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Self-defense gets another one

Posted by Orange Blossom Special on Wed Dec 19 23:25:47 2007

Herald

With one wielding a knife, two men pounded on Hygens Labidou's roofing truck and shouted racial epithets, authorities said.

''N-----, get out of the truck!'' they allegedly snarled, according to a copy of a 911 tape released Tuesday. One of the men, six feet tall and 350 pounds, tried to pull Labidou from the truck.

Moments later, Labidou, fearing for his life, pulled out his 9mm semiautomatic gun and fired, wounding the two Cooper City men -- one fatally -- in the middle of a busy Deerfield Beach intersection.

Labidou, 49, of Wellington, will not be charged because he acted in self-defense, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.

''These two men approached him with a deadly weapon in an aggressive manner,'' BSO spokesman Mike Jachles said. ``Clearly, he was inside his vehicle, and he was clearly within his right to defend himself.''

Edward Borowsky, 28, died Monday, four days after the shooting. The other man, Steven V. Lonzisero, 43, is under arrest, charged with murder during the commission of a crime. Even though he didn't pull the trigger, under Florida law, a person can be charged with murder if someone dies while the accused is committing a felony.

Borowsky also will be charged with a hate crime, the BSO said.

Follow-up

A Cooper City man charged with murder in a racist road rage attack was on probation and has a criminal history dating to 1998, court records show.

Lonzisero has been charged with felony murder and could face life in prison, because investigators say he was an accomplice in the crime that led to the shooting. Under state law, partners-in-crime can be charged with murder even if they do not fire the fatal shot or deal the lethal blow.

In Lonzisero's quiet Cooper City neighborhood, a young man described Lonzisero as a "hothead." A woman said Lonzisero moved in about a year ago and quickly got in a dispute with another neighbor who was walking dogs in front of his yard. Lonzisero cursed as he asked her to take the dogs away, the neighbor said.

In 1999 in federal court in New York, Lonzisero pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder in furtherance of racketeering activity and one count of unlawfully taking a motor truck in an interstate shipment case, according to court records. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of federal probation, which was transferred to South Florida in April 2001.

In June 2005, Lonzisero was sentenced to time served, a year of house arrest and two years of federal probation for possessing and affecting commerce in firearms. Lonzisero had four pistols and two silencers, and federal authorities said he drove from Cooper City to Queens, planning to commit a home invasion robbery against people he knew, according to Newsday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that road rage or aggressive driving has jumped 51 percent since 1990, now causing 66 percent of all traffic fatalities. And the agency's statistics show Florida is one of the worst states in the country for road rage.

Yea, from New yorkers but we get blamed.

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