Ice-T says he almost shot an Amazon delivery driver 'creeping up to my crib'

https://lite.cnn.io/en/article/h_23434a5db8480f34272300e949ac4ee5

by LinuxBender • 7 years ago

30 52 7 years ago

lite.cnn.io

lallysingh• 7 years ago

... Dave Clark, the company's senior vice president of worldwide operations. > "Just saying... thanks for the suggestion. We MF'ing love you and our drivers," Clark wrote.

I was surprised at that part.

mavsman• 7 years ago

Ya is that real? It either sounds like a parody or an out of touch exec trying to sound in touch.

mrkstu2• 7 years ago

Same reaction- really trying much to hard to sound cool.

Dirlewanger• 7 years ago

He brings up a good point. How can one reliably distinguish between an Amazon drone on-the-clock and some moron's amateur drone snooping around peoples' yards? There just isn't a way right now, and I don't see a better way any time soon. Any way of identification from the ground will most likely add weight, and more weight == higher cost to fly.

gppk• 7 years ago

What's the problem here? If a drone is flying around you're not exactly allowed to interfere with it anyway?

If it's a drone that crashes or causes an issue, then presumably the Amazon drones will be tracked/registered and hobbyists wil llikely have to be conforming to their local laws wrt registration

groovybits2• 7 years ago

If a drone is flying around you're not exactly allowed to interfere with it anyway?

Are there laws for this? Why would I not be able to remove a drone (or any other foreign object) from my own property?

michaelt2• 7 years ago

Perhaps Dirlewanger means "drone" as in "worker bee" i.e. delivery driver?

Amazon sometimes uses drivers who don't have uniforms, and who drive private cars.

towndrunk• 7 years ago

What's the problem here? If a drone is flying around you're not exactly allowed to interfere with it anyway?

Really? We have already seem people shooting them down when flying near their homes.

dontbenebby2• 7 years ago

What's the problem here? If a drone is flying around you're not exactly allowed to interfere with it anyway?

Why do drones get more protection than people? If a person trespasses on my property and makes me fear for my life I can use force if I'm in a stand your ground state.

A drone may contain bombs or weapons, and a drone that crashes down on you can kill you[1]. It's already violating the law via trespassing, and I'd be willing to bet a thing will get less protection than a living being from a judge.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/nyregion/remote-controlle...

ggambetta2• 7 years ago

"Just regular people workin," Ice-T wrote. "I ain't mad at them. Just sayin. That ... ain't safe."

You know what else "ain't safe", Ice-T? Defaulting to shooting people you don't recognize!

js2• 7 years ago

If nextdoor has taught me anything, it's that many of my neighbors are deathly afraid of two things: snakes, and people they don't recognize.

HarryHirsch• 7 years ago

But it's America, where you take personal responsibility for your own safety. The organs of the state are either absent - consider George Zimmermann, his neighbourhood did have a crime problem, so he saw fit to take matters in his own hand - or they are not safe to call. I bet there's a substantial contingent of African-Americans who won't call police because of previous unfavourable interactions, US police have a deplorably low standard of training and discipline. If anyone needs proof for that, look no further than Mohammed Noor or Amber Guyger.

pavel_lishin2• 7 years ago

Using George Zimmerman, a trigger-happy vigilante-wannabe, as your example undermines the point you're trying to make.

gregkerzhner• 7 years ago

His reality is not one that (at least I) can understand living a safe and comfortable life in the suburbs. He was associated with crime, gangs, and fame throughout his life. It may be that he is more defensive because he has had (or currently has) people trying to come and kill him. That being said, if I ever need to put a hit out on Ice-T, I will make sure I am wearing an Amazon vest.

nickpsecurity• 7 years ago

We slept near a shotgun in the hood and murder capital I lived in. North Memphis, TN. People would try to steal stuff out the car in the middle of night. You could get jacked on the street, too, so better carry weapons. That said, our default reaction to people coming near our house was to watch them (where they saw us watching them), say hello if they're passing by, ask who they were if they approached, and merely be prepared to act if we had to. Most people that approached were harmless: asking about something (esp directions), trying to bum money off us, sell to us, etc.

Ice-T's reaction sounds like it has something to do with him or the culture of wherever he's from. Gangs like you said with their "it's the jungle mindset." They default to and embrace violence in many situations where it's unnecessary. They push thug culture in Memphis, too, but most people avoid violence where possible. Probably why it went down at some point despite lots of folks having a hard time finding work. I don't know current numbers, though, since I live outside Memphis now.

"That being said, if I ever need to put a hit out on Ice-T, I will make sure I am wearing an Amazon vest."

Exactly! Someone from his background should know you have to watch everybody. What symbols or colors they wear don't prove a thing about how good they are. They sometimes might tell you how bad they are, though.

shams93• 7 years ago

Well Los Angeles culture is like that you have even greater social inequality in LA than the Bay Area. Robberies of the wealthy are commonplace and the police will get there like 48 hours after the fact. So yes its a dangerous place to deliver for Amazon. If you don't get shot by mistake you could be eaten by a pack of guard dogs.

jancsika• 7 years ago

Which is worse (by far):

* one object's memory becoming corrupted due to a local hardware error

* a change to a class member that silently loses data

Edit: clarification

norswap• 7 years ago

People say "he's from the street" but damn, he's also a celebrity — that's bound to attract a slew of weird and ill-intentioned people.

That being said, I doubt he would have shot someone unprovoked. That part is for the street cred.

WalterGR2• 7 years ago

You know what else "ain't safe", Ice-T? Defaulting to shooting people you don't recognize!

The unnecessary verbatim quoting, both in the article’s title and in this comment, serve only to highlight the otherness of Ice-T, which then makes it easier to accept the premise, because (clutches pearls) I would certainly do nothing like that!

ggambetta2• 7 years ago

I'm pretty sure that myself, and most people in the world (i.e. those not living in certain places in the Land of the Free™ or active war zones), would certainly not do something like that.

dontbenebby2• 7 years ago

Good thing he didn't, because even in conservative states merely trespassing isn't enough to allow you to use deadly force. Some states allow you to defend property (shoot someone stealing), or to shoot someone who when told to leave refuses, but nowhere in America can you shoot someone dead simply for crossing your property line.

michaelt2• 7 years ago

Presumably, a delivery driver looking for a safe place a parcel can be hidden looks a lot like a package thief looking for a safe place a parcel might be hidden?

daveFNbuck2• 7 years ago

Did Ice-T say the delivery guy was doing that? I assumed creeping up just meant he was walking toward the house.

xfitm3• 7 years ago

The law gives property owners the right to defend themselves with a reasonable response. That means any force used against a trespasser must usually be proportionate to harm that is reasonably perceived.

For example, Florida lets you open fire on someone forcibly trying to enter your dwelling -- including your attached porch -- but not the rest of your property (such as a yard).

dsfyu404ed3• 7 years ago

including your attached porch

The fact that that's called out specifically tells me someone probably spent tens of thousands of dollars on lawyer's fees to get this little tidbit that most would consider obvious hammered out in case law.

mrkstu2• 7 years ago

Kind of. If the property owner believes that he is preventing/stopping another crime (i.e. burglary/theft/criminal mischief) the homicide would be without criminal consequence to the owner. The criminal mischief (at night only) is a pretty broad category and makes it hard to win a prosecution.

A 2015 study found that only 2 of 45 shootings claiming self-defense in Texas were even charged...

jstanley• 7 years ago

Good thing he didn't, because otherwise the guy could have been killed!

raisedbyninjas• 7 years ago

Conservative states don't always have duty to retreat laws. Even for those that do, dead men tell no tales. Ice T could have just murdered the delivery man then lied about threatening behavior.

sundvor• 7 years ago

"Only in America", as my friends say.

kstenerud3• 7 years ago

I don't get it... Why would your default impulse when an unknown person approaches your house be to shoot them?

brazzy2• 7 years ago

Because the NRA has drilled it into people that "home invasions" by people who want to kill you are an everyday threat you need to be prepared to.

dsfyu404ed3• 7 years ago

It happens "somewhere" everyday but the odds of it happening to any given individual are low. That said, we still have smoke/CO detectors and fire extinguishers in our houses and houses burning down is as rare or rarer.

daveFNbuck2• 7 years ago

There's a good chance Ice-T was just made uncomfortable by the stranger approaching his house and used an attention-grabbing way to express it publicly. He may have also felt that this was the sort of thing that would boost his public persona.

kstenerud3• 7 years ago

I... just... I mean...

I'm not American, so it's difficult to wrap my head around either of these concepts.

battletested• 7 years ago

Amazon Help promised to "be in touch soon" and thanked Ice-T for his feedback.

So, Amazon does respond to customers questions, I mean apparently when you're rich and famous..

I am banned for life because I tried to buy something when my credit-card was on its limit without me knowing it. It was a non-issue as I monthly settle any credit-card debt outstanding. But no Amazon for me anymore, no customer support nothing, banned for life, amazing company.

jsiepkes• 7 years ago

I don't think the problem here is delivery people not being easily identifiable as friendly targets....

Seriously in what kind of world do you live if you even vaguely think you need to shoot at everyone in the vicinity of your house who you can't identify?

ASalazarMX• 7 years ago

We are used to see sleeping babies as innocent, but if we approached carelessly to their cribs and scared them, and they were armed, they would shoot at us too.

sxp62000• 7 years ago

He was joking. He probably got startled.

Ice-T says he almost shot an Amazon delivery driver 'creeping up to my crib'

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