honkeoki
Member
Advice requested. If you're not interested in the situation, please skip to the last 4 paragraphs below.
I live in a poor neighborhood in South Florida. I've been propositioned by prostitutes, threatened with physical violence, been the target of more than a few "hard looks."
Last night around 10 pm I stood in my front yard, walking my dog -- a 45-lb. harrier hound, too friendly to attack. A woman walked past on the sidewalk. I watched her walk by. She saw me and turned around and approached me, moving at a fast walk.
I was only 20' from the sidewalk, maybe 15' from my front door. The woman walked onto my yard, where she stopped and asked me for a cigarette.
I told her no.
She walked closer. I stood there like a numbskull, staring at her. She was a head shorter than me, scrawny. But she looked strung out -- her eyes were big as fifty-cent pieces. She walked within 3' of me -- I think she would've kept coming except my dog tried to jump up on her.
When she finally stopped, the woman shoved her hands, palms up, toward my face. All I did was flinch back.
She told me she'd just been attacked and robbed and that the guys who'd done this were just down the street. She pointed. I looked. Indeed, a group of three teenagers stood under a streetlight about 3/4 of the way down the block. "They've been stalking me," she said. "They won't leave me alone."
I finally realized that this woman was drugged up, or crazy, or both. I looked at her again and didn't take my eyes off her. She still stood very close. I took two steps back, into an ornamental hedge. She followed me. I stuck my hand in bathrobe and told her, "I got my cell phone right here. Let's call the police so they can come down here and sort this out." Of course I didn't have anything in my pocket but my fist.
She shook her head. I insisted, she declined, finally she walked away.
Now, I already know I was stupid for several reasons, not limited to: letting a stranger get so close. Taking my eyes off her after I let her get too close. Walking outside unarmed when I know from experience my neighborhood isn't the safest.
I would really like your advice on what to do. I used to carry my Makarov in my bathrobe pocket when I went outside at night, but I don't have a CCW permit. I have one of those four-D-cell Maglites I could lug around, as well. Should I get a nice legal hunting knife, or some OC spray? Should I have called the police immediately? Should I have called the police afterward, just to report the incident?
If I had had my Makarov or my Maglite, what should I have done?
I appreciate all input – even those of you who say I must be braindead. I grew up in the Ozarks where folks all knew one another and feeling unsafe is a novel and not entirely welcome experience.
I live in a poor neighborhood in South Florida. I've been propositioned by prostitutes, threatened with physical violence, been the target of more than a few "hard looks."
Last night around 10 pm I stood in my front yard, walking my dog -- a 45-lb. harrier hound, too friendly to attack. A woman walked past on the sidewalk. I watched her walk by. She saw me and turned around and approached me, moving at a fast walk.
I was only 20' from the sidewalk, maybe 15' from my front door. The woman walked onto my yard, where she stopped and asked me for a cigarette.
I told her no.
She walked closer. I stood there like a numbskull, staring at her. She was a head shorter than me, scrawny. But she looked strung out -- her eyes were big as fifty-cent pieces. She walked within 3' of me -- I think she would've kept coming except my dog tried to jump up on her.
When she finally stopped, the woman shoved her hands, palms up, toward my face. All I did was flinch back.
She told me she'd just been attacked and robbed and that the guys who'd done this were just down the street. She pointed. I looked. Indeed, a group of three teenagers stood under a streetlight about 3/4 of the way down the block. "They've been stalking me," she said. "They won't leave me alone."
I finally realized that this woman was drugged up, or crazy, or both. I looked at her again and didn't take my eyes off her. She still stood very close. I took two steps back, into an ornamental hedge. She followed me. I stuck my hand in bathrobe and told her, "I got my cell phone right here. Let's call the police so they can come down here and sort this out." Of course I didn't have anything in my pocket but my fist.
She shook her head. I insisted, she declined, finally she walked away.
Now, I already know I was stupid for several reasons, not limited to: letting a stranger get so close. Taking my eyes off her after I let her get too close. Walking outside unarmed when I know from experience my neighborhood isn't the safest.
I would really like your advice on what to do. I used to carry my Makarov in my bathrobe pocket when I went outside at night, but I don't have a CCW permit. I have one of those four-D-cell Maglites I could lug around, as well. Should I get a nice legal hunting knife, or some OC spray? Should I have called the police immediately? Should I have called the police afterward, just to report the incident?
If I had had my Makarov or my Maglite, what should I have done?
I appreciate all input – even those of you who say I must be braindead. I grew up in the Ozarks where folks all knew one another and feeling unsafe is a novel and not entirely welcome experience.
