What strategy for this situation I was in years ago

[regal]

1994 working inner city slums of detriot as an offshift tech in a chemical plant. Gang turf wars at their height. I am a dumb Indiana country boy driving a ratty old hand me down BMW. Leave work at midnight to the usual sound of fulll auto AK drive-by's in the distance.

This night I am being followed by gang bangers in ragged out lincoln. They tail me about 20 miles. No cell phones back then, getting worried. All I have is a small .22 pistol (which was illegal to have in your car back then.)

My guess is something I was wearing or my car set them off. I lived about 45 miles out near Ann Arbor.

Only thing I knew to do was gun it, 120 mph west on I-94. Got off on my exit with them still on my tail.

Finally lost them by running three stop lights at high speeds.

The next day the car died on me, the alternator was dead and I had been running on battery only.

I always wondered how I should have handled the situation had that car died the night before?

I thank God I live/work in a safe area now (PA), Detroit was 3rd world back then.

 

[sm]

Drive straight to the nearest Police Station, or Fire Station laying on the horn.

 

[BBQLS1]

Wow, spooky stuff dude.

 

[david_the_greek]

I currently live in Detroit and some parts are still 3rd world country! Now a lot of the bad image it has is hype, but there is still a lot of danger. The direct "downtown" is pretty safe, but boy are some of the resident areas scary. Definitely feel undergunned with a pistol/revolver. Unfortunately don't feel comfortable with a rifle at my rental since my roommates are kind of dumb about theft prevention and I don't want anything stolen out of my car. Sigh...

Good scenario. What to do? No long gun and no way to prove you were in the right if you had one and got out shooting (not advisable). Run? Try to position yourself behind the engine block with your pistol aimed at their vehicle where one of them might exit while you yell verbal warnings? Scary world, really glad to hear things came out alright for you

 

[Korbin]

+1 for what sm said.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but,
This reminds me of an incident when I was in highschool. I randomly saw a friend of mine on the road. I tried honking at him and flashing my lights so he would notice me. He pulled into a dark parking lot behind a closed business, and I followed him. He parks and gets out and THEN realized it was me. He thought I was some stranger who wanted to fight him and he was going to oblige. SHEESH! NOT the right thing to do....

 

[expvideo]

Tough situation. I don't know what I would recommend doing. I would personally try to drive to a well lit and populated area, like a store parking lot or somewhere that would have security cameras. I would then have to park the car, get out with the pistol concealed and go inside. I imagine most thugs aren't going to follow you into the store to hurt you, since it's well lit and there are a lot of witnesses. Anything you can do to avoid the fight, but if the fight is inevitable, make sure that you can have the drop on them without pointing a gun at someone who hasn't threatened you yet.

ETA: Cover is key. Be aware of where cover is and move to it quickly. Also, remember that "being a gangster" is not reason enough to shoot someone. You have to remember to think outside the box. They could just not be paying attention to the fact that they are tailgating you, and really enjoying that you are going so fast because they wanted to drive fast too. Or something like that. Just because they look like gangsters doesn't mean that they are a threat, and you will have to articulate why you found them threatening to a jury, so make sure that there is something to say besides "they looked scary".

 

[YammyMonkey]

Depends on where the car dies. Are there any semi-friendly looking places around, lots of light, cover, what do they do when your car dies, when it stops...

In general, if you can pull the Nike defense do so post-haste. If it's time to fight it's time to fight. Even if you "only" have a .22 or a tire iron or the Bic pen that's been rolling around in the glove box unused for 12 years there are more than a few people in the ground thanks not to those implements but the person weilding them.

Paraphrasing a Tactical Response ad in the Nov. SWAT magazine: "Either you are the weapon & the gun is the tool or the gun is the weapon & you are a tool."

 

[Old Guy]

As this is over?

I think you might say a prayer just about now!