This may have been the closest I've come to needing my handgun ....

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A few years ago, I stopped at a Texas rest stop and walked into the head
that was plastered with "Please Help" signs.
Signs indicated a blue plymouth parked outside with a woman and two sleeping kids..they needed help/cash/gasoline to get home.
The woman and kids were there and I gave her a couple bucks.
My buddy saw the same woman/car/kids at the rest stop across the highway next week..

P.R.
 
When I was in the Army in the '60s I didn't have a car and I didn't have any money. There were many times I hitched to get home on a weekend pass.

I was amazed at the number of people who picked me up, bought me a cup of coffee and a sandwich and went out of their way to get me closer to home.

Call me naive, but I've never forgotten that kindness and I still try to repay it if I can. Only when I'm carrying, and never when I'm with my wife or kids, never when my spidey-sense is tingling:) and I'd never let someone sit behind me.
Tinpig
 
That's a bad area that you picked her up in anyway. There's no way I would even slow down going thru there.
 
That's a bad area that you picked her up in anyway. There's no way I would even slow down going thru there.
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Actually, we were on a deserted part of Bauer Road heading North to 98. It was near Tarkiln Bayou Preserve Park. I've never considered that a bad part of town. When I first moved to Pensacola, we lived off Bauer behind Helen Caro Elementary School. That was 14 years ago, but it was a very safe place to live, imo.
 
Me & the wife where having a great night just being young again... giggling all that good stuff, well we decided to get out of the house for a little walk up to the mail box.

It was pretty late probably about 2230-2300 ish. When we got up to the box, some one rounded the corner in excess of 30 MPH, it was a white four door lasabre.

Well the passed us, made another turn down another road. Then they must have did a quick U-E around the corner or something because they came speeding back, as they where coming down the road they turned the lights off and angled the car towards us.

I pushed the wife out of the way & behind a tree & reached for my Taurus 92, didn't even have it out before they stopped, turned on the lights and backed up really slowly.

So I guess nowadays you can't even go check your mail, and the thought of someone pulling a gun on you is enough to stop the car.
 
Me & the wife where having a great night just being young again... giggling all that good stuff, well we decided to get out of the house for a little walk up to the mail box.

It was pretty late probably about 2230-2300 ish. When we got up to the box, some one rounded the corner in excess of 30 MPH, it was a white four door lasabre.

Well the passed us, made another turn down another road. Then they must have did a quick U-E around the corner or something because they came speeding back, as they where coming down the road they turned the lights off and angled the car towards us.

I pushed the wife out of the way & behind a tree & reached for my Taurus 92, didn't even have it out before they stopped, turned on the lights and backed up really slowly.

So I guess nowadays you can't even go check your mail, and the thought of someone pulling a gun on you is enough to stop the car.
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Interesting. Y'know, people ask why I carry ALL the time (I even make sure my pajamas have pockets so I can carry my little revolver). Well, like what happened to you, you just never know when a normal night can turn violent. And when it does, it happens lightning fast.

I mean, my wife and I had just had a great night on the beach with family and friends and then, seemingly in an instant, I had someone in my car I wasn't sure about and had my hand around a pistol with the safety off ready to use it.

Bizarre how fast situations can change.
 
I guess it's been a while since we've kicked around the "case of the hitchhiker" on THR....

As a dumb kid, I hitch hiked quite a bit.... and on at least one occasion, after getting sick and being abandoned by my "buddies" ~20 miles from home, on the wrong side of town, I was greatly helped by a man who obviously drove out of his way to deposit me near my home.

On one Sunday evening in CT, a navy buddy was driving back to the base with me from RI and we stopped to help a station wagon with a flat tire, which was occupied by a mother, a sickly looking grand father and a gaggle of kids . As soon as we stopped to offer assistance this other guy, in a pick-up truck, who had stopped before us, very quickly got in his vehicle and took off. The mother was apparently the only one who spoke any English, went on to tell us that the guy who took off had offered help, but insisted that the pretty ~12 year old girl go with him alone, to get the tire repaired. :( Much to my amazement, we found a gas station where the woman was able to buy a second hand tire and get it mounted, and saw them on their way.

We all have to decide how we are going to live our lives and what risks we will take. For some of us, the possibility of doing a good turn unto others is worth the risk.

Now that I have a family that depends on my support, I'm much more reticent about hitchhikers. But I don't have a never or always rule. I take each case one at a time..... considering things such as how many (if you've got a buddy to walk with, you'll likely get to enjoy your walk), size (can I take him), time of day, what I've got going on, etc....

If I'm on my way to work and I see a guy at 7:30 a.m., with a lunch box in his hand, wearing a mechanics uniform, on a well traveled road, he's probably going to get a lift, as will the teenager with the book bag.

I can't say that I've ever given a girl hitchhiker a lift, as I can't ever recall seeing one.

Times have changed and extra caution is certainly warranted.

I think the O.P. needs to invite his wife to read this thread and discuss the events in a constructive way, as she clearly influenced his decision to stop.

Do unto others as you can and as seems prudent. Though dying at the hands of a drunk pot head isn't exactly how I want to go out of this life, there are far worse fates potentially up around the next corner.

Life is not a risk free endeavor.
 
Yeah, if it wasn't for my wife, I would've kept on going. She kind of 'guilted' me into stopping. I've never picked up a hitchhiker in my life and probably wouldn't have in this instance, but my wife thought it might be an emergency. And I think she was right. The problem came with letting her into my car after I realized it wasn't an emergency and she might be 'altered' because of drugs or booze.

But, I tell ya, it just ain't in my nature to leave someone on the side of the road like that after I've talked with them and they need help. Dangerous and possibly stupid, but once I stopped I felt obligated to help unless it was super clear I was putting my wife and I in danger.

I was actually more afraid that she might be taking us to a place where we could've been robbed, than her actually robbing us.

But --- ya never know. :(
 
Back in the 60's things were somewhat more normal/civilized than today to say the least. The U.S. handn't been over run with illegal immigrants. There were exceptions but it was a safer simpler time.

I don't carry unless on a long road trip and have to stay in motels/hotels overnight. I don't pick up hitchhickers. The only way I'd stop, is to have my pistol ready and my doors would be locked and all I would do is crack my window, to see what the problem was, probably wouldn't even do that. Just to insane out there now!
JT
 
I got picked up on a rural highway on a very cold Missouri winter night. I was already going through hypothermia at that point and could barely get myself in the truck when he stopped. I could have died that night or at least lost a finger, ear or toe. The guy said it was cold enough he felt like leaving me there would have been manslaughter and he couldn't have lived with himself.

I'm still grateful to a guy I'll never see again. If it's really cold out, I'm a lot more likely to pick someone up.

I'm married with a small child. If either of them is in the car then I don't care if you're on fire, running down the road screaming, I'm not stopping, and don't get in my way either.

Now, cold night scenario with wife and kid in the car, I'm just going to have to dial 911 and hope the Sherriff finds you in good health. That's part of his job.

On another note I used to be very close friends with a man who had been an over-the-road trucker in Central America, from Texas all the way down to Panama. The old guys all told him only to stop at truck stops. He was hauling a full load of electronic equipment one night when he saw a man lying in the middle of the highway. My friend began slowing down to stop, then remembered all the old stories, "never stop, never stop". So my friend lays on his horn, the big "WONK WONNNNNK!!" kind of semi-truck horns. Guy in the road doesn't move. My friend slows down a little more and then says to himself, "What the hey, if the guy's dead already, this won't hurt him any more." My friend punches the gas and at the very last second the "dead guy" jumps up and runs off the road.

Had my friend stopped, he would have been the dead guy for real, not for pretend.


My point: this stuff is very situational. If you're armed and hanging out with your guy pal and he's armed too, then by all means be a good samaratin. Just don't bet the lives of your loved-ones on something like this.
 
makarovnik said:
Call 911 and drive on by. Sorry
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This.
I've stopped to help people before and I've also been helped before. I appreciate when people stop to help when you're in need. But you have to be smart about it. Upon smelling alcohol and weed I simply would've driven off and probably called the police. She has a working phone, so she can call for help if needed. She also could've started walking to her destination or somewhere to get help, and it's probably not any more dangerous than getting into a car with complete strangers.
 
There are just too many variables involved in picking up hitchhikers, and its not worth the gamble to me. In today's world most people have cell phones, and even if the hitchhiker doesn't, chances are one of the cars driving by does, and likely has already called in a report. If not, theres no harm in doing so yourself, but if it comes down to my safety or yours...call me greedy, but I rank my well being slightly higher, thank you. I can tell you one thing....100% of the hitchhikers I've picked up have done me no harm. Then again, thats a sample of exactly zero....if I don't know you, you don't get in my vehicle, whether I'm unarmed, or have an arsenal on hand.
 
Gun owners are aware and afraid of going to court because they lawfully protected themselves. The legal dangers of giving a hitchhiker a ride are too great:

A male driver alone who picks up any female hitchhiker could be looking at false rape charges. Likewise, if she happens to be a streetwalker and the police happen to stop you, you could get arrested for soliciting.

Giving any hitchhiker with drugs on them a ride, you happen to get stopped by the police - you lose your car.
 
You were lucky this time. Chalk this up to experience and resolve to be more careful in the future. Remember that "no good deed goes unpunished". Sadly....
 
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