Scary incident at a stop light

It's a lot better to keep a mentally incapacitated person out of your car than it is to shoot them. Cheaper too, and easier on the publicity.

Keep the doors locked, and don't drive through the "hood" at night.

That's a manual I'd like to see! Though I am far from a model driver, I like to think of my car as something like a low-flying airplane, and go through a routine of checking mirrors, tires, seat position, locks, lights, etc. I'd love to see how the USAF approaches that ... do you have a copy of such a manual?

Click to expand...

I am a current USAF F-15E pilot. There is no such beast in current circulation that I am aware of.

A friend of mine had a door grabber once. The BG did get the door open...so friend slapped his car into reverse and steered toward the BG. The door knocked the BG down and he was under the door with his legs under the car. When he realized how close he was to being run over...BG scurried out like the rat he was and did an Olympic 100 meters! My friend did the "ninja vanish" outta there! All safe.

Locked doors keep a lot of this away from us. Lets keep it this way.

Mark.

Middle-aged lady approached passenger side at stop light. Asked for a ride WHILE she pulled the door handle. Thankfully door is locked, I pulled away from the whack-a-doo, and had a funny story to tell the wife.

Late one evening I bring in groceries, head to bathroom. Wife gets last batch of bags, heads to kitchen after locking the door. Less then 20 seconds later we both hear the clack of the door handle twisting to it's maximum, the tremor of the door hitting the thrown bolt, then door handle being released. I clean up fast and hit the hallway, empty.

I felt like Travolta in Pulp Fiction when he missed the guy who keyed his car.

Welcome to Florida! As has already been said, learn the law, get your CCW, and keep the doors locked. Also, takae some time to learn which areas of Orlando are "safe" and which aren't.

Ctpistol, someone from the NY Metro area calling The Gunshine State a "Cesspool State" - get real, how much of my beautiful state are you familiar with. Incidentally, I'm originally from the NY Metro area and made the choice a Looooooooong time ago (1957) to live in Fla.

So, which areas of Orlando are concidered "safe"? I've asked around and have gotten all sorts of answers - some contradictory. The only concistency was to stay out of Pine Hills. (aka "Crime Hills") Drove through it on accident while lost, won't be doing that again.

Click to expand...

Parts of Sanford, Eatonville, Pine Hills, there's a lot of "rough" parts throughout the Orlando area. You know no where is "safe", but avoid certain places when possible.

Solution is easy: move back to NH.

Glad you're alright.

OBT - Orange Blossom Trail. Stay away from there.

Stay away from just west of downtown - the west side of I-4, that's not good if you aren't the right color.

Metrowest - stay away from here at night too. People were robbing ice cream drivers here!! Fricken crazy!!

As far as other areas - just be aware of your surroundings. Orlando has gone downhill a lot. I've lived here for around 6 years. The traffic is getting worse, people are shooting each other on I-4 for stupid ***** - its getting out of control.

Also remember to take the keys out of the car and lock your doors and windows in the house you live in. (very different from NH)

Just wait for him to open the passenger side door and as soon as he gets half way in hose his azz with some fox 5.3!

Buz, have you ever sprayed OC in a car?

The car will be as full of the spray as the BG and its really tough to drive when you're gaggin' and tearin' up. In Fl. he was within his rights to SHOOT the guy if he opened the door without invitation. One thing I have noticed in my dealings in Florida, there is still a "Class" of society mentality that still exists down there. Permit or No Permit, according to the law he had the right to defend himself.

That is, Good Guy(employed, educated, and clean record), where he should be, doing what he should be, is given nearly Carte Blanche when dealing with BG( unemployed, uneducate, well known to the law) who is not where he should be, when he should not be there. I remember two news stories I read in March when I was down there about a shop owner who popped two guys who were in his store when he opened, hoping to sand bag him and get him to open the safe. I mean on the day it happened it was, "he will not be charged", "He had a right to be there, they did not", etc. from the Local DA, it was clear that they were happy with the outcome.

The other was a woman who shot a guy who was in her LR at 2 AM trying to steal her Dish Converter. EVEN though the guy was unarmed, it was she was at home, he was not invited in, and she had no reason to know he was unarmed.

I also noticed never once did the term permitted or licensed show up in the news.

While in many states, the outcome of an investigation might be the same, the tone of the news and public statements by the Local LE and Prosecuting attys was clearly one of support and Just Use of force.

he was within his rights to SHOOT the guy if he opened the door without invitation.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. I tend to take people trying to force my car doors open more as carjackers, and less as overzealous bums looking for a ride. I maintain, shall we say, a "zero tolerance policy" for uninvited guests in my home or car.

Kacerdias- Orlando has its rought spots, but I think Metro West is not to bad- I live over by UCF where it is mostly traffic concerns. There are places by Americana, Pine Hills, and the fairgrounds (where the gun shows are) where you should be alert. For the most part though it is not that bad. Better then up north for sure.

Welcome to O-town

Just run the damn light.
It is going to put YOU in a world of hurt if you shoot someone (even if the law appears to allow it).

I lived in Orlando (Altamonte, Ocoee, Eustis) for 20 years and finally moved to the Shenandoah Valley about 11 years ago. I still get the news from down there and am amazed at how much crime seems to have risen (in the reported news anyway) since we've left.

Sounds like you have a plan to evacuate as soon as your wife's education is finished. Good plan in my opinion.

As far as the carjacking wino, I think you did the right thing. You may have been justified in shooting, but that would have added a big wrinkle in your day.

The only concistency was to stay out of Pine Hills. (aka "Crime Hills")

Click to expand...

Guess where Kirkman runs through

There was recently a late night road rage shooting on Raleigh. The crash and pop, pop, pop woke us up

Click to expand...

I can not stress this enough
STAY THE HELL OFF RALEIGH AT NIGHT, hell anytime

Also don't go down LB Mcleod or any of the other DeRock park areas

Metro West at one time was an exclusive area the only problem with it was it was too close to Raleigh

I worked that area for almost 25 years.
Washington Shores Parramore and Tangelo Park are the most dangerous areas
If you get caught in Washington Shores in the Gore/Goldwyn area after the witching hour just shoot yourself it will be quicker
Pine Hills is just a bunch of wannabe thugs by comparison, there is just more of them
Fairvilla is the worst that Pine Hills area has to offer
In general criminals in Pine Hills are caught fairly consistently, not so much in those other areas I mentioned
The Trail is just societal dregs that will only bother you if you let your guard down
Then you have Westmoreland and 50, don't break down at the 7-11 at night and don't talk to the nice men reading the newspaper on the corner all night

Stay away from the whole O-rena complex in the wee hours

I try to not be out after 10:00, there really is no reason to be here anyway, nothin but bars opened and nobody but you the criminals and the cops out after twelve

I live in Ocoee now, not far from you
This place is not the cesspool that Tampa or Miami is but it ain't what it used to be 30 years ago

In general the rule of thumb is if you see ugly women with over developed calves and upper arms wearing short short, low cut dresses callin out hey baby in a voice that just don't seem right somehow, you know you are in one of O-Towns lonely hearts zones

yeah, I had a hooker high on some drug jump into my car one time during a rain-storm.

I mean, I guess I don't know for sure if she was a hooker, but I had a pretty good feeling that either she had horrible taste in clothes, or yeah - she was walking the streets at night.

It was daytime too - about 6PM, the sun hadn't gone down yet, and I was headed to a client's house to do a home-studio installation (I was working in pro-audio and recording sales and installation at the time).

She just comes up to the car knocks on the window before I noticed her, and the next thing I know she's getting in my car. I didn't carry at that time, it was almost a decade ago and I was just a teen at the time, so granted I was scared out of my mind.

She asked me to take her home. I the whole time was watching out of the corner of my eye for her to pull out a weapon.

One of the bridges that I needed to get to where she wanted me to take her was out, and when I told her that I needed to go the other way, she was too high to understand. So I just did. When she realized, she told me, "Well if we go this way, I have to stop for more drugs, I'll show you where."

In retrospect I probably should have done that, then when she got out to get drugs, I drive away and call 911..... but at the time I was too scared. I just said, "I don't think I can do that."

she mildly argued.... then gave up as she was almost passed out at this point from whatever drug she had given herself before she jumped in my car.

As I drive, I pass my own house. I didn't say anything obviously, and was hoping maybe my family would see and call me on my cell asking who the lady was, and perhaps I could discretely give them the signal to call the police. But nada. Except she pointed at my house and said that she used to live in that house. I just said, "Oh.... that's a nice house." - but knew she was either too high to know what she was looking at, or just lying as my house had been built from scratch by my parents.

finally I drive for another minute or so and hit her apartment complex. She gets out.... I'm just glad to be alive.

I didn't call the police because I started thinking about the whole thing and how the line of conversation with them would go.

"She jumped in my car"

- "you mean she hijacked your car?"

"No, she just jumped in it."

- "so why didn't you throw her out?"

"Well, I wasn't sure if she had a weapon and was afraid maybe she did and would use it since she was high on drugs."

- "did you see drugs?"

"No."

- "what did you do then?"

"I drove her home."

- "you just drove her home?"

"Yeah."

- "So, let's get this straight, a lady who we know with our records has a long history of being a prostitute just jumps in your car, and you just drove her home?"

"Yeah, pretty much that's exactly what happened."

- "and you're sure you didn't have sex with her?"

"What?! No!"

- "right"

.....

You all get the idea. I probably should have called the cops and told them about the whole thing, but at the time I wasn't thinking clearly. The whole thing had me rattled.

Anyways, I wasn't trying to hijack the car.... I mean the thread.... I just wanted to give another example of the OP's experience.

Yes, thankfully we lock our doors at all times.
My wife taught our young boys to get in the car fast and buckle themselves in so she can lock the doors fast and keep a look out.

Police here say when a women is putting there child in a car seat is when they are most in danger from being surprised.

True Story

My father told me about an incident that happened to a woman where he worked some years back . . .

She was driving in to work very early one morning, and when stopped at a red light on Western Avenue (Chicago) a guy reached into her window in an attempt to snatch her purse.

She screamed, rolled up the power window, and floored it through the intersection (fortuntely, no cross traffic!) all at the same time.

The guy was stuck, she's screaming, and the car is going awfully fast . . . so she rolled down the window and the guy fell off . . . at 50, 60, maybe even 70 MPH. Her last view of the guy was in her rear view mirror, bouncing along the street like a rag doll until he hit a parked car or fire plug or something.

Badly shaken, she told the story to my father when she arrived at work . . . he advised her to tell nobody and take another route to work for a couple of months . . . again, this being Chicago, she'd be a " . . . white chick who ran over a brother . . ." and would be made to PAY for refusing to be a victim.

The end.

I had the same thing happen to me in a large city, the man ended up looking down the pipe of my gun then the tailpipe. His hand hit the door handle and I pulled the gun and stomped the gas. I blew the red light right in front of a police station, nothing happened except me getting scared.

Locking my doors is the first thing I do when I get in my truck. It even locks automatically when I put it in gear, but that's not soon enough. I generally keep everything I carry in one bag so I can just toss it on the passenger seat, hop in and drive off in under five seconds or so. I don't like sitting in the car stopped.

I also don't pull right up to people at a stoplight and leave room for me to pull out. This is useful if you change your mind and want to turn left or whatever sometimes too

I do get really nervous when I have to stop in the middle lane and there are cars on both sides. Just have to watch everything like a hawk. I can't carry a firearm in a car yet, so I'm rather defenseless right now. I won't change my routine at all when I can carry though.

And someone also mentioned they try to use their car as a weapon. You are exactly right, a car is an excellent weapon. Intentionally hitting someone else's car with yours is actually assault with a deadly weapon in most states....