[EventHorizon]

I was slowly driving in the parking lot at my condo looking for a parking spot when an older male roughly 5'10' about 180 lbs. wearing a grey hoody in the 65+ age range waved to get my attention.

I stopped and rolled down my window slightly and asked how can I help? He then accused me of rolling through and stealing a battery and having it all on video saying "I got you!"

We all have situations that are triggers and one of mine is being accused of something that I didn't do. I told him I don't like being called a theif and to call the cops. He responded with opening my truck door and raising his fist telling me he was "gonna kick my ass" if I got out ot my truck.

I'm hampered wearing a seat belt and flanked. In a harsh tone I respond, "Don't" He hesitated and as I hit the gas he slammed my truck door shut so hard it rocked the truck.

Now I'm rextremely angry, I want to stop and get out of my truck; and unleash the rage; but I kept driving to find a parking spot.

I found a parking spot and called 911. Had a chat with the dispatcher as the crazy guy followed me and stood behind my truck taking a video of my licence plate and then left as I conversed with the 911 person.

I got a call later from the police dispatch that officers were on scene who took my statement concerning the incident. The police atttitude was no weapons, no bodily fluids splilled, no foul, no big deal.

The phrase, "turning the other cheek" seems to apply here but I'm only human. How LEO's deal with crazy on a daily basis beats me.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

I would be concerned that he is still around.

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[BigSlick]

Do x-wives count?

 

[SeaBeeDaddy]

Get in a fight with a crazy person, especially an old crazy person, and you will have a hard time in court.

Years ago I got in a fight at work with a crazy customer who was threatening other customers and staff. The police were cool but when I showed up to a hearing to testify for his evaluation he had a whole team and judge giving me grief.

 

[Snyper708]

Did he survive his crazy person encounter?

 

[beaner]

I would look closely at your truck before you get back in it. He could leave some roofing nails, key the paint, smear poop on door handle, or do something else to screw with you. Probably a neighbor who has you mistaken for someone else. If so there's a good chance he's not done.

Glad i don't have neighbors.

 

[daddyusmaximus]

You gotta be careful out there. Crazy = dangerous every bit as much as evil does. .

 

[JabbaNoBother]

There are quite a few videos out there of neighborhood 'Karens' stopping people minding their own business (many times actual residents) and accusing them of wrong doings.

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[NW GUY]

IT ALL depended upon just how crazy they were.

Working late nights I didn't have the problems the day folks did,
but
if they were frequent fliers you knew whether or not you could either jail them
or
take them to the hospital if they came off their meds or had any.

There were some that the jails refused because they were "crazy"(meaning too disruptive) but mental health didn't want them either and told us they were just acting out and nothing wrong(meaning too disruptive) and to take them to jail. Interesting eh????
SO
You had to become "creative" It usually involved a car ride to places outside your jurisdiction into another location where once you deposited them, you found a phone, made a 911 call about a suspicious person looking like they were breaking into a place. ,, and then let THAT jurisdiction deal with them for a day or two.

I had one who was just willfully bad, just didn't care. He knew the jail wouldn't take him and neither would MH so he saw it as a license to free reign when he went off. I drove him about 5 miles out of town and said "do not come back or you go in the river." About 2 hours later he just walks into a house and starts being stupid. I arrive, take him out to a lonely stretch next to one of the rivers and throw him in off a 5' bank. He finally comes sputtering out looking at me like he couldn't believe it. I got his attention, pointed up river to a bridge that crossed about 100+ feet over the river. I told him next time he goes off of that. And drove off.

IT was a good 2 months before he surfaced again. He was naked running around with a knife threatening folks. One of the officers arrived, got attacked and he killed the guy.

I was off duty in down town going into a shoe repair place to get my Danners resoled and a street demon came out of a little band of them and came steaming up waving his arms wildly and said "Give me some money or I'll hit you." When he woke up he was handcuffed to a parking meter. And his pack had vaporized.:

You just have to defend yourself without using more zeal than required to keep yourself secure.

 

[Jojo]

NEVER EVER stop for someone you don't know. If they look like they need help call 911 and keep moving.

 

[NW GUY]

 

[Wolf5]

Likely a meth zombie.

 

[Herd Sniper]

Congratulations, you survived your first encounter with a person with dementia. Any way, that's what it seems to be. I used to have to deal with a number of them all the time where I worked. They often accused people of doing strange and different things. We had one older woman who swore that little gnome-like people would come around to her house, after dark, and chip away at her house with little hammers and tools. It got to the point where the dispatchers would actually say over the radio, "The chippers are back." That way we knew where to go and what to do.

 

[bilmac]

Didn't we used to have institutions to corral these folks, but the gvts. decided to quit doing that??? It seems to me that maybe it would be a lot cheaper for society to lock them up rather than deal with the damage they can do.

Are some of the crazies self inflicted, have they fried their brains with drugs???

Seems like most of the mass shootings are perpetrated by folks who should be in an institution.

 

[NW GUY]

Didn't we used to have institutions to corral these folks, but the gvts. decided to quit doing that??? It seems to me that maybe it would be a lot cheaper for society to lock them up rather than deal with the damage they can do.

Are some of the crazies self inflicted, have they fried their brains with drugs???

Seems like most of the mass shootings are perpetrated by folks who should be in an institution.

IT WAS the LAWYERS and COURTS that said set them free.

The PTB wanted nothing to do with letting them loose because they knew the problems would just be starting.
There were folks they freed who never should have seen the outside, either because you knew they couldn't take care of themselves or were just too dangerous.

WHen people would rather live under a piece of cardboard in winter in a filthy alley and eating from garbage cans... instead of in a shelter or hospital where they are warm and safe and fed...you are not "giving them their dignity"

 

[ROCK6]

You did the right thing. Many deranged individuals are not an obvious threat, some may just threaten and others can be simply dangerous. It's actually prudent to call the police and report it...if something turns physical and you have to defend yourself, you have some evidence to show you were previously concerned.

While I try to always carry a lethal means of self-defense, I also have money set aside along as a retainer for a legal group that will assist if I'm involved in a lethal self-defensive situation. However, that is my last resort. I don't care how good your MMA or Muay Thai or whatever hand-to-hand martial arts you're trained in, I will always avoid an on-hands physical altercation as a last resort as well. Yes, I'm trained, but there are too many variables that can leave you with brain damage in a hospital or with a severe laceration or broken bones once things go physical. No thanks. Besides, if I go to hands/feet, I don't fight to subdue I would likely fight to incapacitation and that would be almost as bad as using my handgun.

So, consider having a non-lethal means of self-defense added into your preparations. Seriously, that situation would have been perfect for a stun gun or pepper spray. I now carry pepper spray as routinely as a handgun and for locations I can't carry a handgun. I even have the heavy duty umbrella as a distance and impact tool...

It's so bad now for "victims" that you almost have to have a dash-cam or have your phone immediately handy to video the preliminary threats. Regardless, a face full of pepper spray may not be a guarantee of ending a threat, but it will give you time to create distance, extricate yourself, or assess if the next option needs to be lethal.

Sure, I feel sorry for many of the mentally deranged, but if they turn violent, they are just as dangerous as any coherent threat. Additionally, many made some poor life-choices that put themselves in those positions...I don't have much sympathy or tolerance for them. I've made my own hard choices and made many sacrifices...don't expect me to feel sorry for those who manufactured their own mental illnesses. Some are truly genetic disposed or have serious PTSD...I have far more sympathy than the others, but that doesn't mean they too can't be a threat.

Avoid, report, non-lethal, lethal...

ROCK6

 

[Grotius]

Don't ask me how I know.....

I was slowly driving in the parking lot at my condo looking for a parking spot when an older male roughly 5'10' about 180 lbs. wearing a grey hoody in the 65+ age range waved to get my attention.

I stopped and rolled down my window slightly and asked how can I help? He then accused me of rolling through and stealing a battery and having it all on video saying "I got you!"

We all have situations that are triggers and one of mine is being accused of something that I didn't do. I told him I don't like being called a theif and to call the cops. He responded with opening my truck door and raising his fist telling me he was "gonna kick my ass" if I got out ot my truck.

I'm hampered wearing a seat belt and flanked. In a harsh tone I respond, "Don't" He hesitated and as I hit the gas he slammed my truck door shut so hard it rocked the truck.

Now I'm rextremely angry, I want to stop and get out of my truck; and unleash the rage; but I kept driving to find a parking spot.

I found a parking spot and called 911. Had a chat with the dispatcher as the crazy guy followed me and stood behind my truck taking a video of my licence plate and then left as I conversed with the 911 person.

I got a call later from the police dispatch that officers were on scene who took my statement concerning the incident. The police atttitude was no weapons, no bodily fluids splilled, no foul, no big deal.

The phrase, "turning the other cheek" seems to apply here but I'm only human. How LEO's deal with crazy on a daily basis beats me.

Congrats to you for keeping your cool.

Only thought is, he may not have been crazy exactly, but merely mistaken.

He may have actually seen a car battery being stolen in the parking lot, and believed you were the guy he saw stealing it. There have been a couple times I thought things were one way, only to discover they were another. People make mistakes.

On the other hand, getting violent over it is uncalled for. Sounds to me like a situation custom-made for pepper spray. Anyone opening up my vehicle door and threatening me with violence will get a response, although it may not be a lethal response. I carry a can of pepper foam in the truck.

Again, congrats to you - I think you handled that situation perfectly. Hope that given a similar sudden encounter, I'd have the presence of mind to react the same way.

 

[DisgruntledPatriot]

Bear spray in the map pocket of your vehicle from now on, or in your drink holder of your console,

and WHY weren't your doors locked?

Why wasn't your CCW underneath your leg instead of bound up underneath holster/clothes/seat belt?

 

[bilmac]

SO
You had to become "creative" It usually involved a car ride to places outside your jurisdiction into another location where once you deposited them, you found a phone, made a 911 call about a suspicious person looking like they were breaking into a place. ,, and then let THAT jurisdiction deal with them for a day or two.

I had one who was just willfully bad, just didn't care. He knew the jail wouldn't take him and neither would MH so he saw it as a license to free reign when he went off. I drove him about 5 miles out of town and said "do not come back or you go in the river." About 2 hours later he just walks into a house and starts being stupid. I arrive, take him out to a lonely stretch next to one of the rivers and throw him in off a 5' bank. He finally comes sputtering out looking at me like he couldn't believe it. I got his attention, pointed up river to a bridge that crossed about 100+ feet over the river. I told him next time he goes off of that. And drove off.

I/QUOTE]

Sad when a cop has to take chances doing "creative things" or when citizens feel they have to have shooting insurance just because society won't take responsibility. That reminds me why I live in Wyo.

 

[Tusken Raider]

Beat his ass, take the phone. Then leave. Crush the phone into many pieces. Then go home. Carry mace, taser, stun gun, and a baseball bat.

Sometimes acting crazier than them gwts them to leave you alone.