The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Ain’t Going Back to Jail’

Posted on | October 24, 2021 | Comments Off on ‘Ain’t Going Back to Jail’

Say hello to Christian Redwine and, while you’re at it, you can also say good-bye, because he got shot dead by a police officer in 2016.

Although he was only 17, Redwine already had an extensive criminal record in November 2016 when he decided to steal a car and go joyriding with two friends. Redwine “had a lengthy juvenile record, including an 18-month sentence in a youth development campus,” a federal judge wrote in a recent court ruling related to the case. “He had also recently been charged as an adult with first-degree burglary, spent two months in jail, and been released on bond less than a week before the shooting.”

Maybe releasing criminals from jail is a bad idea, but on the other hand, keeping them in jail is expensive, compared to the cost of buying 21 rounds of pistol ammunition for a police officer, who can thereby guarantee that the hoodlum won’t steal any more cars.

Since the #BlackLivesMatter riots last year, I’ve done a lot of blogging about crime and law enforcement, mainly in an effort to counterbalance the anti-police narrative whereby activists magically transform criminals into victims of injustice. Because most of the cases I’ve highlighted involve black suspects, it may seem racist — “RAAAAACIST!” — to defend police against charges of “excessive force,” so I am grateful for those occasions when white criminals get themselves shot by cops. This gives me the opportunity to point out that I have no sympathy for criminals of any race — I am pro-police even when cops are killing white people.

Certainly, Christian Redwine deserved to be shot, as did the two other teenagers who were his passengers that night in November 2016.

Hunter Tillis (left); Hannah Wuenschel (right)

Redwine had just gotten out of jail, and was back home in Columbus, Georgia, with his grandmother, who had raised him. His grandmother’s live-in boyfriend had a small business selling used cars, which he kept parked at the house. Redwine’s 19-year-old cousin, Hunter Tillis, came over and the two of them began a two-day drug binge of over-the-counter cold medication, Xanax, marijuana and cocaine. Redwine’s girlfriend was at the house babysitting for the infant child of 19-year-old Hannah Wuenschel, but then there was an argument, and the girlfriend left with Wuenschel’s baby. So when Wuenschel arrived, the grandmother drove them to the girlfriend’s house “where Wuenschel got her son and brought him back to [the grandmother’s] house. She put the child to bed and smoked marijuana with Tillis and Redwine.” About 11 p.m., Redwine’s grandmother and her boyfriend went to sleep, and then Redwine got the keys to a Pontiac G-6 belonging to the grandmother’s boyfriend. Redwine had no driver’s license and no permission to take the car, but he took it, with Tillis and Wuenschel along for the ride.

The teenagers then apparently broke into two cars, stealing jewelry, a purse and other items. About 3:30 a.m., 911 got a call from the grandmother’s boyfriend, reporting the Pontiac stolen and identifying the three teenagers, saying he wanted them arrested:

The teens were on Gentian Boulevard when Redwine stopped at a shopping plaza, turned off his headlights, and tried to call his girlfriend.
He’d chosen an area rife with business break-ins. At 4:25 a.m., police Capt. Bill Turner, driving an unmarked Chevrolet Impala, saw the Pontiac and followed when Redwine pulled away.
Tillis told Redwine police were behind him. When Redwine confirmed an officer was tailing him, he raced away to the neighborhood around Hardaway High School, speeding so recklessly he had to use the emergency brake to turn.
The 911 center informed officers the Pontiac was reported stolen.
Tillis and Wuenschel later said Redwine was desperate to escape because he’d just been released from jail and swore he would not go back.
Redwine led police down Talbotton Road to Veterans Parkway and briefly lost them near Ashley Station Apartments. He stopped there and told Tillis and Wuenschel to get out if they wanted. Both refused, and police soon were back on Redwine’s tail as he headed into downtown toward the 13th Street Bridge to Phenix City.
[Columbus Police Officer Allan] Brown was at the Public Safety Center on 10th Street when he heard the chase was close by. He joined it, and was the lead police car when Redwine crossed into Alabama, speeding up to 98 mph as he headed west to U.S. 280 and turned back toward Columbus on the J.R. Allen Parkway.
The Pontiac hit 107 mph before Redwine abruptly exited onto Riverchase Drive and ran off the road into bushes in a front yard, with Brown right behind him.

Did I mention that Redwine’s cousin, Hunter Tillis, also had a criminal record, including charges of arson and burglary? Probably neither one of them should have been out on the street, but there they were, flying down the road at over 100 mph, with a teen mom in the front passenger seat, and multiple cop cars in their rearview mirror. They’d crossed the Chattahoochee River into Alabama, then doubled back, exited the freeway and ran off the road. Officer Brown pulled his car up behind and to the right of the Pontiac, which seemed to be stuck on the side of the road. Inside the Pontiac, Redwine told Tillis, “I ain’t going back to jail”:

Brown thought the Pontiac was wrecked and the driver would run away, so he quickly got out, anticipating a foot chase.
Brown drew his .45-caliber semi-automatic. Redwine looked at Wuenschel and said, “It’s them or me,” though she pleaded with him to give up.
“Nah, f—k that,” Redwine said. “You can either jump out or stay the f—k in the car.”
He shifted to reverse. Brown said he saw the white reverse lights come on, and believing Redwine would run him over, started shooting, firing 11 shots in three seconds as the Pontiac passed by.
Having emptied the gun, he put in a fresh clip.
Two of the first shots killed Redwine as the Pontiac backed across the road. Brown said he was blinded by the headlights, and believed the driver would try to run him over again. He fired 10 more shots, leaving Redwine with multiple wounds. Wuenschel was wounded in the first barrage, and Tillis was hit in the second. Both were hospitalized and arrested upon their release.

Twenty-one shots, dead car thief. I score that a “win” for the good guys.

 

You watch the dashcam video, and you’ve got to say that reloading the weapon and firing an extra 10 shots seems . . . excessive. If any Georgia cop had done that to a black teenager, Ben Crump would have been on CNN 24/7, and the looting and arson would have gone on for days. However, because the dead car thief was white, nobody outside the Columbus area has ever even heard of Christian Redwine.

A grand jury cleared Officer Brown of wrongdoing, but there was a civil lawsuit and last month a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Officer Brown, so he’s now in the clear, legally. The court ruling could be considered a precedent, establishing that cops have the right to shoot white car thieves. But I’m not a lawyer, and maybe I’m misinterpreting it.

Americans should be grateful to Christian Redwine, who boasted, “I ain’t going back to jail.” No, son, you’re going to hell. Bon voyage.




 

Category: Crime, Georgia

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