Post by Vince on Dec 26, 2005 2:39:49 GMT -5
OK folks, this happened to me today. What would you do?!?!
I was in a very crowded city downtown today with packed pedestrian traffic. My wife and I were walking, and it was close to 5pm. We were nearing an intersection, and the light was green for us to walk across. However the crowd was so bad that we were packed in like sardeens, and my wife had to walk right behind me so she could hold on to my coat and let me sort of clear the way for her.
The light switched for the signal for us not to walk and the crowd stopped in front of us, with me being about the 5th person back from the street, with all of us now waiting on the light to give us the signal to walk again.
There was a white guy in front of me, about 40 years old. He was about 6'2, 275 and was wearing a green old army jacket. He looked a bit chubby, but still strong with wide shoulders. He had a big brown beard, a small afro, and looked to be either homeless or just very dirty. He was seeming to act claustrophobic with the crowd pushed up against him on all sides. There was zero room for anyone to move as the crowd was pushing in close and tight, with no room ahead with the traffic in front, to the right with traffic on that street, or to the left with a big brick building there.
Well this guy starts making wierd shouting noises, and I knew he had some sort of mental issue. He tries pushing through some people but fails as there is just no where to go. He then turns around, stepping on my foot and wants to escape, but there is no room. He then unexpectedly drives forward into me with a driving shoulder strike, trying to knock me down (and obviously wanting to run off somewhere he can get some breathing room). He might have knocked me down since his strike caught me toatally off-guard, has not the crowd been right behind and all around me preventing me from having the room to fall. However remember, my wife was right behind me and I fealt her face get smahed hard into my back and heard her cry out in pain. I was pissed immediatly, and I grabbed the guy, as he was still pushing into me futally. I was going to tell him to calm down, but before I had time he grabbed me firmly with his left hand on the upper right chest of my jacket, and at the same time he drove his right hand into the front of his army jacket pocket. At this instant I just knew it was going for a knife, as he was toatally freaking out. As he was doing this he yelled "Mother F_ _ _ _ R". Time froze for me... he was strong and had a good grip on the front of my jacket and was about to bring something out of his pocket... that something which I would have bet anything was going to be a knife. There was nowhere for me to move to... the crowd was simply too pressed in.
And then I woke up.... seriously. Yep, this was a dream I just had and I immediatly thought that it would make a good "what would you do?" post... so now you have it. I never have paranoid dreams like this... I suspect it is due to some of the holiday I food I ate at my family's house which made my stomach quite upset.
So what would you do? I remember thinking about it when I first woke up... and I really felt like I was in trouble and about to get stabbed. There are various schools of thought of how to deal with an edged weapon. They are usually broken down into 2 ways of thinking... if you cant run then strike first then try to disarm, or control the weapon first with both hands and then try to disarm. Personally I lean more towards controlling the weapon first, striking as a means to cause a bit of pain, which will enable an easy disarm. So in this specific case, with all this time to think about it of course, I would like to secure his right hand firmly with my left, not allowing it to move or come out of his pocket, and with my right hand give a serious eye jab at the same time. I would then immediatly put both of my hands on his right hand in an attempt to control and disarm whatever he was bringing out. Of course you never know what he would have pulled out. It could have been a knife, a pen, a gun, or even an athsma inhaler to take a shot.
So what would you do?
I was in a very crowded city downtown today with packed pedestrian traffic. My wife and I were walking, and it was close to 5pm. We were nearing an intersection, and the light was green for us to walk across. However the crowd was so bad that we were packed in like sardeens, and my wife had to walk right behind me so she could hold on to my coat and let me sort of clear the way for her.
The light switched for the signal for us not to walk and the crowd stopped in front of us, with me being about the 5th person back from the street, with all of us now waiting on the light to give us the signal to walk again.
There was a white guy in front of me, about 40 years old. He was about 6'2, 275 and was wearing a green old army jacket. He looked a bit chubby, but still strong with wide shoulders. He had a big brown beard, a small afro, and looked to be either homeless or just very dirty. He was seeming to act claustrophobic with the crowd pushed up against him on all sides. There was zero room for anyone to move as the crowd was pushing in close and tight, with no room ahead with the traffic in front, to the right with traffic on that street, or to the left with a big brick building there.
Well this guy starts making wierd shouting noises, and I knew he had some sort of mental issue. He tries pushing through some people but fails as there is just no where to go. He then turns around, stepping on my foot and wants to escape, but there is no room. He then unexpectedly drives forward into me with a driving shoulder strike, trying to knock me down (and obviously wanting to run off somewhere he can get some breathing room). He might have knocked me down since his strike caught me toatally off-guard, has not the crowd been right behind and all around me preventing me from having the room to fall. However remember, my wife was right behind me and I fealt her face get smahed hard into my back and heard her cry out in pain. I was pissed immediatly, and I grabbed the guy, as he was still pushing into me futally. I was going to tell him to calm down, but before I had time he grabbed me firmly with his left hand on the upper right chest of my jacket, and at the same time he drove his right hand into the front of his army jacket pocket. At this instant I just knew it was going for a knife, as he was toatally freaking out. As he was doing this he yelled "Mother F_ _ _ _ R". Time froze for me... he was strong and had a good grip on the front of my jacket and was about to bring something out of his pocket... that something which I would have bet anything was going to be a knife. There was nowhere for me to move to... the crowd was simply too pressed in.
And then I woke up.... seriously. Yep, this was a dream I just had and I immediatly thought that it would make a good "what would you do?" post... so now you have it. I never have paranoid dreams like this... I suspect it is due to some of the holiday I food I ate at my family's house which made my stomach quite upset.
So what would you do? I remember thinking about it when I first woke up... and I really felt like I was in trouble and about to get stabbed. There are various schools of thought of how to deal with an edged weapon. They are usually broken down into 2 ways of thinking... if you cant run then strike first then try to disarm, or control the weapon first with both hands and then try to disarm. Personally I lean more towards controlling the weapon first, striking as a means to cause a bit of pain, which will enable an easy disarm. So in this specific case, with all this time to think about it of course, I would like to secure his right hand firmly with my left, not allowing it to move or come out of his pocket, and with my right hand give a serious eye jab at the same time. I would then immediatly put both of my hands on his right hand in an attempt to control and disarm whatever he was bringing out. Of course you never know what he would have pulled out. It could have been a knife, a pen, a gun, or even an athsma inhaler to take a shot.
So what would you do?