By John Leonard
Huh? Not Donald Trump or Barack Obama? Not Colin Kaepernick or Jeff Sessions? Nope.
Hmmm. By now your curiosity must be piqued — who the heck is Ryan Flores?
Why, he’s the 30-year-old thug who tried to rob a Fresno Starbucks while brandishing both a gun and a knife, which makes him sound like nothing but a lazy punk, the sort of thug who’d rather commit armed robbery than work for a living.
But if he’s nothing more than a common criminal, how could he possibly be considered the epitome of everything that’s wrong with America today?
It’s fairly simple — Flores plans to sue 58-year-old Starbucks customer Cregg Jerri for using what he considers “excessive force” to subdue him during the commission of his crime. Please keep in mind that after Jerri snuck up on the robber from behind and struck him with a chair, Flores stabbed Jerri in the neck with his knife.
Yet miraculously, somehow the older man wrestled the knife away from Flores, and managed to stab or cut the would-be criminal at least 17 times during their struggle for control of the weapon, which fortunately Jerri won. Naturally, police have called Jerri a hero. And Ryan Flores wants to sue him, ostensibly because Jerri fought back too hard.
However, perhaps Ryan Flores is not the best example of everything wrong with America today, after all — in my opinion, his mother is even worse.
In her interview with local TV station KSEE, Pamela Chimienti ludicrously portrayed her son as the victim, saying,
He had 17 total stab wounds, lacerations, and defensive wounds. That guy, in my opinion, went from a Good Samaritan to a vigilante. Stabbing somebody that many times — it doesn’t take that many stab wounds to get somebody to succumb to you.
Actually, she’s right about one thing — 17 stab wounds are not the minimum necessary to subdue a violent person. In fact, it may not take more than one. For example, Cregg Jerri’s carotid artery couldhave been severed on the first try when her son tried to slash his throat with his knife, and her poor, poor baby Ryan might be facing trial for felony murder instead of armed robbery.
What’s that? All of the problems we face as a nation shouldn’t be blamed on any one person? Well, okay…if the name of any one individual cannot be considered the two best words to summarize the problems of America, how about these two? Frivolous lawsuit.
Shame on any attorney who would file a lawsuit on behalf of this criminal thug, who now wants to use our legal system as a weapon against the brave man who thwarted his crime.
