Realistic Terrible Dream

[BigO01]

I had perhaps the worst nightmare in my entire life due to the fact that it was to me , as realistic as any experience .

It starts I am standing in a line in and underground railway like the public transportation you see in the movies in NY or other eastern cities . There are 10 people or so in front of me and several behind and identical lines on both sides , it seems we are waiting to buy our tickets for the Tram or whatever they are called .

To my left are perhaps a dozen lines and a set of stairs going up to the street or down to where we are , divided by a handrail in the middle that is maybe 80-100 feet away .

I hear a women scream for help to my left and I see her running down the stairs towards me still screaming . As she enters the ticket area she disappears trying to push her way through the lines as I can hear people cursing her for running into them and see the lines ripple as she makes her way . I then see a man running down the stairs with a very long kitchen style knife in his right hand and I turn to my left facing toward them .
As the woman progresses she is having to zig zag going for openings between people to stay ahead of the man yet apparently the people in line see he has a knife and are trying to move out of his way so he is closing fast but with people moving back and forth he is popping in and out of my view .

As she gets two lines away she is now off to my right by about 3 people and he is heading almost straight at me with his knife about chest high , the two people directly in front of me part and the man is right there as he is coming through the previous line as she is about to come through the last line between her and I .

I pull my CCW weapon and raise it and line up my sights on his chest without a warning as I don't want to cause anyone to panic and move into my way , I press the trigger and as I do the woman darts between the two people who parted giving me a shot at him and I shoot her in her chest .

I woke up at that point in a cold sweat .

The worst part is I don't think it takes much of an imagination to see how this is all to possible in the real world .

How would you think it would best be handled to avoid a tragedy of shooting the wrong person , either her or a bystander ?

 

[Badge3483]

Big100, they told us in the police academy we would have nightmares long after we retired. I have been off the Detroit force for 17 years but the nightmares keep coming. The is one heck of of nightmare you had and I totally understand the cold sweat.

The best thing to do in a crowd is never fire. I know is hard as that is to grasp, but it is the only answer to avoid hitting an innocent bystander. Do you think that is the message your dream might have been sending you anyway?

I have never had to take a life, but talking to officers that have, they said it is the worse thing that ever happened to them. That is even when the shooting the bad guy that was legal and justified.

We can only hope that with all the people in your dream situation, which surely was real at the time to you, that others would have come forward and stopped the guy before he did harm. This may sound silly but if one person would have stuck out their foot, they could have tripped the guy. Simple, but it works.

My partner and I received a run that some neighbors were chasing a man for B & E. We reached the location and saw that about 7 neighbors, male female, black and white, had a man down on the ground. We noticed as we walked up on the crowd one of the neighbors dropped a brick at his side, and that the man laying on the ground, was slightly bleeding from his head.

As we were cuffing the guy we told the group that the detectives would be in touch with them. The bad guy said, "Hey, they were hitting me in the head with a brick. What are you going to do about the brick?" My partner and I at the same time said, "What brick?" Off to jail he went. He pleaded guilty and we never went to court.
One person can make a difference. So can many.

I hope this helps, but we are trained as officers to never shoot in a crowd.

Badge 3483

 

[Fred Fuller]

3483,

Welcome aboard- thanks for sharing your experiences with us.


BigO,

Learning through remembered dreams- now THAT is an interesting approach, but not one I'm prepared to discount. What Badge3483 said is probably the best advice going.

lpl/nc

 

[rjohnson4405]

Unless the BG is already shooting into a crowd, in which case he is probably shooting many people, and your shooting him would stop it I don't think I would shoot. Even then you might still have to deal with lawsuits if you hit innocent bystanders. I think it's important to make decisions like these ahead of time and stick to them. Same as deciding whether or not you can shoot a person who attacks you.

Personally, if a BG opens up on a crowd and seems to just be spraying into non-specific targets I'll do my best to put him down with minimal shots and minimal misses (assuming I'm armed). I'd rather deal with lawsuits and even jail time than my conscience knowing I stood by and watched a massacre I could've stopped. Do I agree with this process completely? No, ideally the probably injured person would appreciate that I saved their life, however, one has to assume worst case (maybe even probable case) for the world they live in.

-rjohnson4405

 

[Pax Jordana]

I will openly admit, I have never shot anyone, nor am I an LEO. But if the girl was running right past me I'd be inclined to wait until the guy's within contact distance, grab him by the clothing and pump one into him from a few inches away. Is that a really bad idea?

That's a freaky dream, OP. Shooting and missing means a lot, literally and figuratively, and the fact that it wasn't any fault of your own would give any dream interpreter a fit.

 

[RevolverMan567]

Ok please dont flame me...

so this is what i wa thinking when i read this playing out. It seems im pretty sure that at this point i would be firing to protect her life as if it were mine, why not draw, and fire one of you most likely soft hollow points (that shoudnt ricochet too badly) into the ceiling to get everyone but the bad guy on the ground or clearing out quick like. I also think that not shooting would be a far worse proposition to have to sleep with each night.

what say you?

is that to rambo-esq? or am I playing the arm chair commando card?

 

[S-K]

I'm almost positive letting one fly into the ceiling would get you a charge.

Stupid? Yes.

Reality? Sadly.

 

[mekender]

in a crowd like that, letting one fly into the ceiling could also get you shot by a ccw holder that thought you were committing a crime

 

[RevolverMan567]

makes sence,

points taken.

 

[SLCscottie]

Dreams Help Prepare for Reality

Dreams (Nightmares) are usually far worse than what we will really encounter. They help us mentally and emotionally prepare for a much worse situation. So it is almost like a subconcious preparation for a lesser reality. (Can I quote where I learned this? No.)

In the past, I have had nightmares of my young son being kidnapped. The abduction is occuring in front of me as the man drives away with my son. I am praying and struggling to find a firearm to at least shoot at the driver side to try to stop the abduction. But there is no firearm. This was very disturbing to me.
When my sons were young, I was very vigilant to protect them against predetors.