By William Kirk
Hello again everyone. Welcome to Washington Gun Law tv. I'm Washington Gun Law President William Kirk. Thanks for joining us. Hey, back in May, we did this video right here and it was about a horrible, and I do mean horrible officer involved shooting, in which a 23-year-old US Air Force Airman, his name was Roger Fortson, was gunned down by a sheriff's deputy really for just exercising his second amendment rights. Now, we're not going to go back and rehash all the details, but we're going to link up the video below so that you guys can check out on that. When we issued our opinion on that video, and we were kind of like, yeah, I don't know if this is a good shooting. There was varying opinions including one opinion out here in the YouTube reverse that was incredibly vociferous, a little vicious against this. So we're going to talk about that today as well because well, as it appears, things are not shaping up real well for this deputy. So today, let's spend a few minutes and let's talk about charges filed against the deputy who ended this man's life because he was armed.
Okay, America, we're going to have to go back and talk about a pretty disturbing case comes out of Florida. It happened back on May 3rd of this year. We ended up doing this video right here, 23-year-old Air Force Airman Roger, for who was just mining his own business in his apartment, was contacted by an Okaloosa County Sheriff's deputy, who relying on some very shoddy information, believed that there may have possibly been some kind of a dispute in the apartment. He immediately went up to the apartment. He did not call for a backup or wait for backup or anything like that. Things transpired to the point where when Mr. Fortson finally did answer the door unaware of who was actually at the door and he was armed with a firearm pointed at the floor. Well, deputy Duran shot and killed him almost immediately. Now, at the time that we did this video, we entitled it The Florida Man who was executed for exercising his constitutional rights because that is how it appeared to us.
And while some of us agreed on that, there were others out here in the YouTube averse who did not agree, and that is fine. But one person in particular, attorney Andrew Branca, went on a saliva filled spitting rant about how ridiculous and emotionally charged I had been and basically shred apart every single thing that we'd done on that video. Now, it was Gun Law Jr. Who first turned me onto that video and I was like, oh my God, what have I done? And when I saw the video and the vicious attacks, I was a little dismayed. I then ended up taking a look at the viewer account and his subscriber account and realized it really wasn't that big of a deal. But since that time of that video, a couple of things have transpired. The first is, and we did this video right here about it.
We know that the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Department did its own internal investigation, and during that internal investigation, they ultimately ended up terminating Deputy Duran and they terminated him because they believed his use of lethal force was well outside any of the departmental policy. Deadly force shall only be used when the officer reasonably believes that the action is in defense of human life, including the officer's own life or in defense of any person in imminent danger of serious physical injury. And the AUSA County Sheriff's Department said that that was not the case. And when you go back and you take a look at the video, Mr. Fortson standing there with a firearm in his hand understanding everything that had transpired just prior to that was not unreasonable. And at no point was there any evidence that suggests that Mr. Fortson acted in an aggressive manner, pointed the firearm, or was doing anything unlawful at the time that he was gunned down.
Well, now we have learned that Deputy Duran has been charged with one count of manslaughter. Now, at the time that I read the story, there was still an outstanding arrest warrant for the deputy. I do not think he should agree to anything into that. He's probably contacting attorneys and will arrange for his surrender. So I don't want you to suggest for one second that Deputy Duran is absconding from justice at the current time. Understand that Deputy Duran is facing a maximum penalty if convicted of this offense of up to 30 years in prison. Now, I know that there was varying opinions out there who believe that the deputy was well within his right to gun Mr. Forts and down. But let me remind you what the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Department said when they learned that Deputy Duran was being charged. We stand by our decision to terminate Mr. Duran as a result of the administrative internal affairs investigation that found his use of force was not objectively reasonable.
So the bottom line to anyone that was second guessing and thought that we were out there click baiting is that right now it would appear that the facts demonstrate that Mr. Fortson was in fact executed for merely exercising his constitutional rights. Now, I want to give a caveat here because we are very pro-police here at Washington Gun Law, and I know that upset some of you. Okay? I am not trying to do a hit piece on Deputy Duran. Do I think Deputy Duran is an evil person? No, I honestly don't. I've had an opportunity to take a look at his background. By all accounts, he seemed to be a hardworking American citizen that was serving his community. Deputy Duran made a horrible mistake here. Unfortunately, sometimes horrible mistakes have massive consequences, which can also be criminal in nature. Am I suggesting for one second that they need to throw the book at Deputy Duran and throw this guy in prison for 30 years?
Absolutely not. That is not what I am saying. But is Deputy Duran responsible for this gentleman's death? The bottom line is, yes, he is. Listen, this case is a long way from being over and I will be the first to acknowledge that merely because the deputy has been charged does not make him guilty of this offense. And there is, in fact a possibility that he could be acquitted. I'm not rooting for any particular outcome. I am rooting however that justice is served for both the Fortson family as well as Deputy Duran. Listen, we'll go ahead and link up everything down below in the description box so you guys can geek out on it. This is, like I say, this case is a long way from over, so there will be other information and news to follow. If you got any other questions about this or anything else related to what's left of our Second Amendment rights, you guys should know how to get ahold of Washington Gun law by now.
But if you don't, that's okay. That information's down there in the description box. Maybe you got an idea for a video we should be doing around here. If you do, go ahead and click on that link right there. A lot of the good ideas we had actually weren't our ideas at all. Maybe you just want to subscribe to our monthly newsletter. The ability to do that is all down there in the description box. And then finally, and most importantly, America let's everyone remember. The part of being the lawful and responsible gun owner, like we talk about all the time here, is to know what the law is in every situation, how it applies to you in any instance that you may find yourself. Until next time, thanks for watching and stay safe.
YouTube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPN8V2SgUkE
Credit: William Kirk Washington Gun Law