Parking vigilante shot man dead in dispute over handicapped spot. But US police say he ‘stood his ground’
Florida police decided not to charge shooter Michael Drejka, who regularly accosted people for parking in a handicapped spot at a convenience store
Britany Jacobs sat parked in the handicap spot, right in the middle of Michael Drejka’s pet peeve.
She had just finished up a nursing shift Thursday and she and her boyfriend, Markeis McGlockton, had a car full of children, all under age 6. So she sent McGlockton and their five-year-old into a Circle A in Clearwater, Florida, for snacks and drinks while she sat in the parked car – or at least attempted to.
Also in the lot was Drejka, a regular at the Circle A who regularly took issue with able-bodied people parking in the reserved spot. He circled Jacob’s car, looking for a handicap decal and, finding none, proceeded to forcefully explain to her the finer points of Florida’s disabled parking regulations.
There was plenty of parking all around the car.
“He’s getting out like he’s a police officer or something, and he’s approaching me,” Jacobs told the Tampa Bay Times.
Jacobs said the conversation grew heated, drawing the attention of other store patrons, including McGlockton, who abandoned his snack run. He came out of the store, then quickly closed the distance between himself and the man confronting the mother of his children and shoved Drejka to the ground.