“Clerks and store owners have been on edge after a recent string of burglaries. There have been business robberies 13 out of the last 14 days in Huntsville. Some days have seen multiple robberies.” Which probably explains why the anonymous clerk who was manning the counter at the Atlantis Corner Store in Huntsville, Alabama was armed last week. Good thing, too, as Rodney Cordell Pride had chosen his c-store as the latest target of opportunity . . .

Pride was packing when he strolled into the Atlantis, expecting to extract a little unearned income. As waff.com reports, the “Huntsville store clerk fought back.” Rodney probably didn’t anticipate being carried out – down a few pints and a few degrees of body temperature –  but that’s what went down.

The Huntsville PD, though, wants to be sure everyone knows they actively discourage these kinds of self-defense shenanigans.

“Our strategy is it’s not worth a life for property and we encourage compliance and non resistance in situations like that,” said Dr. Harry Hobbs. “We don’t encourage them to be armed but he has his right to be armed.”

Yes. Yes he does. But thanks for the advice anyway, Dr. Larry. We’re sure the clerk’s next of kin would have taken a lot of comfort in knowing their dearly departed loved one had been following police department guidelines if Pride had decided he didn’t want to leave any witnesses behind had things gone a little differently.

35 COMMENTS

  1. I propose a TTAG “Idiot LEO of the Day” award for all those charming boys in blue and their cohorts who tell us to roll over and piss ourselves just before we get murdered by the BG. You know, the same jokers who tell women to go ahead and get raped, because it’s better than self defense.

    My nominee for the day’s ILEOTD award go to “Doctor” Hobbs, who claims to have a Ph.D. from Pacific Western University of Hawaii. Guess what? It’s an unaccredited diploma mill that was closed down by the State of Hawaii in 2006. So congratulations, Mr. Hobbs. Enjoy being outed for the fraud and idiot that you are.

    • Only one idiot LEO per day? We’d have to appoint a panel to sort through all the nominees.

    • The difficulty often lies in deciding exactly which award these guys qualify for. A NY Supreme Ct Judge [trial court] observed an unruly crowd jeering at two LEO’s being rough with a hand-cuffed guy they’d put on the ground. He called 911 thinking the cops needed backup. Before the backup came, one of the cops decided to rabbit-punch Judge Raffaele in the throat because he looked like trouble. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/nyregion/justice-thomas-d- …..RF needs to convene an awards panel, definitely.

      • Rafaele is a Supreme Court judge. Unlike most states, New York’s highest court is not the Supreme Court, it’s the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court is comparable to the Superior Court in other jurisdictions, as it’s the highest court of general jurisdiction. So when the article refers to Rafaele as “Justice,” that’s incorrect. His title is “Judge.”

        Why do I mention it? Because it makes me wonder what else the “reporter” got wrong.

      • Dunno, I figure sucker-punching a Judge is the kind of thing that ends up being it’s own reward.

        The cop was right, though- that Judge is gonna be trouble.

        Heh.

  2. So let me get it straight…the PD thinks the smart thing to do is to hope that the armed criminal just leaves you alone. If I am armed I am not going to chance the criminal with a gun to not shoot me because I can ID him, I am going to look for my opening, I am going to draw and I am going to stop the threat.

    • Isn’t there a statistic of how many ppl survive if they comply vs. fight back?
      I think i saw that in a comment for an older post.

      • Here’s the abstract to a paper on it for robbery.
        http://www.springerlink.com/content/q0360v85xu42248p/

        The conclusions they reach are that resistance of any kind reduces the likelihood of a completed robbery, and armed resistance reduces it further.

        Armed resistance also appears to reduce the likelihood of victim injury, while unarmed physical force and calling for help increase it.

        Finally, armed robbers seem to be more likely to be successful and less likely to injure their victim (perhaps because the victim is less likely to resist).

        I don’t really want to bother reading the whole study, but it should explain the methodologies they employed to reach their conclusions and the actual statistical differences between responses.

    • The reason why they tell people to not do anything and roll over is because they get kick backs from every “slave,” oops, I meant prisoner that they lock up. So if you kill them then there is no kick back for the boys in blue. 150 years ago this guy would have probably been killed by the mob because “we just don’t do those sorts of things around here.”

  3. Just because I have a concealed carry license it does not mean that I am going to draw my weapon in every situation. There are times where it may be in my best interest to “fight back” and other times when it may not be.

    I am prepared to shoot, and kill, every time I carry, but before I draw my gun I must accurately survey the situation, including who and what are around me, so that I act in the way that is appropriate for the specific event.

  4. I bet there are plenty of beat cops who are totally satisfied of the outcome of this failed robbery. Real LEO’s are not doctors, not pretending to be doctors, and certainly don’t give crappy advice like “Dr.” Larry.

  5. I am glad he stopped him. To be honest if every store clerk was armed and everyone started fighting back how much you want to bet crime would plummet.
    I don’t think we would have enough jail cells to hold the guys who basically piss them selves and drop to the ground praying for moma, and they guy behind the counter not to shoot them!
    Thugs rob people and stores, like your circle K or what ever because it is easy. If it turned into a might live situation but probably not, then they wouldn’t do it.

    • wow, my post bitching about the screen hijack ads got deleted, i wonder why (seriously). ya ran58, I reset my web browsing VM a while ago and never bothered to reinstall that addon, thanks for the reminder, but god I hate screen hijack ads.

  6. What John Deere ads? I’ve found that by using Firefox with their adblocker plugin I don’t have to worry about stuff like that.

  7. I work a mile and half away from where this happened. For nearly 2 weeks we were hearing about a gas station hold up everyday. I haven’t heard of one since this happened….I wonder why?

  8. ” There have been business robberies 13 out of the last 14 days in Huntsville.”

    “Our strategy is it’s not worth a life for property and we encourage compliance and non resistance in situations like that,” said Dr. Harry Hobbs. “We don’t encourage them to be armed but he has his right to be armed.”

    Of course, if the Huntsville PD had done their job, this little speech would have never happened. Of course, if this hadn’t happened, Huntsville would be one worthless SOB heavier. Plus, the most worthless of our society, the violence glorifying thugs, don’t learn from jail time, so kudos to this guy for exercising his rights.

    Additionally, to the point of laying down and submitting from above, there was a story in Atlanta not long ago of an ATM robbery. Victim gave up his money and wallet and still got shot in the neck.
    Man shot, robbed at south Fulton ATM – Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    http://www.google.com/gwt/x?gl=US&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ajc.com/news/atlanta/man-shot-robbed-at-1391624.html&wsi=433107fe484d2589&ei=lTLQT4q7FZHoxAL6kLmBAQ&wsc=bf&ct=pg1&whp=30

    • They do so learn from jail time.

      While they don’t often learn the lesson the public wants them too, they do come out with an advanced degree in commiting crime. Enter a hold up artist, exit a bank robber etc.

  9. I checked out Dr. Harry’s bio, and it seems like he has LOTS of schooling, or at least likes folks to think he did. But I think I’ll pass on his assessment of what I should do when confronted by a gun toting bad guy.

  10. You people are way more interested in killing someone rather than actually protecting yourselves. Regardless of who it is, victim or criminal, you should never celebrate or feel good about someone dying. Most cops go their entire career without ever having to pull their weapon. Go research it for yourself. And here we have a whole group of idiots just wishing someone gives them an excuse to be able to brag that they took a life.

    I too own a gun…a charter .38 snub. I have no problem protecting myself if my life were in danger. But honestly, the last thing I would want to do is take someone’s life. It’s definitely not something that I would be celebrating. And for goodness sakes, if you’re going somewhere where you have to have a gun on your hip or in your pocket, maybe you should just stay home.

    you’re all just a group of wanna-be vigilantes looking for thrills hiding behind that old “amendment rights” BS.

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