How would you have handeled this?-- Man chasing woman with knife

[justherenow]

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/articl...text|FRONTPAGE

Just read this artical in the paper local to my town. A elderly subject with dementia had an eposide and stabbed his caretaker in the face. She exited the car and he followed her until he snapped out of the episide in which case he started to help her.

Had you been driving down the road and seen a women with a bloody face and a guy following her with a knife, how would you have reacted? Read the artical above to get a better idea of the situation.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Hiram25]

Sad story! If I drove up on this one, he'd get shot!

[NC Bullseye]

Sick doesn't negate deadly.

Would be sad but that's survival. That's a shoot situation.

[tkruf]

Hate to say it, but he'd be dead. Dementia or not. Does he deserve to die because of what he did considering his condition, maybe not, but if her life is in danger (which from the report it was), I would have no way of knowing his condition, if he would continue until she was dead, or stop, or what. His unfortunate actions, would have led to his unfortunate death.

[justjim]

First off I agree with what has been posted here. But I would also like to point out to all of you who CC and OC. This is exactly what police officers face almost every working day of their lives. This is just exactly the kind of situation where an LEO must quickly decide what is happening and then take the appropriate action. Now what if you were a LEO and and came on that scene, what would you have done, knowing that your actions were going to be judged not only by your department but by every news agency in the area and probably by the DA and grand jury as well?

[justherenow]

This was in my town, not far from my home. This is a tough one, I am sure the victim is going to be yelling for help yet if that help is one of us she is going to be telling us not to hurt him because of his decresed mental state. It may have been possible to block his path with a car, I am unsure. I am sure I would draw and give commands and hope he complies. Its a tough one for sure.

[tkruf]

First off I agree with what has been posted here. But I would also like to point out to all of you who CC and OC. This is exactly what police officers face almost every working day of their lives. This is just exactly the kind of situation where an LEO must quickly decide what is happening and then take the appropriate action. Now what if you were a LEO and and came on that scene, what would you have done, knowing that your actions were going to be judged not only by your department but by every news agency in the area and probably by the DA and grand jury as well?

I would taze him. But as a private citizen I don't carry a tazer.

[Guantes]

That would depend on my perception of the situation, on the ground. The man is 65 years old and has dementia. His weapon is a butter knife. The driver of a vehicle is a captive victim, driving, seat belts, inability of major movement, etc. A quick observation would show the physical status of the aggressor, mobility, co-ordination, physical build, etc. Given the right combination, that I felt sufficiently advantageous, I would not shoot him, but go hands on if unable to talk him down.

[BikerRN]

It depends.

While hand to hand is generally the wrong approach, along with using a taser, when confronted with someone armed with a knife, it depends on the totality of the situation.

Biker

[tkruf]

That would depend on my perception of the situation, on the ground. The man is 65 years old and has dementia. His weapon is a butter knife. The driver of a vehicle is a captive victim, driving, seat belts, inability of major movement, etc. A quick observation would show the physical status of the aggressor, mobility, co-ordination, physical build, etc. Given the right combination, that I felt sufficiently advantageous, I would not shoot him, but go hands on if unable to talk him down.

Keep in mind, you would not have "any" of this first hand knowledge going into the situation. All you know is what you "see" with your eyes. He has a knife and she is covered with blood in the face (if you can see her face) and he is chasing her with the knife in attack mode.

[Guantes]

Agreed. Normally, I would not consider it. This situation might have the right combination of circumstances that I would entertain it.

[Guantes]

What I "see" with my eyes would in all probability answer, most if not all of the points I mentioned.

[tkruf]

If I were a cop and arrived on scene to find this, I would taze him. It is non-lethal and would stop his attack. As CHP holder, usually not armed with a tazer or OC spray and based on positions when I arrive, most likely, he'd be shot.

[Guantes]

I have no problem with that. Rather than lose decorum in bickering, I am of the feeling, you do what you would do a I do what I would do.

[BikerRN]

For those of you advocating the Taser, and I'm not saying that it's not an option to consider, the Taser is not "non-lethal" but generally referred to as "less than lethal".

Another factoid, when the Taser is employed there should be a lethal back-up in place with the target already lined up in the sights.

Biker