White Man Who Helped Run Down Ahmaud Arbery With His Truck Never Invoked Citizen’s Arrest

Source: Sean Rayford / Getty

First on the scene after Ahmaud Arbery was shot, former Glynn County Patrol Officer Ricky Minshew testified that at least one of the defendants failed to invoke citizen’s arrest as a justification at the scene.  

NBC News reported Minshew testified to his conversations with William “Roddie” Bryan upon arriving at the scene. Bryan is accused of hopping in his truck and chasing Arbery along with the McMichaels.  

Minshew said at one point Bryan questioned whether he should’ve even been chasing Arbery. But there does not seem to be a moment when he thought he was executing a citizen’s arrest, as has been alleged by the defendants multiple times.  

The first officer on the scene, Minshew, also testified he did not render first aid because he claimed it was unsafe. According to Atlanta’s 11 Alive, Minshew recounted Bryan telling him he tried to use his truck to block Arbery multiple times.

Body camera footage from an officer early on the scene showed the elder McMichael telling his son he had no choice but to shoot Arbery. 

The case is eerily similar to the murder of Trayvon Martin, who was stalked by a self-appointed neighborhood watchman before his death. White men with guns seem to think there are different rules for them than everyone else.  

Yes, George Zimmermann is Latino, but Latino is an ethnicity, not a race. He was still a white man who thought it was his right to use his gun and steal a life.  

It’s unclear when the McMichaels and their co-conspirator cooked up the citizen’s arrest defense or if that was something former prosecuting attorney Jackie Johnson helped concoct after the fact. Johnson initially declined to pursue charges.  A second prosecutor George Barnhill also refused to pursue chargers and wrote a now-infamous letter asserting the application of the citizen’s arrest statute, which did not apply in this case. 

Barnhill claimed there were sufficient facts to justify the McMichaels actions. Like Zimmerman, the McMichaels argue self-defense should apply despite instigating the events leading to Arbery’s killing.

As previously reported by NewsOne, the state’s citizen’s arrest statute was updated after over 150 years. The new version of the statute, a civil war era law, was enacted after advocates launched a campaign to overhaul the provision after Arbury’s killing.   

See Also:  

Everything You Need To Know About The Trial To Hold Ahmaud Abery’s Killers Accountable 

America, Is That You? Just 1 Black Juror Selected In Murder Trial For Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers 

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