Texting comic run over by train finds the funny side

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Texting comic run over by train finds the funny side

Retired Cop Shoots Fellow Moviegoer to Death Over Texting and a Thrown Bag of Popcorn

Chad Oulson was texting his toddler when the argument that ended his life started. Will his shooter claim he was "standing his ground?"

A 71-year-old retired police officer man in has been charged with second-degree murder after shooting another man to death over the latter"s texting in a movie theater. 

Curtis Reeves, the armed retired officer, became enraged when Chad Oulson would not stop texting, despite a request to do so. The argument escalated into a  shouting match and Oulson purportedly threw his bag of popcorn at Reeves, who promptly removed his .380 caliber gun from his pants pocket and fired one fatal shot into the man"s chest. Oulson"s wife, who attempted to shield her husband"s chest from the bullet with her hand, was also injured. 

The movie playing throughout the real-life carnage was “Lone Survivor,” about Navy SEALS in Afghanistan. 

Oulson was immediately taken to a Tampa-area hospital, where he died shortly after arrival.

Charles Cummings, a retired combat Marine in Vietnam, who witnessed the shooting with his son expressed his horrified bewilderment to the Associated Press. 

“I can"t believe people would bring a pistol, a gun, to a movie theater,” he said. “I can"t believe they would argue and fight and shoot one another over popcorn. Over a cellphone.” 

Also according to AP, Reeves told detectives after he was arrested that Oulson struck him in the face with an unknown object, and that he “was in fear of being attacked.” 

Defense attorneys are now speculating whether Reeves will be able to invoke Florida"s “Stand your ground” law in his defense, the infamous statute used to defend, and ultimately acquit George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. 

“Stand your ground does not limit it to just fear of death, stand your ground permits you to use deadly force if you think you"re abou tto suffer bodily harm,” said well known defense attorney Stephen Romine to KSDK. 

The next step in the case, say criminal law experts, will likely be the defense filing a stand your ground motion, at which point the judge will decide if the defense can be used. 

 

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Retired Cop Shoots Fellow Moviegoer to Death Over Texting and a Thrown Bag of Popcorn

Herzog Plumbs Guilt And Loss Wrought By Texting And Driving

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Reggie Shaw killed two men while he was texting on a Utah highway. He now speaks to groups about the dangers of texting and driving.

ShareATT/YouTube

Reggie Shaw killed two men while he was texting on a Utah highway. He now speaks to groups about the dangers of texting and driving.

ShareATT/YouTube

For decades, acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog has introduced audiences to subjects that stick in one’s mind long after the credits have rolled, from a cave of artwork painted more than 30,000 years ago, to the landscape of Antarctica … or a man who believed he had a special relationship with grizzly bears.

His latest film is no less thought-provoking, but it’s a bit of a departure for Herzog — it’s a public service announcement. He created the haunting documentary, From One Second To The Next, after AT&T Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile approached him to make a film about the risks of texting and driving.

The PSA is part of AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign, urging young people to put their phones away while driving. The campaign encourages drivers to pledge that “no text message, email, website or video is worth the risk of endangering my life or the lives of others on the road.” From One Second To The Next is currently available online, where it has logged more than 1.6 million views, and will be distributed to thousands of schools across the country.

Herzog joined NPR’s David Greene to explain why he made the film and what he hopes viewers will take away from it.

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Werner Herzog made From One Second To The Next after being approached by the mobile carrier AT&T

On why he stressed emotion over graphic visuals

“What was proposed to me immediately made sense. It immediately gave me the feeling I’m the right person, because I don’t need to show blood and gore and wrecked cars. What I wanted to do was show the interior side of the catastrophes. …

“It’s a deep raw emotion — the kind of deep wounds that are in those who were victims of accidents and also in those who were the perpetrators. Their life has changed and they are suffering forever. They have this sense of guilt that pervades every single action, every single day, every single dream and nightmare.”

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Werner Herzog has directed dozens of documentaries, feature films and shorts. Of his latest film, a PSA, he says he wanted to “show the interior side of … catastrophes.”

Courtesy of Lena Herzog

Werner Herzog has directed dozens of documentaries, feature films and shorts. Of his latest film, a PSA, he says he wanted to “show the interior side of … catastrophes.”

Courtesy of Lena Herzog

On why he included people who have caused accidents while texting

“The real essential thing is we have to see what is happening — and it’s not just an accident, not just the mechanics of an accident. It’s a new form of culture coming at us and it’s coming with great vehemence. …

“You can tell, for example, when you look at school yards. Kids sit around but they don’t talk. They’re all texting. And accidents have happened at a staggering rate. I mean, it’s skyrocketing. The statistics are incredible.”

On why the PSA is so lengthy

“Originally I was supposed to do four spots, 30 seconds long, but I immediately said these deep emotions, this inner landscape can only be shown if you have more time. You have to know the persons. You have to allow silences, for example, deep silences of great suffering.”

On why he made a PSA for mobile phone companies

“It’s not an art house film, let’s face it. It’s a public service announcement film. And the message is very simple. Don’t text and drive. It’s as simple as that.

“And the reaction is coming in … I mean, hundreds of emails coming in, parents writing to me. One teenage girl writes to me, ‘I sat down my mother and I told her, ‘You are texting when you’re taking me to school; you are not going to do that again.’ My mother doesn’t even take her cell phone with her [in the car] anymore.’

“So there is an effect, and that’s the only thing that counts.”

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Herzog Plumbs Guilt And Loss Wrought By Texting And Driving