I agree. In this recent interview, Drejka come across angry, chip on his shoulder, liar (e.g., contradicts incident witnesses and shooting video), pressure from financial problems and possible racist. Not sure if his attorneys encouraged this interview.
Michael Drejka, charged with manslaughter in the fatal July 19 shooting of Markeis McGlockton outside a Clearwater convenience store, speaks with 10News Anchor Reginald Roundtree from the Pinellas County Jail in Florida. The case reignited a nationwide debate over Florida's "stand your ground law:"
Excerpts from “FULL TRANSCRIPT: Michael Drejka's jailhouse interview with 10News' Reginald Roundtree,”
10News Staff on August 31, 2018 wrote:Drejka: No, there’s almost no way that uhm, number one, my upbringing, really, prevents that from coming out of me ever, uh – my parents weren’t that way. You know, it was always try to get along with everybody, green eggs and ham, you know. Everybody’s different and I grew up during desegregation, not segregation. Ok, so it’s not like, uh, you know, I was sheltered from other cultures or races, you know, from a very young age.
Uh, and my professionalism beyond that prevents me from saying stuff like that anyway. . . .
Roundtree: But you also strike me as a person that, that might get angry.
Drejka: Everybody’s got a temper, I suppose. . . .
Roundtree: I mean, I thought to myself when I first got ahold of this case I said there’s something about, I mean, there’s got to be family or someone involved that this is a hot button for you. Everybody’s got hot buttons, but this one is certainly one for you, and uh, it’s almost like you, you just, just something that you can not stand happen in front of you.
Drejka: Well, no, of course not. And I don’t usually confront people about it either. And such as, was in this case, I did not confront anyone, I was confronted and I answered. Which is, how I think the argument started between, uh, the woman and I.
Roundtree: That push, that shove, did it stun you?
Drejka: Didn’t know it was a shove. Thought I was tackled. It felt like I was tackled or someone hit me from behind with something. I left my feet, slid along the ground, before I was able to – yes, I was stunned, yeah. [wide eyes, nodding head]
There’s – it seems a little more than that, but uhm, stunned is a good word I suppose.
Roundtree: Here’s the 54-million dollar question, cuz no one else was there, but you [Drejka nods] were you in fear for your life?
Drejka: Yes sir. It was only one other person that was making a move and that move was towards me – and, coming off of a – what I just got up to – I was, uh, I didn’t know what was coming for me and there’s only one way to look at that. You have to be scared for it, cuz if you’re not, [deep breath] you’re wrong, you’re wrong. And that’s that.
So yeah, I was very scared, I’ve never been confronted like that, or never been assaulted like that if you will, ever. You know, I’m not a physical person to begin with, I don’t wrestle with people, I don’t, uh, push and shove with my friends, there’s none of that that goes on in my life, so I’m a very hands-off type of person. . . .
Roundtree: I’ll just ask you one last question just to clear up, to clear up the uhm, I was talking about some of the previous, uh, events or altercations, which you never were arrested or charged with anything. One of those – uhm, involved at the store. Uh, the guy driving the supply truck where he claimed that you used the ‘N’ word against him and that’s why people are thinking this might be racially motivated. Please clear this up, are you racist or not?
[Drejka shakes his head]
Drejka: No sir. Uhm, not by any means. Uh, I’ve worked with too many people, met too many people in my life to be that kind of person. There’s, there’s no way to survive really, by being like that. It doesn’t help anyone, you know, and to have a, that kind of feeling about an entire race of people seems foreign to me. Why, how could that happen? But uh, as far as the incident with the gentleman there, uh, and that claim, I, the claim is totally false. Uh, uh, I wouldn’t have used that word, especially while confronting someone about something like that. You know, he had the name of his company on the side of the truck and uh, he was an easy target, you know, for my pet peeve that day, so uh, why would I mess that up by uh, throwing that word in, you know? It doesn’t make sense to me other than wanting spotlight for himself or wanting to turn people against me as it is.