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Strange incident at stoplight today.

3K views 27 replies 23 participants last post by  RETSUPT99 
#1 ·
I was in a double-lane left, at a red. This beatup maroon Silverado pulls up next to me, and the passenger door opens, which gets my attention. Now I've seen this happen before, and people will usually dump out a soda or spit out some tobacco or something. On even rarer occasion they'll go put something or get something from their trunk.

I watched to see if this would happen, but the driver got out as well. Then I thought "Chinese fire drill?" But I didn't think people did that anymore... and these guys were definitely not high school or even college kids.

That's when the one guy said "hey man!" and I looked over again, to see him pointing at my driver's side tire while looking right at me. Keep in mind he's standing in the road, between our two vehicles, right in front of my driver's side door (probably 4-5 feet away). I knew he was basically trying to get me to notice a flat tire, but:

1) It's my driver's side tire. I just looked at it a few minutes before as I was walking out to my car.
2) My car has TPMS, so if I had a flat tire, a light would've shown up on my dash.

Wasn't going to fall for that. I cracked my window open, and he changed to "hey man, you wanna buy some speakers? I got a home theater system..." blah blah. Seriously? People still do the "wanna buy speakers?" thing? In the middle of the road at a large intersection?

So I just kept nodding with a "I'm not falling for it" look on my face while making sure to keep direct eye contact.

I was carrying at the time, at 4:00 in an IWB holster, so it wasn't immediately accessible from my seated, seatbelted position. but it was there just in case.

What was that all about? Anyway, I guess nothing happened. He got back in his truck and they took off when the light turned green.
 
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#3 ·
I had an encounter with another one last year or so, too. This old Chevy van yelled at me from the road (I was in a parking lot!) and then drove and backed in right next to my car. The guy said "hey man! you want some speakers?" but forget that. I had a brief conversation with them, and they kept talking, but when i got into my car and shut the door, they suddenly took off. That was back before I had my permit.

Funny thing about today is that I probably would've had my windows down normally (Florida fall is beautiful). But today was a 90* day so I had them shut and the AC going. I wonder if things would've turned out differently in that case.
 
#4 ·
That happened to a friend of mine a couple years ago. Some guy stopped him and asked him if he wanted to buy a home stereo system. Turns out it was the same home stereo system stolen from his house a few weeks earlier.
 
#5 ·
That's funny .... at least he got his stereo back!

I don't fall for any of those folks, I don't care who's asking me what. And I keep the SA .45 tucked into the door, so I can grab it when I need it.
 
#9 ·
"hey man!" ... flat tire ... "hey man, you wanna buy some speakers? ..."

What was that all about?
Entirely likely, it was about the robbery of another mark they'd made: you.

It's possible they were really selling something, speakers or whatever, sure. Entirely possible, however, that they thought you a fine target for robbery. You handled it just fine.

Having had two people who were "obviously not kids" get out of their truck within 5ft of me, I'd likely have ensured I could quickly exit the vicinity via the gas pedal or quickly draw if needed. 5ft is too close to disregard. Continue monitoring but be prepared to react if needed, just as you did.
 
#10 ·
Good SA on your part. And here I thought nobody "sold speakers" anymore. I thought they all stuck to dead Nigerians who mysteriously bequeathed their massive wealth to me.
 
#11 ·
That's pretty wild DeafDave. What did they do when he told them it was his stereo, or did he follow them and report them to the police?

Weird situation, Paul. You certainly don't need to get out of your vehicle and stand in the road to point out a bad tire. Thanks for sharing.
 
#12 ·
I had this happen to my in a target parking lot. The guys (2 of them) asked me for 500 bucks just to get rid of it before they had to do an install at a local hotel. I said ok but that I needed to go in the store and get cash. once in the door i called the PD and alerted store security so they could get pics of the van.
 
#13 ·
I keep my G19 around 3:00 to 3:30 and I can readily draw when seated. Strange situation you encountered there. Whether they mean harm or not it is certainly sketchy to try and sell speakers at a red light. LOL
 
#14 ·
I keep a way out at stoplights, and I'm not talking to people in the road. Probably not making eye contact. Turn the radio up and play air drums on your steering wheel. They'll get the message. If they don't, drive off...run the red light if you have to (carefully, of course). Nothing good is happening at a stop light when people get out of their cars.
 
#15 ·
Met 2 'speaker-sellers' at Lowe's hardware parking lot recently. I said "no thanks "and got back in the car.

My EDC .45 comes out of its IWB when I'm seated behind the steering wheel and goes under a towel on the passenger seat so I can access it easier while seated, seat belt on or not.
 
#25 ·
Yep that was one of the mistakes that the FBI did in the famous Miami shootout. One of the agents had removed his handgun and placed it on his seat so it would be available after they did the rolling stop. During the stop/crash the gun was flung off the seat and lost. It was never fired in the shootout if I recall correctly.
Hopefully in any fender bender your not going to need a handgun, but if you do you don't want to be digging under the seats looking for it.
 
#22 ·
I've carried in my center console before and always worried about it not being 100% secured in the event of a wreck or other dramatic event.

You may want to consider a holster that hooks around the seat or some other kind of holster mount. The one I'm interested in is the Universal Vehicle Holster Mount. It hooks under your steering column. You mount the holster to it when you're driving, and then either wear the holster when you leave the vehicle or transfer the weapon to a holster already on you and then stash the holster elsewhere.

The other one I saw was a vehicle seat holster. This isn't the original site I found one on, but it was the one I came across on a quick search for this post.

Hope that helps!
 
#18 ·
I won't even consider a car or truck that doesn't have automatic door locks that locks all locks when you put the vehicle in gear. Even though it's not economically prudent, I drive around town in my 1-ton dually. It gives "get-outta my way" a whole new meaning. There's a lot of bad people out there.
 
#19 ·
This is known as the "white van special" It is a scam. Google it.

I got had in my early twenties by two guys in a white van who sold me some speakers for $200. They said the boss loaded em up one set too many and that they had leftovers from a job. They showed me a laminated spec sheet and got the speakers home, only to find out that the "audiofile" brand (which isnt even how you spell audiophile) was some cheap trash packaged in a nice looking cab.

Anyhow, it cost me 200$ to learn that nothing is free and that if its too good to be true, IT IS.

They saw me at ATm machine and pulled up.

Never again.
 
#20 ·
I had a similar incident(well maybe not so similar) in a not so nice neighborhood a long time ago. It was a while back before my CCW days, coming home from late night EMT class. I was driving on Hillsborough Ave through Tampa at around 45mph. A beat up car pulls up right next to me on my drivers side and white/female with corns rows starts hanging out the widow, yelling and pointing at my front drivers side tire. I slow down to about 25-30mph and roll down my window. Shes still yelling that something is wrong with my tire and I should pull over. Well they sped up, got in front of me(from left lane, to center in front of me, then right lane) then took their first right and stopped. At first I thought of turning right too, but I went up a bit ahead and turned left and into a parking lot. Got out quickly, look at my tire and guess what? There's nothing wrong with it. It hadn't dawned on me at the time, but who knows what would have happened if I followed them to that right turn. Maybe they would have sold me some speakers?
 
#21 ·
I had 2 guys pull up next to me at a dunkin donuts drive thru and ask if I wanted a home entertainment center, I was in the middle of paying and they were on my passenger side so I ignored them and pulled away. I only have a half ton pickup but it'll do some damage if you step in front of it. :wink:
 
#24 ·
one time at a stop light, a motor cycle tried to get my attention and so i rolled up a lil and ignored him, kept watch, and he rolled up too, and so i asked him what did he want, he asked if i knew where a starbucks was, i told him there was 3 inside the mall right there on the right, and the light turned green , and he continued to go straight down the road, and turned left at ANOTHER starbucks in a shopping center, i dont think he was lost at all....
 
#28 ·
I am not a friendly guy when people try to 'interview' me. I have been both alone and with a few others when panhandlers have attempted to get too close.
Some friends simply do not understand the potential danger of letting strangers into your space. The time, a cigarette, speakers, directions blah, blah, blah...:hand1:
Just get (the...insert your own adjectives here) away from me, I'm not interested. I may give directions to a nun who does look lost, and other than that..."NO!:
A person cannot afford to let his/her guard down when out in the real world.
Stay armed...stay alert...stay safe!
 
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