Have You Been Assaulted?

[WolfMansDad]

Before I was 16, many times. After 16, almost never. On my sixteenth birthday, I got my drivers license. The next day, I drove down to the local dojo and signed up for karate (wado ryu).

Lots of fighting before 16, but only two stories worth telling. The was when I was in 4th grade, and a pair of sixth graders said they would kill me if they caught me alone. They didn't, but they did catch a littler kid (2nd or 3rd grade). They beat him up, threw him in a ditch (big one, six or eight feet deep with big rocks at the bottom), and tossed pieces of cinder blocks down on him. He got a concussion, and they went to juvie. (The little kid never came back to school. His parents took him out after that.) The second time was in 8th grade. One of our class bullies said he was going to kill me, but before he could get around to it, his gang did a home invasion and killed an elderly couple. They all went to kid jail.

After karate started, trouble essentially stopped.

I think bad guys can tell when you are not worth messing with. When you have trained a lot in a martial art (and gunfighting is a martial art), you have an air about you that says, "Leave this one alone."

 

[sacp81170a]

The next day, I drove down to the local dojo and signed up for karate (wado ryu).

Small world. I trained in wado ryu at the Cheyenne Budokan with Les Levi and Scott Tullis from '85 to '97. One night I was riding my bike home after practice and a couple guys in a little Datsun B-210 drove past me going up Pershing Blvd. It was dark, and they circled around for another pass. As they went by, I felt the air and heard the whistling sound of a beer bottle that missed my head by a couple of millimeters. The dummies then stopped at the light at the top of the hill.

I hauled butt the last 50 yards and got to them before they could pull away. One greasy haired yahoo was making faces at me in the passenger side window, so I thought I'd punch at the glass to scare him, at least. Whoops. Executed a perfect jun tsuki no tsukomi(without getting off my bike, no less), broke the window, and knocked him into the driver's lap. They took off, so I don't know what kind of damage I did.

I was as surprised as they were, but looking back on it I can tell I was "in the zone". The adrenaline dump was channelled into the correct action without my thinking, because they surely would have continued their attack. I didn't even scrape my knuckles because I was wearing a good pair of mountain bike gloves. To this day, I'm not sure I could duplicate breaking the glass out of a car window with one punch, but it worked that time. Les saw the punch just as he pulled up to the light in his car, and he almost died laughing. That was when everybody at the dojo started calling me "Mad Jack".

 

[Zundfolge]

October 1992.

Within the span of that month 1) my house was burglarized (while I spent the night at a girlfriend's house with a 104deg fever) 2) I was robbed at gunpoint with a good friend of mine and 3) said "good friend" started sleeping with said girlfriend.

Was a bad month.

 

[Cuda]

Sitting in my car at a corner store having a drink of Pepsi, window down. Next thing I see is a hand with a knife come in the window and a voice saying give me your keys. I looked up, grabbed the arm and pulled down as hard as I could... The snap sound was really loud. He backed up, I swung the door open as hard as I could hitting him in the knee with the door. Down he went. Hurt knee and broken arm... Called the cops told them what had happened told them who it was (small town) and they went to this guys house and picked him up.

That was 30 years ago and I've been fortunate since that time.


C

 

[10-Ring]

Yes.
Growing up in Oakland, I had a friend who was stabbed and another beated & years ago, I had my ex's then BF tried to pick a fight w/ me one night...put an end to that right quick.

 

[WolfMansDad]

To this day, I'm not sure I could duplicate breaking the glass out of a car window with one punch,

You probably could. I've tried breaking lots of things with gyaku-zuki and the "secret" strike Otsuka-Sensei was so fond of. Most objects that you'd think were really hard or tough just shatter. It's kind of spooky, really. Anybody who thinks that a punch isn't really dangerous is fooling themselves. You can get really messed up with "just fists." I've seen some really wicked sparring accidents, where guys who weren't even trying to hurt each other would break bones and spill blood.

With all due respects to Biker, fists are deadly weapons and should be treated as such.

 

[CajunBass]

I don't if this qualifies or not.

I was driving one evening, and a fellow cut in front of me, slammed on his brakes, and stopped, forcing me to stop. He got out of his car and started back toward me with fire in his eyes. I didn't know this guy from Adam, and as far as I know, I hadn't done anything to make him mad at me.

Being a lot younger, and stupider than I am now, I opened my door, and stepped out, with a nightstick in my hand, (I worked as a security guard at the time) and smacked the palm of my other hand with it. (No CCW in those days, and I didn't have a gun anyway.)

Guys eyes got big, he ran back to his car and took off. No idea to this day who he was or what he wanted. I guess he thought I was somebody else.

 

[JWarren]

I took this off of another post I made on another thread. I've been in interesting situations before, but this was the most blatent and idiotic one:

This happened about 4 years ago. I had been living in Orlando, FL but due to the stock market decline, my income had dropped considerably (I'm an stockbroker). I had decided that it was time to take time off, go home, and finish my Master's degree. The night before I packed up, I had to run out to pick up some boxes or something. At any rate, as anyone who is dealing with a project like moving, my mind was mulling over all the things I had to do. I was in my Jeep Grand Cherokee at a stop-light on Hwy 429 (four lane) I my eyes fixiated on a Home Depot sign to my left while I was waiting for the light to change.
After a minute or two, I notice that there is a silver Honda Accord in the lane to my left. The vehicle is being driven by a young attractive, and preppy dressed blond girl. However, the passenger is a quinessential punk. He is dressed in a NBA starter jersy (probably the Orlando Magic), he has gold chains all over him, hat on sideways, and has a few gold teeth. (I am not making this up-- it was comical!) He is screaming something at me but I couldn't hear over my radio.

I motion to him to hold on and turn down my radio and roll my window down. To my surprise, he scream to me that he is going to F___ me up if I didn't quit staring at his girlfriend. Taken aback, I simply tell him that I have no interest in him or his girlfriend and that I was starting off in space waiting for the light to change. He repeats his threat to me, and that pisses me off. I suppose I don't tolerate stupidity that well. My retort is "Look, I can look in any direction I want" since it was obvious he wasn't listening to me and he was spoiling for a confrontation.

This is where it gets crazy. He JUMPS OUT of the car and trys to reach in the car and grab me. No problem... I roll the window up and he has to pull back. Then he starts BANGING his fist on my window. Ok... I've had enough... this guy is about to break my window. I roll the window back down, but do not say anything to him. The instant he grabs my shirt, I jab him in the throat with the barrel of the Glock 19 I had in my right hand as I was rolling the window down. I immediately pull the gun back out of his potential reach and keep it leveled on him.

He literally loses his mind and begins screaming "He's got a gun!" and DIVES IN the window of his girlfriend's car. She takes off and runs the red light, almost hitting another car, and is gone.
Because I figure that the police are enroute due to all the witnesses with cell phones, I pull across the street to a convienence store and wait for them to show up. Turns out the police had in fact been called, but suprisingly, a number of the cars behind me pull in and wait to give statements to the police. They all said that they will be informing the police that I defended myself from a mad man.

When the police came back to me, he said I was free to go, and that the other witnesses got the tag number of the car. Units were deployed to the address on file. I suspect that Daddy's little girl has some explaining to do to Dad about the kind of trash she dates.

John

 

[Hokkmike]

Heard a scream one night in the neighborhood. (A woman) I went out to investigate. Seems a guy was trying to impress his girl and/or win her back and superficially ran a pocket knife across his own wrist. (I saw a trace of a cut) She apparently screamed because she thought he was going to hurt himself. I was concerend about her welfare and asked if she was OK. He pointed the knife at me and basically said get lost (or I'm in trouble). I retreated fort-with and went to my house where I grabbed my shotgun. I was going to invited him in but my wife talked me out of it. A good decision on her part! Thank you wife.

 

[MD_Willington]

A & D... nothing too interesting, was slugged in the head with hand saw, stopped a bat from hitting me in the head, kept the bat. Carried a cut down pool cue with a lanyard in my school bag in highschool. Broke some collar bones... guy kicked me in the groin and tried to stab my brother, smacked the crap out of him then went home, Honestly, I'm not a mean spirited person, but I don't take too kindly to being assaulted...

 

[kludge]

My de-escalation technique was to drive to the police station. He obligingly followed, then disappeared when he realized where he was.

I was 21 or 22 at the time, I'm 36 now, but he was a high school kid, and I was picking up my kid sister after a track meet. By engaging a high school kid I could have been in deep doo doo. And I didn't want him to know where my sister lived.

He was sitting in the parking lot with a buddy with his bright lights on. I reminded him and he got p.o.'d and followed me. At one stop sign he passed me and stopped in front of me, jumped out of his car and tried to bash in the driver's window. That's when I changed course (literally off-road) and drove to the police station one town over.

He got reamed by several people the next day, including stern warnings about any repercussions against my sister.

In retospect, I should have just moved my truck out of line with his high beams.

 

[frostbiker]

I've posted about an attempted mugging in the Whataburger drive-thru before.

Coming home late from the range, I stopped at the burger joint for a #2 with bacon and cheese. I pulled up to the window, handed my money to the lady and waited for my food to cook. Anyone who's been to a Whataburger knows you have to wait for your 'fast food.'

Well, up from a darkened corner (last I was there they put a spot light in) pops this greasy lil' fellow on a bicycle. As close as I parked to the window, this little skinny guy was able to get his entire upper torso into my front window to ask for change. I don't think he cared about spare change, but the money in my money clip on the passenger's seat instead. I feigned concern and said, "Let me get my wallet." I grabbed my surefire from the door handle and reached for my pistol in the range bag behind me. The light in one eye was one thing, but imagine a .40 cal. muzzle in the other at the same time?

He jumped up like a jack-in-the-box and started to pedal furiously for the nearest diaper changing station. Too bad he ran smack dab into the back of a pick up truck...through the bushes...and into a bus stop sign.

 

[molonlabe28]

"You probably could. I've tried breaking lots of things with gyaku-zuki and the "secret" strike Otsuka-Sensei was so fond of. "

Wolfmansdad-

Where can one learn about this technique?

Thanks.

 

[geekWithA.45]

You know, my initial reaction was, "only the attempted mugging", but when I stopped to really think about it, there's plenty more.


* Shot at when I was 6 y.o. Someone took a potshot at our car with a .22 from the woods when we where getting ready to go to church. My older sister threw me into the footwell and covered me.

* Misc BS childhood fights, 98% of them as defender, we won't count those. It's just interesting to note how many people mistakenly considered the husky sized geeky kid with glasses to be a soft target.

* Faced down a roomful of bikers harrassing a lady solo in the line of duty, 19 y.o. (I was a campus cop). Successful de-escalation. Found out later my radio call for backup never got through. _That_ was the brown pants moment. Lessons learned: just because you think a dozen hefty friends are on the way doesn't mean you should starting thinking like a brave person. Alternate interpretation: Sometimes, being a skinny brave guy in the face of reason and preposterous odds works.

* Attempted carjacking, 21 y.o. Saw it shaping up, drove out of the kill zone, in reverse, on the sidewalk.

* Burglary, 24 y.o. My car was broken into. Filed a police report. Cops yawned.

* Attempted mugging, 25 y.o. Accosted in a parking lot, did a wary tapdance for a few minutes with a guy weaving a patter of BS. He was basically trying to get me to lower my guard and let him get close enough to strike. Situation resolved by arrival of friend.

* Near assault @ wife's family funeral, 29 y.o. Long story, faction A was heating up a fight with faction B. Wife literally steps into the middle of imminent violence, knowing I had her back. Successful de-escalation, all to gwa9's credit. This was the only encounter in which I was even nominally armed, having an electrical stunner.

37 y.o: moved to free state, got carry permit. Let's hope the 2nd half of my life isn't as exciting in the Chinese sense as the first.

 

[StrikeFire83]

Okay, I'll play.

As a college freshman driving a piece of **** 20 year old car, I had a friend offer to perform some free repairs if only I'd buy the parts. Stupidly, I went out at 11:30 pm THAT night to a 24-hour auto parts store on the wrong side of town to purchase said parts.

Bad Idea.

Coming out of the store, my hands filled with the parts, I was approached by a an idiot who immediately began screaming and and pulled a large hunting knife on me. He ordered me to get on the ground, face down, and that he was going to take my stuff and "my ride." I knew from my dad (ex military) that you NEVER just give in and put your life in a criminal/aggressor's hands. I yelled to the guy that I had no intention of surrendering.

He then attacked me with the knife. To my credit, and being unarmed, I put up a pretty good fight. I tried to run into my car but he got to me and we went down on the ground, he slashed my arm and stabbed me in the knee. Here are some pics:

Like I said, I think that I put up a good fight. I managed to get some punches and kicks off, but most importantly, I jabbed my right thumb into the guy's eye socket, pretty much destroying that eye. I'm pretty proud of that one. He stabbed me in the knuckle, that scar isn't very impressive so I won't post it.

The owner of the auto parts store, an ARMED CITIZEN, heard the screaming/fighting and came out with a shotgun. The perp gave up when he racked the pump action.

Fast-forward to the the trial, where we got the prick for attempted grand theft auto, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted murder. He started crying like a little girl when they handed his sentence down. Crying out of his good eye, that is.

It was a pretty horrible and traumatizing experience. It got me into guns and Concealed Carry. Then next person who attacks me is going out in a body bag.

Okay, that's all.

 

[pro2am]

Nothing near as horrible as some folks here. It was around 3 a.m. at a convenience store in the middle of nowhere when some guy decides to go rob the kid behind the counter. I was only 18 at the time and had never had a gun in my face prior to that...or after that....it's been 22 years and I still remember it very clearly. The guy was never caught.

 

[Trisha]

Yes. Sexually assaulted, more than once.

Yes. Mugged, no robbery.

Yes. Resisted multiple attempted home invasion, years ago now.

I've posted some of the specifics on this forum in the past, can't bring myself to go through it all again even to recount.

What doesn't kill you can make you stronger, but it happens a lot more quickly if you immediately slap down anyone who tells you 1) not to fight back next time so you won't get hurt so bad, or 2) you brought it on yourself because you're _________________ .

Most of the goblins have decades remaining on their prison sentences, more are dead by gang-vs-gang conflicts, others by Gang Task Force intercession, others by DEA & FBI.

Life goes on. I live a quiet life, carry every feasible waking moment, and have defensive layers.

FWIW, with only one exception, in the last 15 years, from local through Federal levels, every working (street) LEO I've met has ben only describable in superlatives when it came to motivation, professionalism, and competence.

YMMV

 

[SeanSw]

It happened to me three times as a minor. Once at age 13 or 14 when I was slashed in the leg by someone outside a movie theater. I was alone, it was in an alley, after midnight, and he pulled the knife on me when I refused to hand over my wallet. He moved in on me when I reached for my own knife, but he was faster and ran off after leaving a 5 inch gash in me. Putting myself in that situation was my own fault.

The 2nd instance was in the early evening while walking home from Blockbuster. I crossed the parking lot on the way home and very large man in a truck felt that I was in his way and after pulling ahead of me he put his vehicle in park, jumped out, and ran at me like linebacker while screaming. I was terrified and froze on the spot while he stopped an inch away from my face, raising his fists and shoving me. The man was an honest 6'8". I tried to leave but he shoved me back in place and scared me so bad I almost wet myself. His eyes were blood red and he was absolutely insane. He continued to batter me backwards until I was against the store windows at a strip mall and he was a block away from his running vehicle. After he backed off no one seemed to care. No one saw a problem. No one stopped to help and no one called the police to say that a kid was on the verge of being beaten to death by a crackhead in broad daylight in a public setting.

I lost a lot of faith that day and have never been so scared of being mauled to death. I can say that if I was carrying a gun I would have shot him to death without question. And if I could not do it without hestitation, then at least I could have done it without regret. I spent years looking over my shoulder for that rusty white Ford longbed and I hope something really, really terrible happened to him.

A third incident occured while walking back from lunch on a school day. I was with a group of friends and our usual route back from Burger King cut through an apartment parking lot. Halfway through the lot a black van with no windows screeched to a halt beside my friends and I, and the driver jumped out and grabbed me by the neck. It was a man of Middle Eastern descent wearing a head set, a tactical vest, and aiming a can of pepper spray in my face with one hand while ripping at my shirt collar with his opposite hand. I didn't know if he was trying to strangle me or kidnap me. He let go of my collar and jammed the can of pepper spray into my face while reaching for handcuffs and speaking on his headset. My friends all scattered and left me alone. This man already had the police on the headset and he was calling for "backup" while accusing me of breaking into the apartments and stealing stuff.

I told the man he was 'effing crazy, broke free, and calmly walked out of there and headed straight home, ignoring classes, to call the police myself.

When the officer arrived at our home to question me about the incident it turned out that the Middle Eastern man who accosted me and brandished weapons and restraints at me was the apartment property manager. He had already been warned about assaulting people with a mistaken identity. Whatever his excuse was for assaulting me, the entire situation was surreal. Black vans, headsets, restraints, a tazer gun on his belt... This man was serious about finding someone, and he found me instead.

In all of these situations my pacifist parents placed the blame on me for being where I shouldn't have been, or for acting suspicious, or looking for trouble. That is a personal issue with my folks that probably won't ever be resolved, but each of these experiences was enough to influence my thinking as I became older. I'm not strong, I am not an instinctive fighter, and I wouldn't want these things or worse to happen to anyone who was unarmed.

 

[AlaskaErik]

I've never had the displeasure of being assaulted. There are a number of factors that have been in play here. First is my size. I'm 6' 2" in my stocking feet and I'm broad shouldered and I walk down the street the way my drill instructor taught me. That alone has been my biggest asset. Then there is situational awareness. I'm always aware of my surroundings. If I think I'm being followed, I make eye contact to let the person know I'm watching them. I've had to do that several times. I've also crossed the street or pretended to be window shopping a few times. Then there are the obvious things you can do. I don't get hammered when I go out and I stay out of the bad parts of town, especially sine I have no reason to be there in the first place. That's pretty much it. For me, it's in the genes and how I carry myself.

 

[Kali Endgame]

Christmas Eve '04, I got the snot kicked out of me by 6-8 guys, can't be sure of the number. My buddies and I went clubbing/bar hopping and I was well into my cups. Our thing was one guy was sober, one guy could have a couple and the last guy could indulge knowing that the other two were there. It was my turn to indulge, and I did. The bar shut down and my buddies went to the bathroom before we left. I wandered out to the parking lot to have a smoke. Before I knew it I was face down on the asphalt getting the snot kicked out of me. After it was over a guy came over and said he was sorry. As I looked at him, through an alcohol and pain induced fog, I realized he could be my twin. Mistaken identity. I was quite a sight at church the next day and haven't drank in public since that time. Luckily, my injuries were mild and healed completely a few week later without medical treatment. It hurt to breathe and I couldn't shave for a week, but I got off pretty easy. Live and learn. I learned my lesson about being inconpacitated(sp) in public.

 

[mons meg]

Happy to say that none of the above poll options apply to me. Of course, I'm a big guy, I don't drink or go to seedy bars or punk rock concerts, don't live in a bad part of town, and I'm pretty sure angels follow me wherever I go.

 

[badman3374]

Christmas in a mall parking lot

Christmas the time of goodwill to men. Also the time for punks looking to get over. I had finished my shopping at the local mall and was on my way to the car when I was aware of 3 young men moving around me at a faster pace. As I got to my car they made their move. My move was to drop my bags and draw my Kimber. One had a knife ,one had a cheap 380 of some kind the other I never saw a weapon. 380 man droped his gun and took off running knife man slashed at me and thank god missed. I caught him across the nose with the gun. Lots of blood and he ran off. The last kid stood there and pi**ed his self. Then took off. I'm too old and had to many knee operations to chase after em. I call the police and they came by took a report and picked up the 380 which I made sure I never touched. Funny thing they were more concerned with checkin my permitt and ID than gettin a description of my 3 buddies. Makes ya wonder???????

 

[NoPhilly]

Thats a negative, I usually don't get F'd with, I am not a small person and my demeanor does not lead people to want to talk to me or even look at me for that point.

Ditto. I'm the guy that most people are probably worried about.

What's interesting is that my "demeanor" simply consists of situational awareness combined combined with a "man up" attitude. When I see suspicious characters, I make sure that they are aware that I am aware of them. Goblins don't seem to like it when they realize that the target they're plotting on is actually plotting on them back.

 

[AF_INT1N0]

Funny thing they were more concerned with checkin my permitt and ID than gettin a description of my 3 buddies. Makes ya wonder???????

Of course they were. They had you.. They knew the likelihood of ever finding the 3 sh*t heels was slim to none. But maybe they could get a arrest for an invalid permit, or something.

 

[ace99]

i've been robbed twice. once was in the house, for like $300, and a browning hi-power i had just got, and didnt even get bullets for (otherwise, they would have had problems).

other time was for like $11, and i didnt really care.