Former cop cleared. (Exercising the Right).

Shortly after 4 a.m. on April 21st of this year, retired NYPD police officer Luke Blake walked to his car after a meeting of the motorcycle club to which he belongs. As he was about to unlock the driver's side door, he was approached by a young man who began yelling at him in Spanish. When the man made a motion with his hand, four other people appeared, also angrily shouting in Spanish. Blake could not understand what they were saying, but feared that he was about to be mugged.

As he glanced to his right, the former police officer noticed something moving near the rear of his car. Ricardo Carlon, 24, emerged from the shadows and came toward Blake armed with a kitchen knife with a nine-inch blade. The other men also continued to advance in a menacing manner.

Blake, now fearing for his life, drew his licensed 9mm handgun and shouted at Carlon, "I'm a cop; drop the knife. I'm a cop; drop the knife." When Carlon ignored the warning and kept coming, Blake began backing away. The New York Post for June 17th quoted him as recalling: "I'm backing up, and all of a sudden, he charged at me, and raised the knife to go stab me. I tried to back up faster. I don't know if I lost balance by tripping over myself or it was [rough] pavement, but I began to fall. As I'm going to the ground, he's almost over me and I fired a shot. I hit the ground and he was still coming at me, so I fired two more shots."

Two bullets found their mark. The young Mexican immigrant fell to the ground still clutching the knife. One of Blake's fellow motorcycle club members heard the shots, rushed to the scene, and kicked the knife from the wounded man's hand.

Carlon was rushed to a local hospital where he died within the hour. The five men with him reportedly refused to cooperate with police, and were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration.

Blake was not charged in the shooting, but the case was submitted to a grand jury. Court documents unsealed on June 5th confirmed that the jurors, following two weeks of eyewitness and police testimony, agreed that he had acted in justifiable self-defense. They voted not to indict him.