly of Vancouver told the jury that Partridge suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He watched his best friend die, then worked from 2003-04 near Baghdad as a driver in convoys where U.S. soldiers were under the threat of improvised explosive devices or ambush, Dunkerly said.

Partridge does not deny he shot once into a car after its driver cut him off at the Thurston Road exit from State Route 500, Dunkerly said. But he said it was self-defense.

"A blackness overtook him, and he picked up his gun and fired it," Dunkerly told the jury. "If you put yourself in his shoes, what he did was reasonable because of his history."

[Fresh_Start]

1. it would also be reasonable based on his history

to deny him a driver license

[bean fidhleir]

2. I disagree. Involuntarily hospitalize him, yes. But if he's going to be living on the outside

then there's no reason to deny him a license.

[Fresh_Start]

5. if he thinks its reasonable to shoot other drivers on the road

then he shouldn't be driving

[bean fidhleir]

6. If he thinks it reasonable to shoot ANYone ANYwhere then he shouldn't be living out on his own!

Surely it's the shooting that's the problem, not where they are when he does it!?!

[Fresh_Start]

7. his defense attorney says he's carried over the reactions

from being a driver in Iraq. Here's more "He told police in a taped interview that he was angry because a young driver had tailgated him on U.S. 26 on his way home from his job in Forest Grove and he didn't care whether he shot or killed the driver". If he's set off by the driving, he shouldn't drive.

It sounds more like he belongs in jail more than any other place.

[bean fidhleir]

9. He's disabled, unless he has a pre-Iraq history of this kind of behavior

Sure, he could be jailed - but that's not going to do him any good. Should having been made crazy by the military be the excuse for a life sentence in prison? Because he's going to remain a danger to those around him until someone helps him get his head straight.

[countryjake]

8. He was already driving on a suspended license

original article from the time of the shooting, one year ago:

Bail set at $150,000 for Vancouver Road Rage Suspect
The Oregonian September 20, 2007
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/09/bail_set_at_150000_for_vancouv.html

Partridge will be arraigned on the charges Oct. 4. He also faces unrelated District Court charges of driving with a suspended license and failure to appear.

Additionally, Partridge could face two counts of menacing in Washington County, where he is suspected of pointing a handgun at two teens in a car in Hillsboro about 45 minutes before the Vancouver shooting.

[tburnsten]

3. Sounds like an idiot with poor interpersonal skills

did something incredibly stupid and reckless over a trivial issue to me. I carry a gun every day and have never felt any strange compulsions to use it in such a way, but then I do not have a tour of duty under my belt. Clearly carrying is not for everyone, but this guy is still in the absolute tiny minority of legitimate carriers who behave this way.

[FLAprogressive]

4. If he suffers from flashbacks/PTSD, why is he carrying a gun?

That's a recipe for disaster.

[SteveM]

10. He shouldn't if due process determines he is mentally incompetent (nt)