Police: ECU student killed in self defense

To Start,my heart goes out to the family of Mr. Flinn, this is indeed a tragedy in more ways than one, a life has been taken uselessly and a progressive future destroyed for no real reason.
I have read most of the comments made on this story alot have merit when it comes down to responsibility others are just mean and stupid.
To cover all aspects of this one needs to be (unfortunatley)cold and objective, in fact race does play a part in this why you ask what started the fight to begin with?.
Also Mr flinn did not start the fight simply interviened,poor judgement maybe but not a death offence.
Drugs and alchohol big part of the problem most assuredly as was stated in another comment somthing that has been going on since who knows when the dawn of colledge.
Justice? theres the question of the day,in the eyes of the court system someone ultimatlt is responsible for any thing that happens in the scope of law.
Should charges be filed most definatly,our laws are set up to protect all people undr most circumstances for example, any or all persons involved in this tragedy sould have been charged with assault in one form or another,such as Assault Inflicting Serious Injury NC 14-32.4 affray kinda vauge but there Ethnic Intimidation 14-401.14 and many others that could have been used but were not the question should be why?.
The DA made a statement that was rather open ended I guess thats whats known as CYA also if there is the possibility of charges being filed they should be and usually are in cases like this were A judge really needs to make this type of decision when it comes to who is responible not just the chain of command, and do not forget that that we live in a society were its the JUST-US system not always the justice system,there are many things to consider and this case ALL things should be.

I also have been following this case and my heart goes out to Sam's family and friends.
Drinking and smoking pot is going on in high schools and colleges, its been that way for decades. That does not mean kids are bad kids or they deserve to die. Those kids could of walked away from from Reece and all Sam did is to try to help his friend. Where does it say he punched anyone, where does it say any of those 3 or 4 kids where hurt. How is helping a friend and getting murdered, and yes it is murder when you take a life, justify letting Collins get away with murder? Did Collins go to the funneral and show any remorse? I think the cops are 100% wrong, he needs to pay for his actions and that punch had to be pretty
hard to kill him. I don't know if this has anything to do with race, but in my mind, it does not matter if your black, white, green or anything else, if you take a life its murder and you should be punished. This should be at least a man slaughter charge. I hope the kid that did this lives in hell for ever....
If he is any kind of man he should stand up and take responabilty for his actions and show some remorse!! I pray for Sam and his family,
I pray that justice will be served and once the family is able they will press charges.
There needs to be justice for taking a life.
If someone drives drunk and kills someone they are charged, this is no different, Mr Collins needs to pay. You are a Murder and how you live with yourself is beyond me.
Mr. David if this happened to your kid what would you be doing differently? How come none of the storeies match? Who were the witnesses that saw all this happened? Who was not drinking or on drugs? Did you test Jeffery Collins and his friends? I think if you dig deeper and the police did there job better, the outcome would be different. Its not to late to drug test them all and I think it is wrong to make Sam out to be this person that drinks and does drugs. If you drug tested every student in college I would bet more than half smoke pot and drink.....Sam did not start the fight and he did not deserve to die....Jeffery Collins needs to be punished!!

God bless my soul...But in my eyes you should not care if anyone is gay just leave wizzy alone! YOUR THE DAMN REASON WHY LIL WAYNE CANNOT PERFORM IN THE NEWHANOVER SCHOOLS. He has plenty of fans here and if you would have stayed your ass in your own town you would not have been dead...god bless my soulllllll

The Wilmington DA is simply scared to stand up to the black community just like every other politician in this town. If anyone says that this story would not be a national issue if this kid was black they are simply lying. The media has covered up the race in this issue from the begining. This story was simply supposed to be pushed under the mat.

After all of the "accounts" from the media and the "findings" from the DA's office via the police, it is easy to see how Hitler succeeded in taking over an educated industrial country. Don't believe everything you read or see in the media. The facts are not clear since the only witness to rebut 5 liars is dead. So, you have 5 people coordinating their story against one person who was suffering from a concussion, had not slept for over 30 hours, had a knot the size of a baseball on his head and had his friend die in his arms. What type of police takes a statement under these circumstances? No race issues but simply no way to rebut liars. This has very little to do with drugs or alcohol but a great deal to do with folk looking to start a fight. How can five folk be scared of one guy offering concerts tickets? If it is self defense, why was that person held and beaten? Self defense? This is about rage not race. You people aren't safe. If everyone is so hung up on the alcohol and drug deal, then make it a dry county if you are really serious about it. Drugs are a convenient excuse here since the victim simply went to defend his friend who had been jumped by two or three scared people. Justice will be up to God but you people need to question more and type less. You are all being manipulated and simply don't realize it.

I don't know why in the world everyone is arguing about some damn race card when the article doesn't even say what race the two guys were! They could both be Finnish or something!
Drunken brawl = 1 guy dead
No race issues. We all bleed the same blood. Let it go.

yall show no remorse for a live lost no matter how or what happined it was a tragedy.all you ppl need to show some respect.

OK the kid was under the influence of a potentially lethal combination of drugs. That alone is not smart, not to mention running around Wilmington starting fights. Gee, think the drugs had anything to do with that? Race has nothing to do with it. White, black, asian, whatever...if someone attacks you and you throw a single punch without intent to kill you did nothing wrong. Its called self defense...all you liberal hippies out there can seethe in jealous rage, but it does nothing. Leave it to you to make a whole black/white thing out of this. Looks to me like justice was done.

Please , if everything had been reversed,there would have been people crawling out of woodwork to shout racism.No it shouldn't be about race,but believe me,it would have. This would have been blown to a national level! I also believe if charges had been filed,same thing. I'm a realist. I doubt this is over.

All I know about this ordeal is what I have seen on TV and read here in the comments. I didnt know that one person was black and one was white. But I dont think that has anything to do with it. Of course I wasnt there and don't know all the actions that took place. But I do know that theres 2 sides to every story. People get into fights everyday. If this guy (Sam) got hit in the chin I dont see how this could have been an deadly blow. whether Sam's friends want to admit it Sam was just as much to blame as this other guy. It took both of them to fight. For the 2 friends that were on TV saying actions need to be taken. NICE DRAMA ACT. Because I know that if that would have been my bestfriend I would have been bawling my eyes out. There were no tears coming from either one of you. It looked like you were just doing it to get attention.

Read all these blogs? What a laugh. This 20 year old man obviously had no business even being a second part in an altercation. Xanax, marijuana, alcohol? Stimulants, anti-depressants- thats a deadly combination alone! This kid may have been a great guy, good friend,etc. however and old scientific theory states- "For Every Action there is a Re-action." That is also Fact. There was an action, Mr. Collins reacted and although the results were unfortunate this could lead to revelation of College Age kids awarness of effects of drug use. I know Mr. Collins personally. He is from a middle class family, from a small town in Rural Eastern NC that most of you probably don't even know exists. Mr. Collins is a well rounded, smart young man who has excelled in atheletics and academics his whole life. Note: He has not the first mark on a RAP sheet. Just think about what he has to live with everyday of his life now. WHat if he is put in this situation again and doesn't react? The outcome? Also if most of you blogging know so much of the incident, why didnt you try to prevent this? Why didn't you hang around? Those questions may never be answered either? To all the left wing liberals, your comments are always amazing when dealing with a controversial issue. As I will stand alone and say this was a fluke- 1 in a millions odds- of being struck on the chin and killed Mr. Collins is not a Murderer. NC General Statues prove that with clauses of someone willingly and intently causing death of another. Please folks, always look at the whole box and not half of it. Put yourself in both sets of shoes and think of the actions and reactions.
"If the only tool you provide a man is a hammer, every situation he faces is a nail"

Been awfully quiet in this thread today. Looks like the college kids that were arguing got past one of the stages of healing in major tragedies...DENIAL...Acceptance is the next phase.

if you go to http://crime.blogs.com and read what a cop wrote about the death of my buddy sammy then yu will see how sam was defending Reece and himself. The report even mentions that the FOUR guys beating on Reece were the onlywitnesses to the punch that killed sammy.

September 26, 2007
District Attorney Ben David's Statement Regarding the Death of Sam Flinn

Thanks to the excellent work of the Wilmington Police Department, we now have a clear understanding of what happened in the early morning hours of September 23, 2007. Now I want to speak to you about what those facts mean in legal terms. Everyone closely involved in the investigation, from the police to the prosecutors, is united in concluding that no one should be criminally charged in this tragic incident.

This case serves as another example of the close working relationship between WPD and the District Attorney's Office, and our joint commitment to embrace a police/prosecutor team approach to seek justice in homicide cases. WPD first notified me at 3:30 am and I personally responded to the police station early Sunday morning, and have remained actively involved in the investigation since that time. Senior Assistant DAs from my office have worked closely with the detectives over the past few days to ensure that all leads were exhausted and the truth of what occurred is known. Also, we have carefully researched the controlling criminal law of North Carolina that applies to this situation. As in all cases, we have followed a process of applying the facts to the law, and have come to a decision that is warranted under the circumstances.

The facts are clear that the victim's friend, Doug Reece, initiated the conflict with Jeffery Collins that ultimately led to Sam Flinn's participation in the fight. At some point during the confrontation, Mr. Collins struck Mr. Flinn, causing an injury that proved to be fatal. A person who deliberately brings on a fight by word or action has committed the criminal offense of an affray. A review of the facts discloses that Mr. Reece unlawfully assaulted Mr. Collins. Mr. Flinn attempted to intervene in an effort to assist Mr. Reece, who was the wrongdoer in this confrontation. In this circumstance, the law authorizes Mr. Collins to act in self defense against both Mr. Reece and Mr. Flinn, as he was not the initial aggressor.

In the exercise of self defense, a person cannot use more force then is reasonably necessary to repel an attack. Mr. Collins was confronted with a non-deadly threat and responded appropriately with matching force, i.e., the use of his fists as opposed to any type of deadly weapon. The Medical Examiner concluded that the injuries to Mr. Flinn's body are entirely consistent with those suffered during an unremarkable fist fight. The medical authorities also found the cause of death to be a brain hemorrhage that is typical of one suffered by someone who is intoxicated and receives a blow to the chin.

The physical evidence from the autopsy is corroborated by the accounts of numerous eyewitnesses. Although the injuries to Mr. Flinn proved to be fatal, the amount of force that Mr. Collins employed was a measured response to the unlawful actions of Mr. Reece and Mr. Flinn. Further, the law does not impose a duty to retreat in this circumstance. Jeffery Collins was justified in the use of self defense and he used a reasonable amount of force to repel an unlawful attack. The fact that the consequences were both severe and unintended does not elevate a tragedy to a crime.

Earlier today, we spoke with the family of Mr. Flinn and informed them of our decision not to prosecute anyone in connection with the death of their son. We expressed our deep sympathy for their loss, but explained to them that we will not compound this tragedy by pursuing criminal charges that are neither supported by the law nor the facts. The parents agreed that no criminal charges should be filed and expressed the hope that something positive could be learned from their son's death. They asked for privacy and that they not be contacted by the press in their time of grief.

During the course of this investigation, witnesses admitted to illegal activity, including underage drinking, illegal drug use, and an affray. In this regard, I decline to take any criminal action for two reasons: First, there is no nexus between the crimes which occurred and the death of Mr. Flinn sufficient to charge anyone with an offense of criminal homicide. Second, I do not believe that it is in the public's interest to charge anyone with the other listed offenses. In conducting the interviews of witnesses, the police needed the cooperation and honesty of many people who admitted to their own unlawful behavior. It would have a chilling effect on future cases if we were to arrest witnesses for these misdemeanor offenses in the context of a homicide investigation. Also, in this particular case, many of those involved are probably suffering under their own form of self-imposed punishment.

This case serves as another tragic reminder of the dangers of drugs and alcohol, particularly in the hands of the very young. I have shared our findings with Chancellor Rosemary Depaolo of The University of North Carolina at Wilmington. I remain committed to working with UNCW and local law enforcement to address the problems associated with off-campus parties.

Sincerely,

Benjamin R. David

District Attorney

I just read the comments posted by all you people who have no idea what in the hell you are talking about! First off, you shouldn't be bashing a dead person and saying he deserves what he got! You IDIOTS were not there and don't know him so shut your damn mouths.

I showed up at the scene of the crime shortly after Sam Flinn's "MURDER", and have to say that I'm very upset with the police departments investigation! Did any of you know that the police failed to get statements from many of the people that were there? I saw many people just walk away from a murder scene unquestioned! This is including many of Sams close friends that came out from the house as soon as their friend came in saying they were just jumped. THis is includinmg the friends that were holding Sam in their arms when the police arrived. How the hell does this happen?

There needs to be some justice here! This was not a case of self defense! Here's why:

Collins and his entourage trespassed onto the property where Sam Flinn and his friend were. SELF DEFENSE???

Sam and Friend = 2
Collins and friends = 3 (possibly 4 ppl as stated by some eyewitnesses) SELF DEFENSE???

The attackers ( Collins and friends) came back to the scene of the crime a couple minutes after the assault! There was another confrontation with words when these idiots came back! By this time some of Sams friends from in the house were outside taking care of him and had already called the police. There was almost another confrontation but it didn't happen because they found out the police were coming. Collins and associates asked friends of mine if "they wanted to end up like their friend (Sam)?"
HOW IS THIS SELF DEFENSE???

SO lets see.... the DA is putting all his eggs in one basket on the statement that Collins and friends made. The 3 or 4 males had plenty of time to get their stories straight before turning themselves in.

On the other side however, we have the statement of one single person involved in the fight. The other person involved, unfortunately can't tell his side of the story because his was murdered.

With that said, all you people who are talking out of your ass....just shut your mouths! You have no right to comment and make light of someone departed. He did not deserve what happened and he needs justice! I don't care if he was smoking crack and shooting heroine that night.... it's not what caused him to die.Several Blows to the head is what caused his tragic death. Do you people know that his attackers were also drinking and under the influence? So should they have died too?

Sam Flinn was an amazing person from what I knew of him. He was always smiling and laughing. He was a very easygoing young man. He was in college and going to make something of his life. He will be greatly missed.

RIP sammy

all i have to say is this justice system is garbage.My friend has now died in vien and the case is aparently closed.They flee from the scene,are on drugs as well and they try to say its self defense.It shouldnt matter if it was a accident,Collins should have enough morale value to know his wrongings.Like someone said kid in florida has life in jail for practicing wrestling moves on his nieghbor,they both agreeded to do it and it turned out bad.He ends up in jail for the rest his life and yet Sammys kiler walks away with just heart full of guilt(I hope).Sam didnt desreve this , and you people are thinking this is about alchol and drugs..you people need to wake up.There are too many scenerios that i could use to demonstrate accidents that happen but you still are responsible no matter what.In the end God knows the truth.I dont wish death apon anyone but i hope this kid gets whats coming to him whether it be life of guilt or jail time. God will have to make up for the lack of this justice system.Man up and take responsibilites for your action.You killed a kid with your bare hands and you run away, and you get away with it.KARMA's a B****

oh and PS. if you think this is about underage drinking and it wouldnt of went down like it did, then you are the ignorant one.R.I.P. SAMMY

I saw the best friends of the deceased crying that someone needs to be held accountable on TV. I agree 100% and they need only look in the mirror to find the persons they should hold accountable. They each and every day had opportunity to intervene and help the young man stop drinking alcohol, doing drugs and acting violently. They did nothing. Young men and at this age rarely listen to adults and are very receptive to their peers and friends. Grow up and start holding yourselves accountable when you allow your friends to spiral out of control, oh but you won't cause then you won't be "cooL". Oh PLEASE! WITN's comment NAZI wouldn't post this comment. WWay e m b r a c e free speech!

An offer for concert tickets resulted in someone calling the artist a name and questioning their manhood and that resulted in a non-racial name being offered back after an attempt to find out what artist that offended person really liked. That is apparently an affray so don't call anyone stupid or gay (in the non-sexual orientation context) because they can kill you as a result, in Wilmington. The DA has done what he thinks is the best under the circumstances with limited information - Sam can tell his story but apparently 2 guys really scared at least 5 with a name and they are still there to loose their temper again. Don't call anyone names in response to being insulted or they can get you too.

Like it matters, but Xanax remains in your system for up 6 weeks so lay off the kid for xanax and alcohol because he may not have taken xanax that day.

MANY OF YOU READERS TAKE SIDES WITH THE COWARDS WHO HIDE BEHIND THE COMMENTS,AS ALWAYS WORSHIP OF THE WHITE FLESH,AS IF YOU ARE THE SUPREME BEING...NOTTT,SEEMS THAT YOU HAVE SHORT MEMORY WHEN YOUR EVIL ANCESTORS KILLED THE RED MAN CAUSE HE WAS RED.SLAVED THE BLACK MAN CAUSE HE WAS BLACK .EVIILLL EVIILL,YET AND NOW STILL BLAMING PEOPLE FOR YOUR PROBLEM,AIN"T YOU TIRED BY NOW,THE YOUNG BOY IN CARLTON PLACE WAS DRUNKK.ON DOPE AND ,RAN INTO THE WRONG MAN,IF ANY BODY SHOULD BE MADD IT SHOULD BE US,i CAN NAME MANY UNJUSTICE BEHAVIOR OF THEFLESH WORSHIPPER{WHITE] IM GLAD THE BLOOD OF YOUR SIINS REST WITH YOU NOT ME ..NOW YALL ARE OUT NUMBER BY THE MINORITY..JESUS IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE YOU

This whole thing is tragic. What is currently sticking out to me is the terrible grammar and spelling of some commenters. "Prosecuted" vs. "Persecuted". "Taken" not "takin"...
Im just saying...

I would be willing to bet that the man who hit and killed him came from a rich family which played a part in him not being arrested or even getting so much as a slap on the wrist for fighting and killing another person.

It is odd that this young man was "found" dead at the end of the driveway the next morning when people saw the fight as it happened.

I wonder why this killer never spent a moment in jail?