Sometimes things don’t go quite as you’d planned. Then again, planning can be overrated. Von Moltke’s observation that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy won’t get many arguments from anyone who’s ever faced an opponent in a contest more involved than a game of kickball. But just because a plan goes awry doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use your noodle. Provided, of course, that your particular noodle hasn’t been baked more than your aunt Sally’s arid Thanksgiving turkey. And from miamiherald.com’s account of Cedrick Mitchell’s recent escapades, we’d guess his noodle is mighty dry and crusty . . .
Mitchell was up to no good last night at one of the Florida Gulf coast’s most luxurious lodging facilities.
At about midnight, Cedrick Mitchell barged into a room at the Royal Motel in Bradenton. He asked the two men inside for pills.
When they said they had none, Mitchell pulled a handgun from his waistband and demanded “everything you got,” said Bradenton police Capt. Warren Merriman.
The men began to fight. During the scuffle, Mitchell dropped his gun and one of the victims pepper-sprayed him in the face.
The capsaicin facial treatment was enough to send Mitchell packing. But that gun he dropped must have held some kind of special, sentimental value for him. Whatever the reason, he decided that he just had to get that gat back so he went back to the motel room and offered to buy the gun back for $40 from the same two dudes he tried to rob only a few minutes earlier.
Mitchell was pepper-sprayed in the face again and ran away.
The men called 911. One of the officers at the scene spotted Mitchell, who ran away again. Officers chased him and he was arrested, Merriman said.
Cedrick’s had a fairly extensive history with the Florida penal system including convictions for battery, petit theft and robbery. He’s now living on the tab of the taxpayers of Manatee County in a holding facility after being charged with armed home invasion and resisting an officer. He’s probably lucky he isn’t sleeping with the fishes.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli. Words to live by.
Damn. Beat me to it.
Ha! YESSSSSSS 🙂
What’s that old saying? “Pepper spray me once, shame on you. Pepper spray me twice, shame on me.”
Correlating a would-be robber to a DGU doesn’t help our cause much. While this may be sound advice, couldn’t yo have found a better analogous on which to build this article?
I definately agree.
von Moltke’s admonition was not a criticism of planning. The plan is a way of organizing and resourcing an operation to make you think about the problem at hand. What he meant was don’t turn the plan into “THE PLAN” and followed no matter what. Success requires that you improvise, adapt and overcome.
Commonly referred to as: Plan, A, B, C, D and plan Wingit.
The plan is the means to get to the goal, not the goal in and of itself.
“petit theft”?
was he only stealing small items or from small people?
.9mm sized items.
Petit is used sometimes in law instead of petty.
Hilarious Story.
Petit is actually a legal term. Grand Larceny v. Petit Larceny; Big v. Small; More than $500 in value v. less than $500 in value; Felony v. Misdemeanor;
You get the idea.
So if “Home Invasion” ain’t no felony, Cedric can still legally own a gun (if no felony priors)?
Must be one of those Brady Bunch loopholes I keep hearing about.
Considering the Royal accommodations in which they were residing, the pair should have emptied the gun, plugged the barrel with wet paper, and sold it back for $40… then sprayed Cedrick and called the cops. If they’d had good financial advice, of course, they wouldn’t be in such a place.
That pepper spray must have been really weak or not applied very well. The bad guy is lucky he didn’t get shot with his own gun.
They should have just put him down and gotten it over with. Like John Wayne said, “Life is tough, even tougher when your stupid”