An Uber driver who shot and killed a man in a “classic stand-your-ground” case in Florida has spoken out, saying he’s filled with guilt.
“I wish the whole chain of events didn’t happen,” Westlake said of what led up to the shooting. “When he said pistol gonna shoot and he had it up at me… who just says that? Who only just threatens that.”
“This is a justifiable homicide all day long,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said, saying it is a “classic stand-your-ground” case. Judd said that Westlake won’t be charged with a crime.
Video shows Boek yelling: “You know I got a pistol?...You want me to…shoot you?” In the clip, Boek gets out of his truck holding up his cell phone like a handgun as he approached the car, CBS reported.
After the shooting, Westlake immediately called 911 and started to perform CPR. “I thought for a moment I hit him in a spot where he can survive. I thought for a moment after doing compressions I had him back,” Westlake told ABC Action News.
“He ran me off road, jumped out of his vehicle. I couldn’t get away. He came towards me shouting he’s got a pistol. Reached toward his waistband,” Westlake told a 911 operator. “I’m applying pressure to the wound. He’s faintly breathing.”
Westlake told the ABC affiliate that Uber and Lyft suspended his account. Uber told him that even if he is cleared of any wrongdoing, his account might be reinstated, but he doubts that will happen as he violated the company’s no gun policy.
Details in the Case
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, in the incident, a woman had called for an Uber to take her home from the Grove Lounge on U.S. Highway 27 in Dundee after she was drinking, ClickOrlando reported.Westlake, her Uber driver, drove the woman west on Dundee Road. A woman who had assisted the drunk woman began getting text messages from Boek, her boyfriend. Boek apparently thought that woman got into the Uber car, the report said.
Neither Westlake or the woman knew Boek, who has a lengthy criminal history, including arrests on charges of aggravated battery, battery, burglary, marijuana possession, forgery, larceny, resisting arrest, and violation of probation, the report said.
Deputies said they obtained a search warrant for Boek’s truck and found marijuana and a glass pipe containing methamphetamine residue.
“Good people carry guns and they will shoot you. You may be used to bullying people ... I highly recommend against that if you value your life. Leave people alone. They may have a gun and shoot you,” Judd said in a warning to “hot heads,” ClickOrlando reported.
