Wow, I didn't bother reading the story when I first saw this thread. I just realized that this happened about 10 miles from where I live. Our sheriff is a pretty good guy and that sounds like what he'd say. This is a semi rural county, especially compared to the two bordering cities. The shopping center where this happened borders military housing and it's on the more populated end of the county (closer to the cities).
About three miles from my house, there used to be an Exxon gas station. Almost 15 years ago, a guy walked into the store in the early morning hours, pointed a gun at the employee. Right after the employee opened the cash register, the robber shot him in the chest, walked around the counter, emptied the register and left. I often stopped by this gas station in the early morning hours during this time frame.
About five years ago, my father and I were embarking on a 250 mile (each way) day trip to attend a family reunion. We decided to go through the Hardee's drive-thru to grab a quick breakfast as we were leaving (probably 6:30a?). We waited at the menu/microphone for a little while, but nobody took our order. We drove to the window to see if maybe something was broken and had to knock on the glass before an employee came to the window. She told us she could not help us because they had just been robbed. As we were pulling away, several police cars were flying in. When we arrived back home after the reunion, we heard on the news that one of the employees had been shot and killed and a second employee shot and injured. One of the robbers shot the woman in the back of the head, AFTER the robbers had the money (~$150), because the robber and the woman WENT TO THE SAME CHURCH and he was afraid she would recognize him. My father and I had to be very close to this. We were in the parking lot probably 2-3 minutes before the police arrived, but didn't hear anything or see anyone fleeing the scene.
About 20 years ago, a man that lived down the street from my parents was selling a car and went to deliver the car, by himself, to a seller that had test driven the car. That was the last time he was seen alive. His body was found a week later handcuffed, legs taped together and a bullet wound in the chest. This case was on America's Most Wanted, which lead to an arrest.
This is three cases that are all 'close' to me, right off the top of my head, in a low crime area. All three of these resulted in innocent people being killed by robbers even though they gave the robber what they wanted. It's easy to say 'just give them the money, it's not worth your life', but there's no guarantee that they'll stop at just the money. Every situation is going to be different, and there is no way for anyone to know what may have happened if McClean did not scare off the robber. At the same time, after the fact is not the time to dispute the rules. If he knew the policy and decided to break it, he should be prepared for the consequences. If I'm taking someone to the hospital, and I break the speed limit, I don't expect the police to throw out the ticket because I had a good reason to speed. I have to be willing to accept the consequence of speeding and decide if it is worth it to me. If you truly fear for your life, then I don't think you really give a crap what your employee handbook says. Better to be looking for another job than having someone at your funeral talking about how good you were at following rules.
Keith
