Relaying a strange situation.

[GigaBuist]

It seems my brother had a bit of a scuffle that I thought you guys might find interesting.

He lives in a fairly small town, which is where we grew up. As usual he was at the local bar (don't most stories start out this way?) when a fellow started causing trouble. The brother isn't involved at all, but when the bouncer tosses the guy out he sort of enlisted my brother and his friends to help out.

Some sort of chaos ensuses, I believe my brother or one of his friends ended up clocking the guy when he went after somebody in the parking lot. I wasn't paying too much attention to the story at this time, because it wasn't that interesting.

Well, the guy gets home (no idea how) and this is where it gets interesting. My brother lives in a trailer park... 2-3 lots down from this guy. He's always been trouble. He's in his 30's or 40's, a drunk, and has a habit of threatening people around the park when intoxicated. My brother, being a country boy, doesn't take good care to lock his doors either.

Well... a bit later the neighbor across the road (mutual buddy with my brother and I, we went to high school together) notices somebody in my brother's trailer. It's the guy from the bar. Jim talks the guy out of there and thinks everything is fine.

A while later my brother arrives back home with his roomate (a docile man, not a heavy drinker, a stand-up kinda guy) and when they get out of the car the lunatic comes out of his place with a butcher knife.

I'm paying attention to the story now.

The roomate, thinking he's Superman apparently, rushes the guy unarmed and tackles him. A struggle ensues, my brother gets the knife from the guy but gets a small cut in the process.

The police are called, the guy is hauled off, and they informed him that they'd let him know what happens. I presume to warn him if he's released.

As an aside, the police were very surprised that my brother wasn't terribly upset about the situation during the interview and seemed almost happy. They asked why. My brother's reply was, "Well, it's just that I've never been drunk around a cop when I'm not the one in trouble!"

Certainly the situation wasn't handled as well as it could have been.

 

[P95Carry]

Hmmm .... always easier to quarterback these things but - I can easily imagine such a situation resulting in the knife guy getting shot - tho here it does not sound like your bro and room mate were armed.

Going into the fray was probably foolhardy - seeing as a knife is not to be regarded lightly. But then of course, had that not happened, we can only imagine how it might then have played out. Probably the wisest move would have been to get the heck outa Dodge - to extent at least of putting distance between parties.

Then? ..... call in the incident - and still try and maintain distance. Maybe this doofus will go a tad too far before long and actually get taken out - he sure seems far from an asset to society!!

 

[mete]

The first mistake was to not leave when the trouble started in the bar.In a fight or riot things can escalate quickly and there is no such thing as an innocent bystander. The second mistake was to assist the bar tender.He was not employed by the bar and put himself at risk helping out [what do you mean 'sort of enlisted' ?]. Attacked an armed person when you are unarmed is a very high risk act.

 

[Kamicosmos]

wow. Uh. Well, I can think of many things here:

Don't go drinking at same establishment as unruly drunk neighbors.

Don't get volunteered to help throw out drunk unruly neighbor

Start Locking the doors.

Get a cell Phone.

Stop being a drunk.

This wasn't a Strategy and Tactics situation, this was drunks being drunks.

Sorry if I offend.

 

[GigaBuist]

Kamicosmos, no offense taken. I told my brother he's an idiot already, just looking for more suggestions for the people that WERE semi-responsible in the situation.

Don't go drinking at same establishment as unruly drunk neighbors.

Solid advice, but he had never been seen there before.

Don't get volunteered to help throw out drunk unruly neighbor

Mostly the guy just wants a witness if something happens in the parking lot, I think. However, if things go rodeo he'd like some backup. One bouncer, ya know. Keep in mind my brother didn't lay a hand on the guy... it was somebody else. I think the fellow got confused about who did what and just picked a familiar face to target, since it was easy and close.

Start Locking the doors.

I've told him that plenty of times... and thankfully now his is!

Get a cell Phone.

He has one. Everybody involved has one.

This wasn't a Strategy and Tactics situation, this was drunks being drunks.

I can see how it souns like that. Three guys that work together pull a 12, or more, hour shift, get off work late, hit the local bar because it's the only place that serves food. One guy doesn't drink because he's driving. The other two do. When the whack-job gets riled up the two of them go outside to make sure things go OK. Somebody clocks the whack-job as he assaults somebody, probably my brother's friend (I'll ask the bro for more details next time I get a hold of him) who lived with my brother in the same location 2 years ago.

Now the whack job goes into my brother's residence. The sober neighbor across the road sees somebody in the place and talks him out of it and goes home. SHOULD have called the cops, however.

Then we have a sober guy pull up to the place where he lives with my brother and the lunatic comes running out with a butcher knife. The sober guy tackles him and my brother manages to get the knife away and the police are called and the whack job is hauled off.

Now, leaving at the onset of the drama MAY have helped my brother and his roomate. Still, I think this loon would have entered the place and come after them even if they did provided that my brother's buddy that lived with him years ago was involved.

Just looking for more idea of what could have gone wrong, and what SHOULD have been done. Best I can come up with is this:

Friendly Neighbor: call the cops next time!
Roomate: If you see a knife, RUN!, and tell anybody you're with to run too.
Brother: If you see a known loon in a bar, just leave.

Everybody made it out OK on this one, but I intend to try and use it as a hands-on example of what to do and what not to do for them.

 

[DarkKnight01]

Carry a gun... shoot attackers with knives... Dont go to bars.. wanna have a drink, have one at home...

 

[Andrew Rothman]

The best way to handle any potentially injurious encounter is: Don't be there. Arrange to be somewhere else. Don't go to stupid places. Don't associate with stupid people. Don't do stupid things.

- John Farnam, Defense Training International, Inc.
http://www.defense-training.com/quips/19Mar03.html

 

[Antjo]

I'm glad I wasn't w/ your brother this time. I seem to be lucky enough to not be hanging out w/ him when things like this happen. If I had been there it likely would have led to the guy w/ the knife having 2 in the chest. Unless I had been drinking w/ your bro that night, then I don't even know what I'd do. Probably pepper spray the bastard, or try to get out of reach of the knife as quickly as I could.

I'm not a fast runner, so he probably would catch me, I'm just glad I wasn't there. Glad everyone is ok.

 

[olyAR73]

Carry a gun... shoot attackers with knives... Dont go to bars.. wanna have a drink, have one at home...

Prophetic.

 

[mrhuckins]

Amen to that suggestion DarkNight01

Carry a gun... shoot attackers with knives... Dont go to bars.. wanna have a drink, have one at home...

Good suggestion! I don't go to bars anymore, (in order to avoid just this type of senario) its just a place where I always seem to get into trouble. I'll stay home and drink alone if I want to have a couple from now on thankyouverymuch!

 

[DarkKnight01]

hehe... anytime... I was in a bit of a hurry so I was short sweet and to the point, but that would have been my advice summed up to my bro in a situation like that... I do occasionally go to a few bars, their more of a bar and grill though, for some dinner a beer and a few games of pool.. and its during the week, early in the evening, the only folks in there are a handful of older guys stopping in for a beer and a newspaper after work... thats about the extent of my bar adventures these days...

 

[Don Gwinn]

Gig, your account made it sound like your brother was the one who "clocked" the (other) drunk, which is probably why people are wondering what "sort of enlisted" meant. It almost sounded as if he'd just jumped into the fight for the heck of it and ended up knocking the other idiot out.
That would have been going far out of his way to make an enemy!

I'm glad he's OK. I'm not sure what to make of charging the knife. It sounds stupid, but that would depend on what sort of escape was available. If you know you probably won't escape (and he won't quit if you run) then taking the offensive might actually be the best choice. However, I doubt the drunk guy thought it through that carefully.