De-escalated
They drew weapons on unarmed females who are not clearly posturing for a fight. They're absolutely being aggressive and arguing, but they're not indicating violent actions.
Drawing a weapon here is absolutely an escalation of force by any definition.
Retreated
Hardly retreating when they exited their vehicle to continue the ego fight.
Stayed calm
Drawing a weapon and participating in the screaming match is not what any logical individual would call, "calm."
Tried to leave
They exited their vehicle instead of driving off. They didn't try very hard to leave.
Defended themselves only after being menaced, threatened with violence, harassed with racial comments, falsely accused, and prevented from leaving.
Words != violence. You can't just draw a firearm because someone said mean things to you. You're going to get prosecuted and sued if you do this.
Furthermore, they were not, "prevented" from leaving. They were discouraged from leaving, however the logical action if they feared for their life was to drive through the idiots standing around their vehicle. They chose to stay when they exited their vehicle. Getting out of the vehicle's body of protection is the worst thing for them to do if they truly feared for their life/severe bodily harm, and only proves that it was an ego fight. This is clear as day and I promise you this is how it will be argued in court.
The Wuestenbergs demonstrated amazing restraint and poise.
The man did, however the woman clearly did not. The man tried to deescalate, avoid a shouting match, and leave. The woman let her ego get the best of her, by FAR. The only thing she did right was to get back in the car after they backed off, instead of trying to wait around for the police to show up. If she's let off the hook, this (combined with the fact that she's a woman (pussy pass) and pregnant) will be the only reasons she gets off from criminal and civil issues.
They handled their firearms per typical training protocols.
Not even fucking close. For starters, she's carrying without one in the chamber, which is a horrible idea for a multitude of reasons, but more importantly she's pointing the weapon at a target that she does not intend to immediately shoot. Anyone who has any self defense training knows to hold a low ready position until the threat becomes imminent, and at this range it's inadvisable to extend the weapon so far out. You want to hold the pistol close to your chest so it can not be easily taken away, unless you have ample distance between you and your target.
They definitely shouldn't be fired for this, and I don't think lawsuits are justified here as both parties are acting like morons. Civilly, there's some torts that could be involved here to save them from a verdict of, "liable" but they're almost certainly still going to have to go through the ordeals of court to get there. Criminally, the DA is clearly trying to make an example of them, so they're going to have some rough experiences there as well.
I personally don't think that we need the courts for this encounter, as there are no damages as a result. However, you're completely talking out of your ass with your comment here, and you are giving horrible advice. These people have massive legal trouble ahead of them that they could have avoided if they actually tried to deescalate the situation, and leave.
Edit: Downvote me if you want, but doing so without commenting as to why only proves that you are not knowledgeable, experienced, or informed as to this topic.
De-escalated
They drew weapons on unarmed females who are not clearly posturing for a fight. They're absolutely being aggressive and arguing, but they're not indicating violent actions.
Drawing a weapon here is absolutely an escalation of force by any definition.
Retreated
Hardly retreating when they exited their vehicle to continue the ego fight.
Stayed calm
Drawing a weapon and participating in the screaming match is not what any logical individual would call, "calm."
Tried to leave
They exited their vehicle instead of driving off. They didn't try very hard to leave.
Defended themselves only after being menaced, threatened with violence, harassed with racial comments, falsely accused, and prevented from leaving.
Words != violence. You can't just draw a firearm because someone said mean things to you. You're going to get prosecuted and sued if you do this.
Furthermore, they were not, "prevented" from leaving. They were discouraged from leaving, however the logical action if they feared for their life was to drive through the idiots standing around their vehicle. They chose to stay when they exited their vehicle. Getting out of the vehicle's body of protection is the worst thing for them to do if they truly feared for their life/severe bodily harm, and only proves that it was an ego fight. This is clear as day and I promise you this is how it will be argued in court.
The Wuestenbergs demonstrated amazing restraint and poise.
The man did, however the woman clearly did not. The man tried to deescalate, avoid a shouting match, and leave. The woman let her ego get the best of her, by FAR. The only thing she did right was to get back in the car after they backed off, instead of trying to wait around for the police to show up. If she's let off the hook, this (combined with the fact that she's a woman (pussy pass) and pregnant) will be the only reasons she gets off from criminal and civil issues.
They handled their firearms per typical training protocols.
Not even fucking close. For starters, she's carrying without one in the chamber, which is a horrible idea for a multitude of reasons, but more importantly she's pointing the weapon at a target that she does not intend to immediately shoot. Anyone who has any self defense training knows to hold a low ready position until the threat becomes imminent, and at this range it's inadvisable to extend the weapon so far out. You want to hold the pistol close to your chest so it can not be easily taken away, unless you have ample distance between you and your target.
They definitely shouldn't be fired for this, and I don't think lawsuits are justified here as both parties are acting like morons. Civilly, there's some torts that could be involved here to save them from a verdict of, "liable" but they're almost certainly still going to have to go through the ordeals of court to get there. Criminally, the DA is clearly trying to make an example of them, so they're going to have some rough experiences there as well.
I personally don't think that we need the courts for this encounter, as there are no damages as a result. However, you're completely talking out of your ass with your comment here, and you are giving horrible advice. These people have massive legal trouble ahead of them that they could have avoided if they actually tried to deescalate the situation, and leave.