I think he should have gotten a medal instead of jail time...

A Baltimore man has accepted a plea deal for 5 years in jail for shooting and killing a guy who he caught stealing the rims off his Mercedes.

Personally, I think he should have gotten a medal instead of jail time. But then again, I'm a little biased.

(For those who don't know me, back in 2001, when I was still in college, I traded in my 13-year-old K-car for a brand-new PT Cruiser - my first new car ever. About 6 weeks after I got it, on a Friday morning, I walked out of my off-campus apartment to drive to a 10am economics class - to find it sitting on blocks, all 4 wheels and tires removed).

Now, seriously, is shooting someone who is stealing your wheels appropriate? Probably not. But it raises the question - what is an appropriate response? You can call the cops, but chances are they won't get there in time to catch the guy in the act. So you probably want to confront the thief, and you probably want some kind of weapon - since the guy stealing your wheels at least has a tire iron, and possibly a gun.

There are a couple quotes from the dead wheel thief's grieving fiance, including this one:

"You wonder why the crime rate was so high, you ask yourself. [It's] because you're making it easy for people to kill people and get away with it

Or maybe the crime rate is so high because people don't have enough respect for other people's property to not steal wheels off some guys car - or maybe the crime rate is high because people feel they can steal rims off a guy's car in broad daylight with little chance of getting caught or confronted.