what would you have done in this situation?

[degunner]

in that case i would just watch the nancy boys run like scared little girls and decide if i want more eggs or an egg burrito.

since no one had been hit then i probably would've left the shotgun in the cabinet, gun is likely uncalled for.
since AmberLamps didnt come by then the nancy boys are fine but they shouda gotten tuned up a little though for beating up a 12 yr old

 

[Mike J]

I'd have probably just called the cops & observed. I would not involve myself unless I felt I just had to.

 

[scythefwd]

I'd probably have stepped outside with the shotgun. A good swing with a baseball bat and that person is never waking up again. A good swing with a square hit very well could break a bone every hit. In VA, I can use deadly force to prevent grievous bodily harm... and that would have been made apparent.

 

[george30]

I'm the type to go get in the action. Always have been and been clocked a few times because of it. In this situation I would definitely go out with a gun if it was on my property. If it wasn't on my property I would walk to the edge of my property and tell them the cops are on the way. I would only leave my property if the kid was on the ground getting beat with a baseball bat. Whether the kid deserved it or not does not matter to me in that moment.

 

[TexasBill]

Sorry, but I would call the police and then try to break it up though I wouldn't show a weapon if at all possible. I still have my old Acme Thunderer and it's pretty good for getting attention.

I don't have to know the back story; that's for the police to figure out. What the adults were doing counts as felony aggravated assault in this state and could have turned into either murder or manslaughter. I don't care what the high school kids had done; that's also for the police to handle. If they had beaten up a smaller youngster, the police have methods of dealing with that. But an adult does not have the right to exact "justice" in this fashion.

Maybe it's just me, but when I was a teenager a woman from my town named Kitty Genovese was murdered while 39 people did nothing. More recently, a man died in the streets of New York while people just walked by his body. I really, really do not like to see violence if I can do anything about it.

And I can always make more eggs.

 

[Erik M]

call police. would have checked locks armed myself and not left the house. I know in some jurisdictions if you see a crime occurring, no matter what your opinion of it you are required to report it to law enforcement or you become criminally liable.

 

[duns]

Sorry, but I would call the police and then try to break it up though I wouldn't show a weapon if at all possible. ...when I was a teenager a woman from my town named Kitty Genovese was murdered while 39 people did nothing. .... I really, really do not like to see violence if I can do anything about it.

And I can always make more eggs.

What he said.

 

[earlthegoat2]

In this litigious society you might as well have watched them get killed rather than get involved and save a life.

This is the new America.

 

[Old Shooter]

Call 911.

Arm myself in case the events come my way or get way uglier.

Yell out the door that the cops are coming.

I am in no way any sort of Chuck Norris type and my attempting to intervene physically would not acheive much if anything other than my being on the receiving end of a baseball bat.

Teenagers being chased around by adults with basball bats is one thing. If one was on the ground and still being beaten with bats, that puts a different spin on it.

If you go out that door with a weapon you had better be ready to use it. As already mnentioned the people involved have already gone off the deep end and BOTH sides may see the presence of a gun as escalation of force by the other side and the violence could ramp up at that time. And you (or I) would be right in the middle of it.

Mayby best just finish the eggs.

 

[JohnBT]

Sounds like my neighborhood when the bars let out. Call the cops and then yell at the bozos.

Or grab a glove, it's like Ernie Banks said, "It's a great day for a ball game; let's play two!"

 

[paul]

This episode is a complete impossibility for me.
Could not happen, period.*

Hypothetically, I would have done as the OP did.
p



*I don't eat eggs.

 

[buck460XVR]

the kids looked like serious punks, and probably deserved of what they were receiving. which, i later found to be true from a neighbor that told me they beat a 12 year old kid pretty badly. this same neighbor was an old man that called the cops, and actually told the guys to leave the kids alone. he wasn't attacked, but was told what it was about by one of the adults with a bat.

Where I come from two wrongs never make a right.....and considering you didn't even know what was going on, I dunno. Life is not a Clint Eastwood movie and vigilante justice is not acceptable. Somebody was attacked with a deadly weapon for reasons you didn't know and you enjoyed the show?

 

[fireman 9731]

Why does everybody want to tell them they called the cops? Once they hear that they scatter and never get caught. I guess it may end the fight but justice isn't served. If I am going through the trouble of calling the cops somebody better be going to jail for it.

 

[chieftain]

Be a great witness.

A tactic I have used in some less dramatic cases. Use a video camera. Most recently, I Had some 10-13 year old types jumping my fence stealing fruit, and throwing it at the house and fence.

Took the video and "filmed" the "little darlings". When I spoke to the parents, the kids of course lied. You could tell, easily, their lips were moving. Denied everything and of course accused me of not liking kids.

As is most often in todays society, parents take the side of their kids instead of the adults and/or teachers.

Most of the parents just shut up and were embarrassed when I showed them the Video of their "little darlings" doing what they just said their kids "would never do". The better of the group immediately handled the kids, and apologized. A couple actually tried to deny the video they were watching. You know that most American of diseases, DENIAL.

I advised the parents that if there was any damage or police involvement in the future, the video would find it's way into police hands. Pretty much solved the problem.

AS to being armed, if I am up and about, inside or out, I am armed, CCW. This was not a "defense" situation, and no need to turn it into one.

Remember there are only two types of problems in the world, "theirs and mine". And it's my job to make sure their problem, remains their problem. That doesn't mean, don't assist or help as you see fit and are able, just keep their problem theirs as you assist and help them.

Simply amazing.

Go figure.

Fred

 

[pockets]

I'd call 911, grab cold beer to go with the eggs, and sit on the front porch to watch the morons at play.
I'm not an LEO, nor do I play one on the internet.
.

 

[gyvel]

Videotape the whole thing and then put it on YouTube.

 

[FLAvalanche]

Nothing...

Sometimes you just need to take the warning labels off and let nature run it's course.

 

[GimpyLeg]

First.........

What kind of eggs were they again? Scrambled? Did you have any hot sauce? Just eggs or did you have anything with them?




Next...
Call 911 and observe.

 

[pockets]

Did you have any hot sauce?

That's what pepper spray is for!

 

[ForumSurfer]

Call 911. Finish eggs.

Two reasons.

1. The kids deserved a beating and they obviously weren't getting necessary discipline at home.
2. When I was 16 or 17, I once saw a guy beating his wife in a parking lot. Not playfully, I mean beating her. Her face was bloody enough I wouldn't recognize her if I ever saw her again. My friend and I grabbed the guy. I got knocked out by a beer bottle to the back of my head...by the very same woman he was beating.

If I were unsure of the reasons the kids were being beaten for, I would have stepped in. I probably also would step in if I saw that much spousal abuse again, though I would keep my eye on the wifey this go around.

 

[Full Metal Jacket]

In this litigious society you might as well have watched them get killed rather than get involved and save a life.

This is the new America.
__________________

100% correct. sticking your neck out to help someone nowadays can very well get you sued. this is why we need tort reform

Did you have any hot sauce?

That's what pepper spray is for!

hmmm, i like where this is going.....

 

[Full Metal Jacket]

call police. would have checked locks armed myself and not left the house. I know in some jurisdictions if you see a crime occurring, no matter what your opinion of it you are required to report it to law enforcement or you become criminally liable.

thankfully, i happen to live in an area that neither has good samaritan laws, nor "must report" laws.

in any jurisdiction, if you're questioned by the police and don't give them the info you know about a crime you witnessed, you can be charged with "impeding an investigation". although they generally just use that as a threat to get the info they want (it's a misdemeanor).

 

[Claude Clay]

The part that the OP left out was that the High School seniors beat up the 12 year old for beating up a 7 year old.

....who beat up a 5 year old who.......

like where does it end, or start for that matter??

one of me with a ticker missing some beats aint gonna go outside where bats are swinging.

and todays legal belief system causes me to agree with:
call 911, finish eggs

 

[oasis618]

 

[03Shadowbob]

If the kids were running away and not being hit then I'd have done nothing. As soon as a bat connected, I would have to stop it at that time or try to. I have seen a guy killed by a baseball bat with one blow so I know first hand the destruction only one swing can do. I couldn't stand idly by and do nothing. It's not in my makeup.