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Scary situation! Need some advice

6K views 55 replies 37 participants last post by  kelcarry 
#1 ·
I'll admit, this one scared me. It just goes to show you NEVER know.

This story happened to me about 4 hour ago. It really bothered me and the more I replayed it the more it bugged me. All of this happened VERY quickly. I'll be as detailed as possible, but remember this all happened in about 5 seconds.

I was out riding my motorcycle with my buddy Chris downtown. We stopped and grabbed some dinner, it was about 7pm when we started to head back home. There was a football game in town today so there were some people still lingering in the streets after the game. As we turned out of the parking deck we headed north towards an intersection which was about 1/10 mile ahead of us. There was very little traffic except for a bus coming in our direction in the opposite lane.

We started to accelerate slowly and all of a sudden I see a guy, mid/late 20's, waving his arms and screaming STOP! He runs out into the street right in front of the bus (this happened at a crosswalk at the intersection) The bus slams on his brakes and had to swerve into the other lane to avoid nailing him. He continues screaming STOP STOP STOP while waving his arms wildly over his head. I notice this and I immediately assume he's drunk yelling at someone behind me because he's looking in my direction. I had NO idea who this guy was, and I was positive he didn't know me. He gets directly in my path and stops. Staring directly at me he is flailing his arms and screaming STOP at the top of his lungs. I was already going slow, maybe 10mph, so I slowed down to avoid hitting this guy. As I slow to almost a complete stop he starts running at me. He wasn't saying anything, he just had a drunken look on his face and he was headed in my direction. It was at this time I notice 3 of his friends approaching in a half-trot, and one more of his buddies staying on the corner staring in my direction.

All in one motion I applied the brakes, hit the kill switch with my right thumb (I couldn't remember if i was in gear or not, so I didn't want to risk letting go, popping the clutch and dropping the bike - that would not be good if i needed to make a quick getaway), straddled the bike and stood up. My left hand immediately covered my Ruger that I keep at 9o'clock. At this time the guy immediately stops dead in his tracks, and his friends start screaming "he's drunk, he's drunk, we've been drinking all day watching football, he's drunk etc, etc". I literally didn't open my mouth once, I just stood there for a second, covering my pistol. I never swept my sweatshirt, I never had to draw - no one ever saw a gun at all...I just had my hand covering the pistol and I was ready. His buddies grab him and continue to cross the street, they all just looked like they were shocked that I had a pistol. I didn't say a word, they all scurried away repeating (yelling) "man he's drunk, that's all, he's been drinking all day watching football".

By this time the light had turned red, so since they were walking away I didn't feel like it was necessary to run the light. As the light turned green we pulled away and headed home.

I'll admit, it was unsettling. I think what bothered me the most was not knowing what his intentions were. The first thought I had was he was about to throw a haymaker at me and try to knock me off my bike. I didn't know if he liked my bike so much maybe he thought he needed to take it for a ride? It really wasn't until I noticed 4 of them approaching me that I started to think that this could be REALLY bad. When you're on a bike you are NOT in a position to engage someone in a fight. You will get knocked over, and you will probably end up on the bottom of a 200 degree engine while someone is stomping your face in.

After that I started to second guess myself. I thought - Maybe he just wanted a closer look? Maybe he was going to complement me. I started feeling very guilty then wondered if I'd overreacted by reaching for my pistol.

I asked my buddy Chris if he thought I'd overreacted and he immediately said he had reached for his Glock at the exact same time. He felt that I'd done EXACTLY what anyone should have done. Chris said he assumed I knew them the way they came running at me, he thought they were buddies from work or something, because there is no way a stranger would do that. Once they got closer and I reacted, he realized that I didn't know them, Chris said he also thought the guy was about to clobber me.

I relayed the story to my brother and this was his insight: Have you ever seen a bike you thought was so cool you were willing to run out in traffic to get a closer look at it? Obviously the answer is NO. Have you ever drank too much, then wanted to hit someone so bad that you'd be willing to run out in traffic to get a cheap-shot? Well, I never have, but I could see that happening! He concluded that the guy probably saw us pulling out of the garage and was going to try to try to punk the "tough-guy bikers" in front of his buddies. (just to clarify we are in no way tough guy bikers haha)

I have replayed the incident a thousand times in my head. It all happened so fast - I just reacted. I didn't want to be a victim and my bike get stolen by some drunken punks...but I also didn't want to have to draw my pistol and shoot anyone!

I think the main lesson I learned is to NEVER stop. If I would have been going a little faster, or had a little more room to maneuver I would have kept going...but he had me pinned in and I didn't want to wreck and injure both of us.

What do you guys think? did I overreact? I know it's hard to tell b/c no one was there, but any feedback is appreciated!
 
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#49 ·
I don't think you did anything wrong OP. You didn't pull the gun, or even display it. As you've mentioned this happened in a split second, so you did what you could. This talk of pepper spray in this particular situation I think is unrealistic. I do agree having a less than deadly alternative is good in general (I really should do this myself).

However, you have to consider that in a case like this that develops immediately, that you have very little time to make any decision at all. People are getting nuttier these days, and theres no telling if he could have produced his own weapon and there would be no way to fully assess the situation that quickly. Does anyone really want to make that 2 second decision to pull your pepper spray and end up having the other guy draw down on you with a gun? I doubt it...
 
#50 ·
My bike is a highway machine and weighs nearly 1,000 #'s. As others have stated on here, it's imperative to continually keep your SA about you and look for a way out. I'm not sure I would want to be doing too much manuvering with a 20 ton bus in the picture. The OP did good by shutting down and maintaining his 3 point stance with his ride. I usually carry with a shoulder holster so my thottle hand needs to be clear. Bikers are especially vulnerable and need spidey senses to stay alive. Good job diffusing a potential bad scene.
 
#51 ·
My advice would have been not to stop at all. The problem is that when we carry we can be in the Mindset that a gun is our first line of defense. Its always there ready for use. In some states just the presentation of a gun can be lethal force. And that’s when things can start to escalate. You must use the amount of force that is justified to stop an attack. And there was no proof that you were attacked . Now what you will find is that a lot of people, like guy and his buds, can be good liars. And then it goes like this. My friend just walked up to him and the guy pulled a gun. He has witness and a lot of them. You could be looking at an arrest or jail time if you don’t have a good lawyer. You have the gun they don’t have one. You could of left put you didn’t. You were a good size guy maybe with fight training, he was small and skinny …see my point here?
Avoid if at all possible!!!
 
#53 ·
I think the most important lesson here is that your weapon was an automatic response. Not drawn, not even flashed, but is was part of your mind and body response that was automatic. Many many years ago while doing some law enforcement work we were walking away from a persons house in which we needed to make contact. It was late and the person was not pleased to see us. We finished our business and were walking away. A tiny dog bolted from the house and bit my pant leg and held on. In that instant I placed my hand on my duty weapon. I did not draw or even release my holster. It was instinctive, automatic and done with out thought. After years of thinking about that my conclusion is that, good, I have tought my self to seek the weapon when threatened. This is long before pepper spray and tasers. My point is I had tranined myself enough to react automatically, to not become distracted by the events. I believe that is step one in being successful in defending ones self.
 
#54 ·
I won't say if your right or not, you were there and everyone has thoughts as to what to do but everyone in that spot will do what they believe is the right action to take. The way you reacted I see no harm no foul and you will have to decide if it happens again will I do the same thing
 
#55 ·
HoganLongfellow, Having just read this thread for the first time, I think you did fine. What you did stopped any threat that was there and no one even saw a gun. I say good job.
 
#56 ·
Motorcycle, car whatever. You have a tremendous advantage of getting away from trouble, which should be priority number one before imminent danger becomes a fact. I would think that situational awareness should obviously include not only what could happen to you as you go about your business on foot or motorized, but what you should be thinking about doing as you are on foot or in a car or on a motorcycle as you see things unfold in front of you. Leaving space to pull out and looking for lanes of escape come to mind if you are motorized--they should be your first priority and as I write this, I will try to catalog this fact in my mind and make sure as I drive around and stop at a light or in traffic to leave that space that might allow me to leave a situation before I am in a situation.
 
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