Father Stabs Thief to Death After Tracking Him with Find My iPhone

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Posted August 7, 2014 at 12:30am by iClarified

After tracking his son's stolen iPhone through Find My iPhone, Derek Grant ended up stabbing and killing the thief who robbed his son at knifepoint, in self defense.

Jordan, 20, was initially robbed of his iPhone at knifepoint. He went home and told his dad, Derek Grant, who proceeded to locate the stolen device through Find my iPhone. Grant and his two younger sons aged 16 and 17 confronted Patrick Bradley, a thief who had a significant record for violence.

Grant demanded Bradley hand over the phone but instead Bradley stabbed Grant in the left eye. Grant retaliated by grabbing his own knife he brought for safety and proceeded to stab Bradley multiple times, ultimately killing the robber.

Father-of-four Grant was arrested and later said: “I wish to declare for the record that at the time of this incident, I was acting in self-defence.”

Grant originally faced murder charges, but prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to the reduced charge of culpable homicide. His sentence has been deferred until September 1.

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Father Stabs Thief to Death After Tracking Him with Find My iPhone

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Robbed - August 8, 2014 at 2:33pm

I got my phone stolen a month ago and went to the police with a known location via Find my iPhone. They did ABSOLUTELY nothing! This is clearly the only option. He got stabbed in the eye, and acted in self defence. Good on him.

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Not because of that... - August 8, 2014 at 12:53pm

Guys they obviously arrested him because they are wondering why did he bring the knife with him, now I know he said for self defense, but they are thinking why didn't he go to the police? Why didn't he show the police and let them track him down with find my iphone? Why did he bring a knife with him? If you add all those questions it would make him seem like he was going to kill him. Plus it is illegal to bring a knife, so they are thinking he was going to kill him and retrieve the phone.

Dang The Hung - August 7, 2014 at 9:24pm

Guy confronts theif, theif stabs guy in the eye, guy defends himself and gets charged with murder. Please tell me this must have happened in England or Australia. Those countries have such ass backwards laws when it comes to self-defense and promotes a legal system that rewards criminals and punishes victims. Sickening..

reader - August 7, 2014 at 2:43pm

Hmmmmm! So you killed someone and replaced your freedom for prison over a lousy phone!!!!! And the Darwin award goes to...

gamerscul9870 - August 7, 2014 at 2:45pm

Not lousy!!!

Somebody - August 7, 2014 at 10:07am

Not sure but surely a thing called "police" exists? No need to call?

BlackMamba - August 7, 2014 at 2:39pm

If you are in the US, have you ever called the police to report a lost/stolen phone? Do you think they will care?

Pootpoot - August 10, 2014 at 9:26am

It doesn't matter if the police are going to do anything or not, per someone's presumption. You have to look at it from a strictly legal view, as the law will, obviously. Am I saying the bad guy shouldn't have gotten shanked? Not really. What I'm saying is that a theft took place (at minimum, possibly also an assault and/or other crimes); that was at the original crime scene. Once the victim/attacker leave that scene and moment, things change. You're supposed to contact the police and let them deal with it (regardless if they care or do a damn thing)— because they have legal authority to do so. Otherwise, it's just vigilante justice/revenge and what now happens is that the victim's /father/ is now the person confronting another person without any authority to do so. When he does after this dude, he is in the "aggressor/offense" position. He wasn't even the original victim! That's no different than my buddy going to settle the thing, taking a knife with him and chasing this guy down. This shows 1) he was the aggressor in a second totally new incident 2) he obviously premeditated it and brought a weapon, regardless if he knew he would use it or not. The problem is: had he not gone after the guy himself, he would not have gotten stabbed, and there would be no need for self-defense because he wouldn't have placed himself in a volatile situation willingly, and thus, there wouldn't have been a homicide. In the law's eyes, you're not defending yourself you go after someone (doesn't matter the previous crime)— he has no authority to just head after this guy when he's in no imminent danger. He placed himself in that situation, and as a result of that, the guy who stole from his son still had legal rights, just as any other. So if I go into the lion's cage at the zoo and he feels threatened and mauls my ass— who is at fault? Him, for being in his cage— or me, for going into his territory and getting up in his face? The answer is pretty clear there; how is this different? By law, it's not any different. You're some random guy approaching this criminal and at the very least, verbally demanding the return of the phone. You don't know that the father didn't walk up to the thief and pull a knife on him, saying "gimme back the iPhone or I'll kill you". In that case, the thief would be the one with the "self defense" claim, and the father would be guilty of 1st degree murder! Or even possibly the thief could have stabbed the father to death in "self defense" and possibly walked free. So many of you are thinking too much on moral and social justifications. The law is objective, based on legislation , not subjective factors like moral principles and opinions. Maybe the thief got what was coming to him, from a personal/moral justice POV. Fact of the matter is, what I have pointed out are things that the law doesn't dismiss quite so easily. Legally, he was not justified in any of it. He should have stayed away and it wouldn't have happened. His actions directly caused the chain of events that followed. The thief became the legal victim and you just can't walk up on someone and harass or threaten them, no matter what. Now if the thief feels that he is in great danger, he has the self defense coin and if you "defend yourself" you're not-- you're only continuing the original crime you began. You're the criminal now. Fair? Logical? Just? It doesn't matter what anyone thinks but the law that addresses such situations. It just is like that. You can't be impulsive and do shit like that, no matter if it's morally justified in your eyes. That's why this man is being charged with the crime. Culpable homicide means you're at fault/responsible for the death, which means you brought about the final circumstances that led to you killing someone, when it could have been avoided. You are at fault for not avoiding that end by all means in your power. And that's true of the evidence presented as I see it here.

Al - August 7, 2014 at 8:34am

Good stuff

Ozmundo - August 7, 2014 at 8:13am

The three of them went equipped with a weapon to confront the thief. Did they also bring a rope to lynch him?

King Rollo - August 7, 2014 at 8:01am

This guy saved his phone and the gene pool from worthless DNA. Result.

BillGatesRoxx - August 7, 2014 at 7:46am

And you too

AppleisFinishedAfterSteveJobsDeath - August 7, 2014 at 7:42am

All this voilence just for an iPhone =$ OMG $= An iPhone turned his dad into a Criminal =$ OMG $= Tim doesn't knows how to Cook =$ OMG $= Don't become a Criminal, Switch Today, Buy a Samsung Galaxy S5

TheNovaFilms - August 7, 2014 at 7:13am

He did nothing wrong. It was self defense. What else was he supposed to do? Get stabbed to death himself? No. He killed the thief so save himself. Good IMO :)

mackan1 - August 7, 2014 at 8:28am

But he was also carrying a knife. carrying a knife is also ageist the law.

TheNovaFilms - August 8, 2014 at 6:44am

Incorrect. Carrying a knife (even concealed) is legal as long as it's a certain size. I believe it has to be under 4 inches to be legal.

qba - August 7, 2014 at 6:47am

Well done in self defense, is not about the iPhone is about protecting your family.

RomperStomper - August 7, 2014 at 1:16am

you know what they say an eye for an iPhone and a tooth for a tooth.

Concerned - August 7, 2014 at 1:09am

With all melee that went on, the report forgot to mention, is the iPhone okay?

dgadirector - August 7, 2014 at 1:09am

Hopefully his sentenced is commuted. The Prosecutor seems to be lacking common sense.

RHEL6 - August 7, 2014 at 12:51am

what would you do if someody stabbed you in the eye? i know what i would do

paulMOGG - August 7, 2014 at 12:47am

How awful that the iphone has created such a terrible attachment for everyone !

gamerscul9870 - August 7, 2014 at 1:32am

Or theives. The school I went to has nearly everyone with iPhone and I found no violence there.

areilly111 - August 7, 2014 at 4:21am

It could have been any device. Not just a iPhone

TimCook - August 8, 2014 at 6:34am

Well, it could have been any other phone, but iClarified would not have posted it.

Judge Dredd - August 7, 2014 at 12:46am

Good riddance to a violent thug! All the best of luck to Derek Grant

@carsvideos on Instagram - August 7, 2014 at 12:41am

Omg that's terrible!