Sheriff won’t charge slayer in parking dispute

Julia Jacobs

A man who shot and killed another man last week during an argument over a parking space will not be arrested or charged by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office because of the state’s so-called “stand your ground” law, authorities said.

Britany Jacobs, 25, was sitting in a car parked in a handicapped space outside a convenience store in Clearwater on Thursday afternoon when Michael Drejka approached her vehicle and started looking for a handicap permit, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a news conference Friday. Jacobs’ boyfriend, Markeis McGlockton, and their 5-year-old son were in the store when Jacobs and Drejka began to yell at each other about whether she was permitted to be in that space, Gualtieri said.

In a video recorded on a surveillance camera, McGlockton, 28, exits the Circle A Food Store, approaches Drejka and shoves him to the ground. After McGlockton takes a few steps back, Drejka, 47, pulls out a gun and shoots him once in the chest.

McGlockton then retreats back into the store, clutching his chest. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Gualtieri said.

Gualtieri said his office did not arrest or charge Drejka, who had a concealed-carry permit, because of Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which removes the obligation to retreat if a person feels threatened and frees the person to use deadly force “if he or she reasonably believes” it is necessary “to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm.”

The law was a national flashpoint after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager. The case reignited a debate about racial profiling and just treatment under the law.

In the recent case, McGlockton, who was black, backed away from Drejka, who is white, after pushing him to the ground. Gualtieri said this brief retreat gave him “pause,” but Drejka told the authorities that he was in fear that he was going to be struck again.

Gualtieri described the contact as “a violent push.” “This wasn’t a shove, this wasn’t just a tap,” he said. “He slammed him to the ground.”

Drejka had previously complained about people parking illegally in handicapped spots, he said.

The Sheriff ’s Office will refer the case to the State Attorney’s Office to determine whether Drejka should be charged.

Florida’s law, which was adopted in 2005, received support from the National Rifle Association but was vigorously opposed by law enforcement officers.