Crusader103
Member
This happened today and I am posting it here for informational purposes. As an instructor I try to convey real life scenarios to those who have an interest in the hopes that it may add to their own bag of tricks. It just so happens that this specific situation involved me, while acting in no official capacity. In fact, it occurred within minutes of my having left an IDPA match this afternoon. It was reported and no further action is taken. I am comfortable with my stance even if it were to come up later so feel free to discuss at will. As you read please take note of the unfortunate sequence of events leading up to the critical moments.
I had just finished a 7 stage IDPA club match. It was rather warm so when I returned to the vehicle I threw my sweatshirt, which I had been using for the required concealment for the match, into the trunk along with my goodie bag of ammo, eyes and ears, you know, the usual. What is unusual is that I forgot and left my cell phone in the bag, having taken it out of my pocket during the match due to comfort. That will come into play in a minute. My stainless Beretta 92FS 9mm remained on my right hip along with the two spare magazines on my left. It is the way I always carry, fully loaded. I had no issue about not having concealment as I planned no stops between the range and my house. Even if I had, it’s southern Alabama and open carry generally won’t even get you a second look.
As I was pulling out of the club my low fuel light came on. It is a rural area and the nearest gas station is right before the freeway, about 10 miles away. Still no problem. I would make that. While driving the poor condition two-lane county road toward the main strip, a motorcycle came speeding up behind me out of nowhere and almost crashed into me from behind as I was taking a curve to the left. The poor condition of the road combined with the rider’s behavior was almost catastrophic and I had to hit my brakes to avoid a collision. Apparently this was somehow my fault as it got me a friendly one finger wave as the rider sped away in front of me and out of sight. Good, the further he is away the better. As I took the next curve I could see the bike sitting along the side of the road, the rider now dismounted and standing beside it, waving for me to pull over. It was obviously not a friendly wave. I passed him with as wide a berth as I could and continued on. I stepped on it a little bit to gain some distance between us, took a couple detours, and got back onto the main strip towards the gas station at the entrance to the freeway. The biker is nowhere in sight. At this point it’s a done deal and no real cause for alarm.
Just as I pull into the gas station I see the bike in my rear view mirror, about 100 yards back. I am sitting at the pumps and he pulls in, stopping at the far side of the building, behind me, about 10 yards away. He is not in a parking stall and it is apparent that he is not there to get gas. I release my seatbelt and open my door, purposefully not getting out of my vehicle. Knowing it is improbable; I am still hoping that it is only coincidental and that he is going to go inside the building. Instead, he dismounts and stands there staring at me, his right hand being held behind his back. Yes, my hand is on my weapon ready to draw and I am executing a plan in my head. Keep in mind my vehicle is now running on fumes and my cell phone is in the trunk, where I cannot get to it without losing cover and turning my back to him.
Taking advantage of the fact that he is dismounted and now has his helmet off, I quickly put my vehicle in gear and cross the street to the only other gas station. I really have no other choice. If I went anywhere else he would have followed and I would have been out of gas who knows where with him undoubtedly still accompanying me.
My gas tank is at the right rear of my vehicle so I positioned the forward most gas pump at passenger side of my vehicle. I quickly exit, keeping constant eye on the rider getting back on his motorcycle. I throw the pump handle in my tank on my way to the trunk but he is there too quick. He stops on the opposite side of the island about 10 feet back from me. He jumps off of his motorcycle, yelling profanities and aggressively coming towards me, his right hand going to the same place behind his back. He has apparently not yet observed that I am openly carrying but he is about to. I already have a firm grip on my weapon, stepping left to better position myself behind cover. My left hand goes up in front of my body both in a manner to convey stop and positioned to accept my strong side hand should I draw my weapon. I say in a loud, firm voice, “Stop right there! Do not come any closer!” This serves two purposes. I want him to know I am serious and secondly, I am trying to create witnesses.
He stops dead in his tracks but his demeanor does not change. It must be apparent to him now that I am not the running victim and easy target he thought I was. To this point I had continually avoided him and he must have thought that was a sign of weakness or an advantage for him. I view that element of surprise as an advantage to me but anyway, I digress. Anyway, I still do not know what is behind his back but we both know that I had the drop on him at this point. He continues to yell profanities and threats but does not come any closer. I continually say words to the effect of, “Don’t come any closer. We don’t need any problems. Stop threatening me. Stay away. Stop following me. Just back off. Somebody call 911.” I must have said each of those lines at least three times. There is now a small crowd around us of about 7-10 people, either in vehicles or standing several feet away. I want there to be no doubt in anyone’s mind about who is asking for 911 and who the aggressor is.
Now is a good time to note that I am not assuming that any of these people around us are on my side or even neutral to the incident. In fact, I am assuming the opposite but trying not to show it. This aggressor has me by about 6 inches and at least 50 pounds. He is a black male and most of the people at the station are of the same ethnicity. I only point this out because this guy is apparently from around here and I am not (I drive two hours to shoot at this club each month). It is a rural area and it is much more likely that he has friends here than me. Therefore, while he is getting about 70 percent of my attention my head is on a swivel. Out loud I am giving clear and repeated verbal commands but on the inside I am saying, “Front sight, cover, front sight, cover, front sight, cover.”
I see there are a few gallons of fuel in my tank and I take the first opportunity to remove the nozzle, not breaking eye contact or removing my hand from my weapon. I back my way around the vehicle towards the driver’s side. It appears for a split moment that he is gaining his courage and he takes another step towards me and I see his arm flinch. I yell, “Don’t do it” as my weapon begins to clear leather. Thank God he thinks better and stops once again. Keeping eye contact and hand on weapon, I insert my keys with my left hand and depart quickly, getting on the freeway.
My plan was to pull off at the very next exit, about 10 miles away, and retrieve my cell phone. As I exit the freeway I see a trooper and contact him. I tell him the entire story. He checks with dispatch, including local PD and Sheriff, and no reports had been made. That is somewhat surprising considering the number of bystanders watching a face-off between one obviously armed man and another likely armed man. That leads me to believe one of three things 1) The bystanders did know the guy 2) That many people are unwilling to even make a call to 911 or 3) This is Alabama and that’s just how things are here.
End of story. The trooper takes my information but basically says, “Nobody was assaulted and we can’t identify him (I was never in a position to get a plate).” He ends with, “Good thing you had your gun on you.”
Lessons Learned or Reinforced:
1) Yes, I know I shouldn’t let my tank get that low.
2) Yes, I know I shouldn’t have forgotten my cell phone in the trunk.
3) Mindset, mindset, mindset. I use the color scale and never get caught in green (or white if that’s your color). I don’t have any qualms with mine today.
4) Always have a plan. I had a plan for every moment as the situation unfolded.
5) Create witnesses.
6) If you must act, act in a manner that says, “You will not win this fight.”
7) If you must get involved in an incident, do so on the way from the IDPA match where you just had a “You are filling up your gas tank when you are approached by a group….” scenario. No kidding, that was one of the scenarios today.
8)…and many others but I will let you all point them out.
I had just finished a 7 stage IDPA club match. It was rather warm so when I returned to the vehicle I threw my sweatshirt, which I had been using for the required concealment for the match, into the trunk along with my goodie bag of ammo, eyes and ears, you know, the usual. What is unusual is that I forgot and left my cell phone in the bag, having taken it out of my pocket during the match due to comfort. That will come into play in a minute. My stainless Beretta 92FS 9mm remained on my right hip along with the two spare magazines on my left. It is the way I always carry, fully loaded. I had no issue about not having concealment as I planned no stops between the range and my house. Even if I had, it’s southern Alabama and open carry generally won’t even get you a second look.
As I was pulling out of the club my low fuel light came on. It is a rural area and the nearest gas station is right before the freeway, about 10 miles away. Still no problem. I would make that. While driving the poor condition two-lane county road toward the main strip, a motorcycle came speeding up behind me out of nowhere and almost crashed into me from behind as I was taking a curve to the left. The poor condition of the road combined with the rider’s behavior was almost catastrophic and I had to hit my brakes to avoid a collision. Apparently this was somehow my fault as it got me a friendly one finger wave as the rider sped away in front of me and out of sight. Good, the further he is away the better. As I took the next curve I could see the bike sitting along the side of the road, the rider now dismounted and standing beside it, waving for me to pull over. It was obviously not a friendly wave. I passed him with as wide a berth as I could and continued on. I stepped on it a little bit to gain some distance between us, took a couple detours, and got back onto the main strip towards the gas station at the entrance to the freeway. The biker is nowhere in sight. At this point it’s a done deal and no real cause for alarm.
Just as I pull into the gas station I see the bike in my rear view mirror, about 100 yards back. I am sitting at the pumps and he pulls in, stopping at the far side of the building, behind me, about 10 yards away. He is not in a parking stall and it is apparent that he is not there to get gas. I release my seatbelt and open my door, purposefully not getting out of my vehicle. Knowing it is improbable; I am still hoping that it is only coincidental and that he is going to go inside the building. Instead, he dismounts and stands there staring at me, his right hand being held behind his back. Yes, my hand is on my weapon ready to draw and I am executing a plan in my head. Keep in mind my vehicle is now running on fumes and my cell phone is in the trunk, where I cannot get to it without losing cover and turning my back to him.
Taking advantage of the fact that he is dismounted and now has his helmet off, I quickly put my vehicle in gear and cross the street to the only other gas station. I really have no other choice. If I went anywhere else he would have followed and I would have been out of gas who knows where with him undoubtedly still accompanying me.
My gas tank is at the right rear of my vehicle so I positioned the forward most gas pump at passenger side of my vehicle. I quickly exit, keeping constant eye on the rider getting back on his motorcycle. I throw the pump handle in my tank on my way to the trunk but he is there too quick. He stops on the opposite side of the island about 10 feet back from me. He jumps off of his motorcycle, yelling profanities and aggressively coming towards me, his right hand going to the same place behind his back. He has apparently not yet observed that I am openly carrying but he is about to. I already have a firm grip on my weapon, stepping left to better position myself behind cover. My left hand goes up in front of my body both in a manner to convey stop and positioned to accept my strong side hand should I draw my weapon. I say in a loud, firm voice, “Stop right there! Do not come any closer!” This serves two purposes. I want him to know I am serious and secondly, I am trying to create witnesses.
He stops dead in his tracks but his demeanor does not change. It must be apparent to him now that I am not the running victim and easy target he thought I was. To this point I had continually avoided him and he must have thought that was a sign of weakness or an advantage for him. I view that element of surprise as an advantage to me but anyway, I digress. Anyway, I still do not know what is behind his back but we both know that I had the drop on him at this point. He continues to yell profanities and threats but does not come any closer. I continually say words to the effect of, “Don’t come any closer. We don’t need any problems. Stop threatening me. Stay away. Stop following me. Just back off. Somebody call 911.” I must have said each of those lines at least three times. There is now a small crowd around us of about 7-10 people, either in vehicles or standing several feet away. I want there to be no doubt in anyone’s mind about who is asking for 911 and who the aggressor is.
Now is a good time to note that I am not assuming that any of these people around us are on my side or even neutral to the incident. In fact, I am assuming the opposite but trying not to show it. This aggressor has me by about 6 inches and at least 50 pounds. He is a black male and most of the people at the station are of the same ethnicity. I only point this out because this guy is apparently from around here and I am not (I drive two hours to shoot at this club each month). It is a rural area and it is much more likely that he has friends here than me. Therefore, while he is getting about 70 percent of my attention my head is on a swivel. Out loud I am giving clear and repeated verbal commands but on the inside I am saying, “Front sight, cover, front sight, cover, front sight, cover.”
I see there are a few gallons of fuel in my tank and I take the first opportunity to remove the nozzle, not breaking eye contact or removing my hand from my weapon. I back my way around the vehicle towards the driver’s side. It appears for a split moment that he is gaining his courage and he takes another step towards me and I see his arm flinch. I yell, “Don’t do it” as my weapon begins to clear leather. Thank God he thinks better and stops once again. Keeping eye contact and hand on weapon, I insert my keys with my left hand and depart quickly, getting on the freeway.
My plan was to pull off at the very next exit, about 10 miles away, and retrieve my cell phone. As I exit the freeway I see a trooper and contact him. I tell him the entire story. He checks with dispatch, including local PD and Sheriff, and no reports had been made. That is somewhat surprising considering the number of bystanders watching a face-off between one obviously armed man and another likely armed man. That leads me to believe one of three things 1) The bystanders did know the guy 2) That many people are unwilling to even make a call to 911 or 3) This is Alabama and that’s just how things are here.
End of story. The trooper takes my information but basically says, “Nobody was assaulted and we can’t identify him (I was never in a position to get a plate).” He ends with, “Good thing you had your gun on you.”
Lessons Learned or Reinforced:
1) Yes, I know I shouldn’t let my tank get that low.
2) Yes, I know I shouldn’t have forgotten my cell phone in the trunk.
3) Mindset, mindset, mindset. I use the color scale and never get caught in green (or white if that’s your color). I don’t have any qualms with mine today.
4) Always have a plan. I had a plan for every moment as the situation unfolded.
5) Create witnesses.
6) If you must act, act in a manner that says, “You will not win this fight.”
7) If you must get involved in an incident, do so on the way from the IDPA match where you just had a “You are filling up your gas tank when you are approached by a group….” scenario. No kidding, that was one of the scenarios today.
8)…and many others but I will let you all point them out.
