The Michigan Court of Appeals threw out a manslaughter charge against a Detroit gas station clerk who locked the door before an angry customer shot three bystanders, killing one.
Prosecutors have argued that clerk Al-Hassan Aiyash’s actions make him criminally responsible. But the appeals court said an involuntary manslaughter charge doesn’t fit.
It was “not reasonably foreseeable” that the customer, Samuel McCray, would pull out a gun and start shooting, the court said Wednesday.
I agree that trapping a potentially violent person in, basically cornering them and escalating the situation, was a bad decision. I also agree with the court that it doesn’t fall into that category. It looks like lesser charges will still be pursued, probably more in line with negligence. It’s good that in response it’s now illegal to lock doors like that while customers are inside. I would have thought the general rule of keeping doors unlocked during business hours (as a fire code mostly) would have covered that already.