[Litsgt]

to start the story im traveling down the road from my house, which is a sparsely populated country road, going to pick up my younger brother from high school. as im going down the round i turn a small bend and see two cars, a red construction truck (f150 or similar) with a company magnet on it, stopped talking to a woman in a red car blocking the road.

this is a common occurrence in our neighborhood because everyone knows each other to some extent so i just waited a moment to be courteous and the truck (which was heading my direction) started to pull forward. it traveled about 50 ft and then stopped again with no other cars around. this triggered my brain to start thinking as a construction worker exited the passenger side of the truck.

he started to walk toward my car in a hurried pace so i interpreted this as him needing to hurry to start work, why else would he have exited the vehicle? as he was heading toward me he motioned for me to roll down my window, i thought he was going to be courteous also (thinking karma was working for me) and tell me i should take an alternate route home or something to that extent.

instead he immediately put his hands on my door, stuck his head INSIDE my car and started yelling random threats at me while im in my car. the things he was yelling didnt even make any sense like, "DO YOU KNOW WHOS PROPERTY YOUR ON? WHY ARE YOU TRESPASSING? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? DO YOU KNOW WHAT I COULD DO TO YOU?"

all of this making no sense because i was on a public road that i have driven on for almost 10 years... at this time i felt my life was in danger so i reached behind my back and put my hand on my firearm and pulled the hammer back while pointing the muzzle against the inside of the door. now in condition zero, he heard the click of the hammer and said "BLOW ME AWAY! DO IT! BLOW ME AWAY!" while taking a couple of steps back.

apparently he thought i was smiling and yelled "WHAT THE F**K ARE YOU SMIRKING AT?' i responded while trying to keep from sounding nervous "A crazy man apparently..." and just as he had taken his 3rd or 4th step it let me drive away safely.

********************************************************

i feel like i handled the situation calmly but i couldnt help feeling like i was doing something wrong. im just glad he didnt try to reach in on me and choke me or something.

P.S.
on our way back from picking up my brother we saw 2 state troopers with their knees in the back of , guess who, the crazy (apparent) construction worker. this also worried me because there was a shoot to kill order out on an escaped convict 1 county over...

id like to know if you guys think i handled the situation correctly, or if i was escalating the danger.

and if i did do something wrong what else should i have done?

id also like to know if you all have had similar occurrences and you handled them.

 

[angeryamerican]

In my opinion you did right. I dont think I would have let him get so close though, thats just me. I am curious though, did you draw your weapon, or was it still behind your back? If it was still behind your back I would say your only mistake was not presenting your weapon.

Good call though.

 

[oktx]

I wouldn't have stopped for him or if I did, I would have made him yell through the window. I disagree that you should have shown a weapon as that can get you a "brandishing" charge in most states which can be just as serious as reckless discharge or other weapons type charges.

 

[slowriding]

Not sure if I would have let a stranger approach my truck like that, but then
again I get to deal with the crazies in Houston.
Bottom line, crazy man got cuffed and transported and you were able to
go unharmed to pick up your brother..... great ending and good education for the future.:thumb:
A reminder to us all to be careful out there, even close to home.

 

[mgk]

In the crazy life we now all live in it is better safe then becoming another victim

 

[AlaskanTaterTot]

thats tough. unless there is a flag person, or obvious emergency or LE personell with funny colored lights on top they have no business stopping traffic. you say you have driven this road for 10 years. was there no mention of possible road work or safety flags/signs before the area as you drove? i would have pepped the gas slightly and let his ear eat seat belt post if in fact his head was in the window but then again i would never let anyone that close if they didnt meet the afore mentioned criteria. the brandishing thing is very plausible and is a tough grey line to deal with when weighing the option of fight or flight. I guess i need to ask why pull back the hammer? if you deployed it in a shootable direction w/o him seeing, why pull hammer back? it wouldnt take that much more to get a shot off ( i am assuming its a wheel gun)
in a lot of states there's a a action of " doing your utmost to remove your self from a situation and using deadly force. i.e you could have drove on or backed up from what some would perceive as just some one yelling at you.. im not here to argue where ya live or if it apply's to you but i can tell you be it right or wrong a attorney can and will use it against you. food for thought in the future. glad your ok. thanx for sharing
-john

 

[gsxrac]

Well first of all you should have only cracked your window far enough to speak to him. Second once he started yelling and talking smack you should have smacked the gas and looked up the number for his company as soon as you got home. I personally would NOT have pulled my sidearm on him but I was taught to only pull it if your gonna use it.

I will say that I wasn't there and things can always get crazy in the heat of the moment but from what I read up there I think you could have gotten into a metric crap ton of trouble since he didn't actually make a threat on your life.

Edit: Ive been in almost that exact same position that you were but my windows were already down and the guy screaming had poked his ugly face through the passenger window. I (not so)politely told him to calm down and get his head out of my vehicle before I had to do it for him. He didn't so I punched the gas and his head hit the B pilar right before he got a refreshing shower in asphalt and gravel.

 

[monkeyboy]

In my opinion, brandishing your weapon would have been the worst action you could have taken. You were ready. That's all that matters.

In this day and age, I don't know if I would have let him approach my vehicle either, however one only KNOWS what one will do until it happens. You learned some things from this experience that may one day save your life. I would have been tempted to back up whether he was in a safe spot or not. He has the choice to get the hell out of my face when I start backing up. I'm a BIG guy, and don't have much patience with that sort of thing. I might have knocked his teeth out, but that might have ended badly too (guy's on drugs and isn't effected by pain... guy has HIV or something and blood is exchanged... any number of things could have gone wrong). Anyone else miss just a good, fair fist fight?

I think you did the right thing brohaus. You kept your head and got yourself out of the situation alive. Bravo.

 

[SgtBooker44]

You got yourself out of a hostile situation without anybody getting hurt.

No grief here

 

[silverdragontn]

Thats messed up man. Its a good thing you were armed and could have defended yourself if needed. I live in a backwoods area of Tennessee and I always carry too. You never know who you might run into on a country road. I had a crazy neighbor that was stealing timber off of my property while I was deployed overseas and after he was caught he decided that the best thing to do was shoot at me the next time he saw me, which happened to be while I was on my own property, with 5 other witnesses. He blocked my access road to my property with a tree after we were already up the road and fired a shot at me when we were trying to leave (while he was hiding in the woods). He ended up going to jail but the case got thrown out by the stupid judge because we didn't see the gun in his hand, even though the sheriff's dept. found a pistol in his car and he claimed that they planted it there. Needless to say I got my carry permit after that and made sure he found out thru the grapevine that I would be armed even if he met me on a public road. He never messed with me again after that.

 

[MikeK]

I think you handled it well. We can't always tell what's going to happen, or we wouldn't stop for a situation like that at all. The best we can do is try to react appropriately if something happens. You were prepared, and reacted quickly without escalating anything.

 

[rover]

It just feels like that because your not use to dealing with crazy people, It's normal to be critical of your actions after the event. you did everything right, and your conscience wants to know how to do it better next time because it sees how it could have gone if it got out of control.

 

[whiteskunk]

Anyone else miss just a good, fair fist fight?

Oh yeah, I aint had a swollen pinky knuckle in a long time!!!::thumb:

Litsgt u done GOOD!!!

 

[trouble]

Foot on gas pedal before putz gets close enough to yell in your window...

 

[Wenis]

I'm not sure why people are mentioning "brandishing"? Covering someone with a firearm out of fear for your own safety, especially inside your vehicle, let alone within the 21 foot distance, is not even close to brandishing.

 

[Litsgt]

I guess i need to ask why pull back the hammer? if you deployed it in a shootable direction w/o him seeing, why pull hammer back? it wouldnt take that much more to get a shot off ( i am assuming its a wheel gun)

its a model 1911 and i carry SOB in condition 2 because its faster on the draw for me and the safety likes to disengage while i carry in condition 1. i pulled the hammer back to make it ready to fire because it is a single action auto.

to respond to everyone else, i let him get close and rolled down my window because i automatically assumed he wasnt on drugs, and he was friendly which i was more than likely wrong...

i probably should have just floored it to get away, i just didnt think of that in the heat of moment.

 

[sailinghudson25]

Every state has laws and past court ruling on what is defined by self defense. He did break the barrier of your vehicle and technically was on your property. However, states do vary here. Most good concealed carry class instructors go over the particular instances where stuff is legal or not. However, from your post the man did not have a weapon displayed either.

Maybe brandishing could of happened. The one big thing you forgot to do is call the cops. That guy could of done some real harm to someone.

 

[Crusis]

Sounds like you did good to me. I'm sure your heart was beating like a hammer, and it sounds like you kept your head in a very intense fight or flight situation.

I do like the hit the gas, slam head into pillar, spew gravel into face idea a lot, though. If nothing else just because it would make a great scene in a movie.

 

[junglecrawler]

Litsgt, when he stuck his head in the window, I personally would have elbowed it back out again and screeched off, but it looks like you kept your cool.
A pistol at such close quarters... are you trained in or have practiced for someone trying to grapple with you and take your pistol away?

 

[Crutch]

In my opinion, you did what you think was best and that is always good enough for me.

I get upset when people think they know what YOU should do in those situations. That kind of mind set is the same Liberals in gated communities have over a mans right to defend his family. Where they think they know what you should do in a situation you can't plan for, or avoid.

You were in control, you were armed, and you value human life. If the man had produced a weapon, or started to attack you, I assume you would either shoot him, or run him over trying to get away.

You did right. If your story ended with you saying you shot him 375 times, with a 6 shooter, I still say you did right.