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texanjoker wrote: ...Regressing, but back in CA I was at a traffic light and a bum was so bad I finally flashed my badge and wanted to talk to him in a official capacity (we didn't allow that). I was working a crime suppression detail in a unmarked ford taurus on overtime by myself in plain clothing. This guy wants to fight. 1v1 with no cover within 15 minutes I was smart and left. He was always there and the NEXT day I knew I would go back. As promised I was back the next day in my marked patrol car with my nice police K9 to talk to this nice individual. Funny he didn't want to fight then. He then went to jail for the actions of the day before.

"He who laughs last, laughs best!" I love it when good triumphs over evil. Good job of follow-up. It must have been very satisfying to put the cuffs on your newly pacified individual!


P.S. #1:
Texanjoker and Excaliber: Thanks for your service.

P.S. #2
After personally observing the effectiveness of our local K9 Officer, I would become very passive if he barked or growled at me. "Nice doggy! Nice doggy!"

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. They were both helpful and educational.

Posting my encounter has been very important to me as an after-action report to see what I did right and where I could improve for the future. Obviously, in this case, my situational awareness played the largest role in keeping me safe. However, having a firearm on me and knowing I was a fairly proficient marksman gave me the confidence to immediately take steps to protect myself. If I had to use it, I knew I had a final backup.

A year ago, I had never owned or fired a handgun and had never thought about self-defense. If I had been approached by two BGs, I would have stood frozen like a deer in the headlights and let them assault me and take my car. However, in the last year, I have obtained a handgun, taken lessons in shooting, situational awareness, and self-defense, obtained my CHL, practiced regularly at the range 2-3 times a week, and begun to carry my weapon 24/7. In addition, I read the great information on the Texas CHL Forum, XDTalk, the Ruger Forum, the 1911 Forum and read as many books as I could find on concealed carry, self-defense, and situational awareness.

If I can learn better how to protect myself in one year, anyone can do it if they are willing to commit themselves to the task. If my post motivates just one person to get training, get a concealed gun permit, develop defense skills, and increase situational awareness sensitivity, my thread will have served its greatest purpose.

Thank you!

Excaliber wrote:...There's no coercion here - just risk management decisions. The OP recognizes that driving a nice Mercedes is significantly more likely to attract the attention of bandits than an old Toyota. One needs to evaluate how much risk that carries against the pleasure of driving that machine, and decide if the increase in risk is worth it.

Risk can be managed in 4 ways:

Code: Select all

1) Avoid it ( by doing something different e.g., driving an older car)
2) Transfer it (buy lots of insurance so a loss has less impact - applies to things, not people)
3) Mitigate it (keep driving the car, but make adaptations - don't drive it into sketchy neighborhoods, increase situational awareness, don't go back to the car when suspicious persons are nearby, etc.)
4) Accept it (decide the pleasure of driving the car everywhere you go is worth the increased risk it carries)

Excaliber,

My wife and I spent some time today discussing your 4 ways of managing risk. Thus far, we have eliminated numbers 2 & 4 from the list. I am more concerned about my personal safety than about damage or loss to a vehicle. Unfortunately, this incident didn't happen in a "bad" area. These days the BGs seem to be everywhere. I am sure we will be discussing the other 2 options during the holidays.

Excaliber wrote:...I hope you also called the police and described the incident as soon as you were at a safe distance. Since they missed you, they would have immediately gone on the hunt for new and more compliant prey.

Excaliber wrote:...Incidentally, it's still not too late to make that call. Investigators looking into robberies in the area may well be able to pick up information they don't yet have from the information you could provide on descriptions, BG tactics, time of day, location, etc. that could help lead to an earlier arrest.

Excaliber,

I went by the Police Station today and gave a full accounting and descriptions. They will be on the lookout and patrol that area for the next week or so. Of course, it would have helped if I had immediately reported it.

I also went by the restaurant and met with the manager for about 30 minutes. She was very upset and concerned. They have signs posted that the lot is monitored but, in fact, there are no cameras. I realize the signs could be a deterrent but it seems to me that they are being a bit dishonest with the customers. In any case, she is going to start having an escort available whenever elderly people or single women leave the restaurant from now through the holidays.

All's well that ends well.

Now I need to go practice:

"STOP, DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

"CALL 911 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"

Excaliber wrote:No doubt about it - you evaded a robbery.
Although it may have seemed like 90 seconds to you with all that the BG's were doing, and your analysis, decisions, and tactical execution of plan A with plan B ready to go, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it took only 20 - 25 seconds by the clock.
...I hope you also called the police and described the incident as soon as you were at a safe distance. Since they missed you, they would have immediately gone on the hunt for new and more compliant prey.

Excaliber,
I think you are correct that the whole incident probably took about 20-25 seconds at the very most. However, at the time, it seemed a lot longer. Everything was happening in slow motion.

Unfortunately, I did not have my phone with me, so I didn't think to call the police. If there ever is another occurrence, I will put that in my action plan. At the time, I actually felt relieved that I didn't have to draw my gun and then HAVE to call the police. It just didn't occur to me that I needed to call to protect others. One of my problems was not knowing whether I was over-reacting to two aggressive panhandlers or was really facing two robbers. After reading various comments on my thread, I think probably I did avoid being robbed. [Reading that just now caused a little tingle to go down my spine, which is ironic because I felt not the slightest bit of fear during the incident. Reflecting on the encounter now makes me realize how lucky I was.]

If there is anything I would have done differently, I would have yelled, "STOP! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" instead of, "I CAN'T HELP YOU!" This is something I will practice so it is second nature to me.

Thanks for your comments.

After one robbery and another dangerous street encounter with a BG last year, I now conceal carry 24/7. Because of age (69) and severe arthritis, I, of necessity, move rather slowly these days. I work hard at keeping an especially high level of awareness when going to or from my car.

Today at 3:30 p.m.[sic. 4:15 p.m.], after eating a late lunch by myself, I approached my car, which was parked fairly close to the entrance of the restaurant. Scanning the parking lot, I saw two rather seedy individuals loitering at the far end of the lot. One of the individuals started towards me in a run while starting a typical handout story. His partner began moving towards me from a different direction, which would have put me between the two of them. As I hurried to my car, I held up my hand in a stop gesture and yelled, "I can't help you!" I jumped in my car, locked the door, and started backing out of my parking space. The first individual was not deterred and came right up to the car aggressively yelling at me that their car had broken down and they needed some money. By this time, the second guy was at the passenger side of my car. I drove off and left them standing where my car had been parked.

Some observations:

• I was shocked at how quickly the first guy was able to run almost a half of a city block. When he started to move, I was only ten feet from my car but barely had time to get into my car and lock the door before he was right next to my car. When I first saw the two guys loitering, I thought about going back inside the restaurant but it was almost 40 feet back as compared with the ten feet to my car.
• I hate to say this but when talking to the police after my first robbery, they said the BG targeted me in the parking lot and followed me into my gym because I was older and drove a Mercedes. Today, I got the definite impression that the two guys made their concerted move on me after they saw I was headed to the Mercedes. I hate this. I really enjoy driving my Mercedes but I told my wife, "Perhaps, I should drive her Ford in town and use the Mercedes for highway driving."
• Afterwards, it came to my mind that the two guys were nowhere near any "broken" down car.
• During the course of this 90 second [sic. 25 second] event, I kept my hand ready to draw my XD9sc. If necessary, I felt fairly confident in my ability to defend myself. At the time, being able to flee to my car seemed the best option and given that it was successful, I was fairly happy with the results. A year ago, not wanting to be rude to people, I would have stood dumbfounded and let them come right up to me.

Some Questions:

• Were the two guys just panhandlers or was I being interviewed for a robbery or a carjacking? I don't know the answer. They did not have the shabby look of the typical panhandler. Instead, they both looked extremely fit as if they spent a lot of time in the gym. In my opinion, they looked and acted far more like recent parolees than panhandlers. They were also aggressive from the first moment of eye contact. It also bothers me the way they situated themselves to arrive on both sides of my car.
• Is a Mercedes a "BG magnet" in my particular town? I hope not but the evidence is starting to make me a little concerned.

Conclusions:
This whole incident took less than a minute and a half [sic. 25 seconds], I felt good that my self defense training kicked in. The second I spotted the two suspicious guys loitering, my alertness went to Level Orange. Within 3 seconds, I evaluated whether to return to the restaurant or get to the safety of my car. Although my mind was racing a million miles a second, I felt a deep sense of calm and confidence. I aggressively yelled at them in a loud voice while keeping my right hand near my firearm and simultaneously taking action to get in my car. If they were only panhandlers, perhaps their feelings were hurt but if their intentions were to rob me or steal my car, my decisive action took me out of harm's way without the need to escalate the encounter.

I am so thankful for my training and the education I have gotten here on Texas CHL Forum. You really do make a difference!

[EDIT: Excaliber was correct that probably the whole event took no more than 20-25 seconds rather than a minute and a half.]