I've been wondering about this and if I did the right thing...
I think I did, but I will now leave it to the jury of public opinion -
10-23-03
1900 - I was at XYZ Bail Bonds picking up paperwork concerning some skips and waiting for Bob to finish his paperwork for a bond he is doing out of county. I am going to go with Bob because this will be the first time he has done a bond there, and then we plan on going out after some of the skips.
1910 - John returns to the office, apparently from writing a bond. John gets very upset that Bob is doing the bond, even though he, John, wasn't there to do it. John sits down at his desk which is about 20-25 feet from the front door of the office, where I am standing. John and I then get into an argument about him supposedly calling me a "Thief." Bob walks out of the office to his vehicle, which is parked immediately in front of the office. During this argument John, I believe, is acting very childish. I tell him to stop acting like a "*****." John then gets up and rushes the door and comes to a stop approximately one to two feet in front of me. I am, at this point, still standing in the doorway with my left arm holding onto one of the two doors at the front of the office. When John comes to a stop in front of me he is standing squarely with me. He has his chest out and says, "Did you call me a *****?" I replied that I had and he punched me in the left side of the jaw with his right fist. He had caught me "Flat footed" and unprepared. When he had advanced on me I did not believe that he would hit me. We are both adults and I have known John for well over two years and had not known him to react violently to something as small as spoken words. He talks a lot but that is as far as I have ever seen him go.
When my jaw was struck my head was twisted to the right and I took at least one step backwards which put me inside the office beside a closed and locked door. I reflexively pulled my left hand into my chest with the palm facing outward and my right hand drew my revolver from its holster on my right hip. The revolver was pulled enough for the barrel to clear the leather and was then pushed far enough for my right wrist to lock into my side over my right hip. I believe I said to back off or something to that effect. After John hit me I acted reflexively and how I have been trained. I was on “Auto Pilot†until this point, but I quickly figured out what had happened and did realize that I had done what I was trained to do, my trigger finger was outside of the trigger guard and straight along the side of the cylinder, just as I had been trained. John did in fact back up and said; “Now you are going to shoot me?†I don’t believe I said anything and Bob later said that he did not hear me say anything either though he had heard everything up to this point. I did though yell out to Bob to call the police. John ran back to his desk, grabbed his cell phone and left the office through the back door. While John was doing this I again told Bob, who is standing next to his vehicle the passenger side with the door open, to call the police and I quickly exited the office through the one door that was open. Bob did not appear to understand what I was asking him to do or what had happened.
1915 – With Bob not calling the police I re-holstered my revolver as I exited the office and I called the Police Department Dispatch. I spoke to a female and told her that I wanted to report an assault. I gave her the location of where I was and a description of my vehicle and me. At about this time I saw John walk around the east side of the building where this had all transpired. He got into his vehicle and drove west on XXXXXXXXX Boulevard. I gave the dispatcher a description of the vehicle ending with the first number and three letters of the license plate before he got too far away for me to read the rest of it. The dispatcher informed me that the call had gone out and that someone would be there as soon as possible.
1945 – I now had to leave the office. John has not returned nor has any member of the Police Department arrived. I called the dispatcher back and spoke with a male. I told him that I have business to take care of and that I will come into the department tomorrow to file a report. He acknowledges that and gives me a reference number of MP969 I believe.
This is a chronological report of what happened. So I ask, was it self defense or brandishing a weapon?
I think I did, but I will now leave it to the jury of public opinion -
10-23-03
1900 - I was at XYZ Bail Bonds picking up paperwork concerning some skips and waiting for Bob to finish his paperwork for a bond he is doing out of county. I am going to go with Bob because this will be the first time he has done a bond there, and then we plan on going out after some of the skips.
1910 - John returns to the office, apparently from writing a bond. John gets very upset that Bob is doing the bond, even though he, John, wasn't there to do it. John sits down at his desk which is about 20-25 feet from the front door of the office, where I am standing. John and I then get into an argument about him supposedly calling me a "Thief." Bob walks out of the office to his vehicle, which is parked immediately in front of the office. During this argument John, I believe, is acting very childish. I tell him to stop acting like a "*****." John then gets up and rushes the door and comes to a stop approximately one to two feet in front of me. I am, at this point, still standing in the doorway with my left arm holding onto one of the two doors at the front of the office. When John comes to a stop in front of me he is standing squarely with me. He has his chest out and says, "Did you call me a *****?" I replied that I had and he punched me in the left side of the jaw with his right fist. He had caught me "Flat footed" and unprepared. When he had advanced on me I did not believe that he would hit me. We are both adults and I have known John for well over two years and had not known him to react violently to something as small as spoken words. He talks a lot but that is as far as I have ever seen him go.
When my jaw was struck my head was twisted to the right and I took at least one step backwards which put me inside the office beside a closed and locked door. I reflexively pulled my left hand into my chest with the palm facing outward and my right hand drew my revolver from its holster on my right hip. The revolver was pulled enough for the barrel to clear the leather and was then pushed far enough for my right wrist to lock into my side over my right hip. I believe I said to back off or something to that effect. After John hit me I acted reflexively and how I have been trained. I was on “Auto Pilot†until this point, but I quickly figured out what had happened and did realize that I had done what I was trained to do, my trigger finger was outside of the trigger guard and straight along the side of the cylinder, just as I had been trained. John did in fact back up and said; “Now you are going to shoot me?†I don’t believe I said anything and Bob later said that he did not hear me say anything either though he had heard everything up to this point. I did though yell out to Bob to call the police. John ran back to his desk, grabbed his cell phone and left the office through the back door. While John was doing this I again told Bob, who is standing next to his vehicle the passenger side with the door open, to call the police and I quickly exited the office through the one door that was open. Bob did not appear to understand what I was asking him to do or what had happened.
1915 – With Bob not calling the police I re-holstered my revolver as I exited the office and I called the Police Department Dispatch. I spoke to a female and told her that I wanted to report an assault. I gave her the location of where I was and a description of my vehicle and me. At about this time I saw John walk around the east side of the building where this had all transpired. He got into his vehicle and drove west on XXXXXXXXX Boulevard. I gave the dispatcher a description of the vehicle ending with the first number and three letters of the license plate before he got too far away for me to read the rest of it. The dispatcher informed me that the call had gone out and that someone would be there as soon as possible.
1945 – I now had to leave the office. John has not returned nor has any member of the Police Department arrived. I called the dispatcher back and spoke with a male. I told him that I have business to take care of and that I will come into the department tomorrow to file a report. He acknowledges that and gives me a reference number of MP969 I believe.
This is a chronological report of what happened. So I ask, was it self defense or brandishing a weapon?
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( just a little humor)
