A Florida man won’t face charges for firing 30 rounds at his pool cleaner after mistaking him for an intruder, according to police.
Bradley Hocevar, a 57-year-old retired Army lieutenant colonel, will not be charged because of the state’s “stand your ground” law, which allows homeowners to fire on someone they believe to be a threat.
“This is one of those situations we call lawful but awful,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a press conference Monday.
The incident began June 15 at 9 p.m. when Dunedin resident Hocevar and his wife, Jana, heard noises coming from their home’s backyard pool area. The couple told police they didn’t recognize a man standing in their screened-in yard.
While his wife called the police, Hocevar allegedly grabbed his AR-15-style rifle and took a position behind his couch. Hocevar then fired two rounds through his closed blinds into the backyard at his pool cleaner, 33-year-old Karl Polek, police said.
Polek later told police he had arrived at the residence late because he was behind schedule, but did not inform the couple that he was arriving.
Surveillance video of the backyard, released by Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, shows the moment Polek is fired at and him running away. He sustained minor shrapnel injuries from the shattered glass, according to police.
Hocevar continued firing after Polek left.
“[Polek] leaves now and then 47 seconds later is when the remaining 28 rounds were fired,” Gualtieri said of the video.
The sheriff said it was a “classic example” of Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
“He was in his home, he was defending what he thought was an intruder coming into his house, where he and his wife were,” Gualtieri said. “It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances.”
At the press conference, Gualtieri also appeared to place some blame on Polek.
“We talked to the pool guy,” Gualtieri said. “In hindsight, he probably should have let them know he was coming at nine o’clock, yet he made no effort to contact them at all.”
Florida’s “stand your ground” law has led to other shootings going unprosecuted.
In March, charges were dropped against a Miami man captured on his own car camera firing indiscriminately through his window and windshield while driving during a road rage incident in 2021. And in April, someone reportedly shot at a Florida couple’s car after they drove to the wrong address for an Instacart delivery. In that case, the couple said police told them no laws were broken because they were on the homeowner’s property.