FL-NC
Member
Not my usual sub-forum, but I thought I'd share the story of my Friday evening.
I decided to take advantage of some nice weather and go for a short ride, and head over to a friendly establishment not too far from home to grab a burger and a refreshment. When I got there, as usual, my friend behind the bar had my beverage of choice in hand as I walked in. I saw one of the owners- another close friend- seated at the bar with a very large (about 300 pounds, and not the "fit" type) and obviously intoxicated customer speaking to her- I had never seen him before, but the conversation looked friendly enough so I didn't think anything of it. A few moments later, he ambled away and she waved me over, and we exchanged greetings. Then she told me the big guy was drunk, had been behaving impolitely, and she had cut him off from any more alcohol. He had been begging her to allow him to drink some more, and she said NO. She also asked me to hang out next to her and occupy that space for a while to prevent him from coming back and pestering her. So we started chit-chatting, and within less than 2 minutes, he was back, and all in my space and hers. I asked him politely to step away and let us have our time to socialize, and he became very agitated, using language not fit for this forum or polite company. He also verbalized his intent to do me physical harm and started closing the distance (what little distance there was) to facilitate this. My reply was an overhand right to his face, which caused him to be stunned and stagger back a ways- I opted NOT to go straight into a multiple punch combo or kick series (either which would have likely resulted in his loss of consciousness/significant injury). After he recovered from my 1 strike, he intended to continue to attack but others stepped in, and removed him from the building to prevent further violence (and to prevent me from having to do him some serious damage) and told to vacate the premises immediately and not ever come back. I intended to leave too, but the owners asked me to stay until he had left so that the foolishness didn't continue outside.
As far as I was concerned, the matter was over with, but I kept a close eye on the window by the door that he would have to pass by in the event he decided to return inside. After a while, the other owner (a man) went outside to see if the troublemaker had left (his truck was parked out of view from the inside of the building). He hadn't- what he was doing was waiting outside in his truck (presumably for me) with a bat- another terrible decision, for a number of obvious reasons. At that point, he exited his truck with the bat and started threatening the male owner with it, while at the same time another customer (and friend of the owners) had just entered the parking lot and saw all this. The newly arrived customer used a 4x4 piece of lumber (no idea where it came from) and swiftly used it to incapacitate the troublemaker, sending him to the ground and disarming him. The lady friend of 4x4 lumber guy came inside hysterical, so me and another patron ran outside to see what had happened and that it was already under control. Fatty was still talking smack, with a significant leak to his head. He was reminded to leave and never come back, which he did- although in no condition to drive. BTW, I later found out that Staggers Mcfattdrunk (not his real name) has a reputation for drinking and starting problems, and is currently on probation (no real surprises there).
Could I have made better decisions? With 20-20 hindsight, maybe- but I made the decisions that seemed the best option at the time. I didn't want to fight someone at all (I can fight all I want during the week at the gym with people who are actually worthy opponents). The desired end-state for me once the encounter became confrontational was to defuse the situation while defending myself without requiring the later use of emergency personnel- which is why I didn't act in a way to cause the drunk significant injury, and I never employed any weapons at any point during the encounter- because I didn't identify a need for them. Of course, this led to that idiot deciding to double-down on stupid, and taking the opportunity to re-start the matter while armed (a gross escalation, though I would not consider him much more of a threat to me with that bat than without it- absent a surprise attack). The negative end of the bat matter is that 2 other people were drawn into the fracas, who luckily were up to the task.
I guess the point of the story is that constant vigilance and situational awareness can't be understated, and that when a moron determined to do moron things is inserted into the equation, be ready to act accordingly.
I decided to take advantage of some nice weather and go for a short ride, and head over to a friendly establishment not too far from home to grab a burger and a refreshment. When I got there, as usual, my friend behind the bar had my beverage of choice in hand as I walked in. I saw one of the owners- another close friend- seated at the bar with a very large (about 300 pounds, and not the "fit" type) and obviously intoxicated customer speaking to her- I had never seen him before, but the conversation looked friendly enough so I didn't think anything of it. A few moments later, he ambled away and she waved me over, and we exchanged greetings. Then she told me the big guy was drunk, had been behaving impolitely, and she had cut him off from any more alcohol. He had been begging her to allow him to drink some more, and she said NO. She also asked me to hang out next to her and occupy that space for a while to prevent him from coming back and pestering her. So we started chit-chatting, and within less than 2 minutes, he was back, and all in my space and hers. I asked him politely to step away and let us have our time to socialize, and he became very agitated, using language not fit for this forum or polite company. He also verbalized his intent to do me physical harm and started closing the distance (what little distance there was) to facilitate this. My reply was an overhand right to his face, which caused him to be stunned and stagger back a ways- I opted NOT to go straight into a multiple punch combo or kick series (either which would have likely resulted in his loss of consciousness/significant injury). After he recovered from my 1 strike, he intended to continue to attack but others stepped in, and removed him from the building to prevent further violence (and to prevent me from having to do him some serious damage) and told to vacate the premises immediately and not ever come back. I intended to leave too, but the owners asked me to stay until he had left so that the foolishness didn't continue outside.
As far as I was concerned, the matter was over with, but I kept a close eye on the window by the door that he would have to pass by in the event he decided to return inside. After a while, the other owner (a man) went outside to see if the troublemaker had left (his truck was parked out of view from the inside of the building). He hadn't- what he was doing was waiting outside in his truck (presumably for me) with a bat- another terrible decision, for a number of obvious reasons. At that point, he exited his truck with the bat and started threatening the male owner with it, while at the same time another customer (and friend of the owners) had just entered the parking lot and saw all this. The newly arrived customer used a 4x4 piece of lumber (no idea where it came from) and swiftly used it to incapacitate the troublemaker, sending him to the ground and disarming him. The lady friend of 4x4 lumber guy came inside hysterical, so me and another patron ran outside to see what had happened and that it was already under control. Fatty was still talking smack, with a significant leak to his head. He was reminded to leave and never come back, which he did- although in no condition to drive. BTW, I later found out that Staggers Mcfattdrunk (not his real name) has a reputation for drinking and starting problems, and is currently on probation (no real surprises there).
Could I have made better decisions? With 20-20 hindsight, maybe- but I made the decisions that seemed the best option at the time. I didn't want to fight someone at all (I can fight all I want during the week at the gym with people who are actually worthy opponents). The desired end-state for me once the encounter became confrontational was to defuse the situation while defending myself without requiring the later use of emergency personnel- which is why I didn't act in a way to cause the drunk significant injury, and I never employed any weapons at any point during the encounter- because I didn't identify a need for them. Of course, this led to that idiot deciding to double-down on stupid, and taking the opportunity to re-start the matter while armed (a gross escalation, though I would not consider him much more of a threat to me with that bat than without it- absent a surprise attack). The negative end of the bat matter is that 2 other people were drawn into the fracas, who luckily were up to the task.
I guess the point of the story is that constant vigilance and situational awareness can't be understated, and that when a moron determined to do moron things is inserted into the equation, be ready to act accordingly.
