....standing his ground in Florida with his hands up...
....and the deputies shot him.

Deputies shoot man in his front yard

Lying in a hospital bed the night after he was shot by Escambia County
sheriff’s deputies in his own front yard, Roy Middleton only had one
question: Why?

Middleton, 60, of the 200 block of Shadow Lawn Lane in Warrington, was
shot in the leg about 2:42 a.m. Saturday while trying to retrieve a
cigarette from his mother’s car in the driveway of their home.

A neighbor saw someone reaching into the car and called 911. While he
was looking into the vehicle, deputies arrived in response to the
burglary call.

Middleton said he was bent over in the car searching the interior for a
loose cigarette when he heard a voice order him to, “Get your hands
where I can see them.”

He said he initially thought it was a neighbor joking with him, but when
he turned his head he saw deputies standing halfway down his driveway.

He said he backed out of the vehicle with his hands raised, but when he
turned to face the deputies, they immediately opened fire.

“It was like a firing squad,” he said. “Bullets were flying everywhere.”

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the incident
Saturday.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating, as is
standard in deputy-involved shootings. The deputies, who have not been
publicly identified, have been placed on paid administrative leave.

In Baptist Hospital and groggy on Saturday, Middleton said he would be
in recovery for several weeks. His wounds are not life-threatening.

“I’m just glad they didn’t hit me here or here,” he said, pointing
toward his head and chest. “My mother’s car is full of bullet holes
though. My wife had to go and get a rental.”

The neighborhood where Middleton lives was quiet Saturday afternoon, and
there was no evidence the shooting had even occurred. However, neighbors
said only a few hours earlier the area had been congested with law
enforcement vehicles and yellow crime scene tape.

Several neighbors said they heard the commotion, but weren’t entirely
sure why events unfolded the way they did. A teenage girl who said she
witnessed a portion of the incident said she never saw Middleton provoke
the deputies.

“He wasn’t belligerent or anything,“ she said.

Middleton, too, said he doesn’t understand how or why the incident
escalated so quickly. He also said deputies never offered him an
explanation or an apology.

“Even if they thought the car was stolen, all they had to do was run the
license plate,” he said. “They would have seen that that car belonged
there.”

- - -

Whatever else happens to them, the trigger-happy moron deputies should
be ordered to mow their victim's lawn for the rest of their lives.

Oh, wait...it's Florida. The deputies will be back at work soon, with
commendations from the NRA.