NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

He is accused of killing someone over parking. Authorities say he was standing his ground

By Cleve Wootson
Washington Post·
22 Jul, 2018 06:26 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Michael Drejka is seen gesturing to the person in the car on the video. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

Michael Drejka is seen gesturing to the person in the car on the video. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

Britany Jacobs sat parked in the handicap spot, right in the middle of Michael Drejka's pet peeve.

She had just finished up a nursing shift and she and her boyfriend, Markeis McGlockton, had a car full of children, all under age 6. So she sent McGlockton and their 5-year-old into a Circle A in Clearwater, Florida, for snacks and drinks while she rested in the parked car - or at least attempted to.

Also in the lot was Drejka, a regular at the Circle A who regularly took issue with able-bodied people parking in the reserved spot. He circled Jacob's car, looking for a handicap decal and, finding none, proceeded to forcefully explain to her the finer points of Florida's disabled parking regulations.

"He's getting out like he's a police officer or something, and he's approaching me," Jacobs told the Tampa Bay Times.

Jacobs said the conversation grew heated, drawing the attention of other store patrons, including McGlockton, who abandoned his snack run. He came out of the store, then quickly closed the distance between himself and the man confronting the mother of his children and shoved Drejka to the ground.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

That action, and the seconds that followed it, have thrust the handicap parking spot dispute into the nationwide debate about "stand your ground" laws.

Now seated on the ground, Drejka reached into his pocket, pulled out a pistol and fired a single shot into McGlockton's chest, an action shown clearly on surveillance video released by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

McGlockton clutched his chest, staggered into the store and collapsed. Later, his girlfriend ran into the store and applied pressure to the bullet wound in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the bleeding.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

McGlockton, 28, died a short time later, leaving his family to bury him and the rest of Pinellas County to grapple with the legality of his killer's actions.

On Saturday, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced that Drejka would not be arrested or charged with a crime, saying that his actions fell within the legal boundaries of Florida's "stand your ground" law. Then, in an expansive 30-minute news conference, he tried to explain how the law connected to what was going through Drejka's mind when he pulled the trigger.

Drejka "felt after being slammed to the ground, the next thing was he was going to be further attacked by McGlockton," said Gualtieri, who has been sheriff since 2011 and also has a law degree. "He felt the next thing was that he was going to be slammed again. He was going to be struck again and he was in fear."

Reporters asked whether the fact that Drejka initiated the incident made him more culpable - pointing to previous complaints the sheriff's office has received about him.

Discover more

World

Trump lashes out at secret Cohen recording

21 Jul 08:56 PM
World

Macron faces backlash over protester's beating

21 Jul 09:49 PM
World

LA shooting: Grandmother of suspect shot seven times, in critical condition

22 Jul 04:08 AM
World

Progress on state gun laws since Parkland

22 Jul 04:24 AM

A few months ago, according to the Tampa Bay Times, Rick Kelly parked his tanker truck in the same handicapped spot and said he was confronted by Drejka.

Drejka walked around his truck, looking for handicapped decals, then demanded to know why Kelly had parked there, the trucker told the Tampa Bay Times. At one point Drejka threatened to shoot Kelly.

We tried to get a comment from Michael Drejka today following Pinellas Co. shooting that has become a #StandYourGround case, but he posted this sign on his door. @abcactionnews pic.twitter.com/LFzcen9R9v

— Sarah J. Hollenbeck (@SarahHollenbeck) July 20, 2018


"It's a repeat. It happened to me the first time. The second time it's happening, someone's life got taken," Kelly told the Tampa Bay Times. "He provoked that."

Still, Gualtieri told reporters, the legal question is not about whether Drejka was right in being the self-appointed protector of the handicap spot.

"What's relevant is not whether this guy's a good guy, nice guy, or whether he's a jerk, or whether he's a thorn in people's side and what he's done, whether it's three weeks ago, three months ago or three years ago," Gualtieri said. "What's relevant and the only thing we can look at here is was he in fear of further bodily harm."

Floridians have always had the right to defend themselves, but the state's "stand your ground" law says people who believe someone is trying to kill or seriously harm them don't have an obligation to retreat before using deadly force.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The law was spotlighted following the 2012 slaying of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin when jurors discussed the statute in their deliberations before deciding to find George Zimmerman not guilty.

In the past, defence lawyers had to explain why their clients deserved immunity in a killing. Now prosecutors have to prove that people who claim they were standing their ground are wrong.

Last year, lawmakers shifted the burden of proof from defence lawyers to prosecutors. It has made the law no less controversial.

"Does this law create a situation potentially where people shoot first and ask questions later?" Gualtieri asked. "You can have that discussion. You can have that debate. I don't make the law. We enforce the law. And I'm going to enforce it the way it's written, the way the legislature intended for it to be applied, and others can have the debate about whether they like it or not."

It is unclear whether Jacobs and her family will be involved in that debate. She told the Tampa Bay Times she is hiring a lawyer to consider her legal options.

For now, there are bigger things to contend with.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There is a funeral to plan, and also the needs of the living.

After the shooting, as McGlockton bled to death on the floor of the convenience store, his 5-year-old son, Markeis jnr, watched as his mother pressed a shirt to the chest of his mortally wounded father, trying unsuccessfully to keep him alive.

"He's not too good," Jacobs said of the boy, according to the Tampa Bay Times. "It comes and goes, but he knows [his father] is dead."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

'Confused the fruit': Visitor bites into $6.2m banana artwork

Premium
World

A handshake in orbit 50 years ago transformed the space race

World

'Horrific' blast: Three bomb squad officers dead in LA explosion


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'Confused the fruit': Visitor bites into $6.2m banana artwork
World

'Confused the fruit': Visitor bites into $6.2m banana artwork

The artwork, called 'Comedian', was by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.

18 Jul 07:28 PM
Premium
Premium
A handshake in orbit 50 years ago transformed the space race
World

A handshake in orbit 50 years ago transformed the space race

18 Jul 07:00 PM
'Horrific' blast: Three bomb squad officers dead in LA explosion
World

'Horrific' blast: Three bomb squad officers dead in LA explosion

18 Jul 06:55 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP