Lethal Street Fighting

[CAP1]

funny you should pose this question, I wasn't going to share this here because of the negative responses these types of machoy posts tend to draw. in any event here it is.  just recently (maybe six weeks ago) I left a service call on NW 199 st and NW 60 ave not too far from county line/honey hill road at a private residence in a not too shabby residential neighborhood.  as I was travelling southbound on NW67 ave in the middle lane when a little japanese car came from my right side cut in front of me and stopped so abruptly that even though I was standing on the brakes I hit his rear end.  in the next instant the driver of the car opened my door and pounded me with five or six punches to my face, closing my left eye.  as I removed my seat belt I pivoted in my seat and kicked him squarely in the chest, pushing him out from on top of me.  I exited the vehicle and squared up on the assailant who then ran back to his car.  as I proceeded to chase him out of my right periphery I see a crouched/running figure running from the assailant's car toward the back of my truck.  at that point I drew my revolver.  when the other assailant came around the back of the truck and saw my weapon he started screaming in spanish that I had a gun and immediately turned and fled back to his car.  as I turned about the first assailant who was most likely returning to strike me from behind was now running towards his car as well.  I held my fire.  they jumped into their car and drove away.  in doing so my truck starts to putt putt away from me because I never put the transmission on park after the impact.  at that point I had to sprint (as it were) to catch the truck and jump in.  I'm thanking god for those nerf bars on that truck.

what have I learned?  well a lifetime of martial arts training and shooting did little for me in that instant.  I thought myself as always maintaining pretty fair situational awareness I now see that I thought far too highly about myself and my ability.  I now no longer wear a seatbelt as I lost too much time fumbling with the release mechanisim under duress.  I now lock my doors at all times.  I learned that at 52 years of age I can still take punches to the face in a hostile confrontation and that my fat bellybutton can still sprint if the need arises.

obviously the training you mentioned DID help quite a bit. most people wouild have been unable to respond to that. most people not trained would've drawn, and blasted away, hitting nothing.
 for the seat belt issue......keep it on dude. just do like you said and lock the doors, and then pretend you're flying(for real). by this, i mean keep your head on a constant swivel. you mithg have seen this comming.

<S>>

[wrongwayric]

Fast foot strike down on kneecap or shin, kick to the groin, head strikes such at directly to the tip of nose, eye gouge, all take em out pretty quick. As someone else said you have to know your being attacked and then your primary function should be to strike first and strike to drop them. Leave the body shots as well as the head strikes alone, as in hitting his forhead/skull, as most people won't go down with just a lucky punch.

[AWMac]

If you scream like a girl and fall on the ground yelling "Rape" it'll give you time to reach for that hidden folding blade in the buttcrack and chase off the Pineapples.
You'll get yer homework back and still be eligible for the Air Force Academy.

 

[storch]

If you could respond intelligently after taking 6 unanswered punches to the face, that guy hit like a girl.

that's about right and a good thing too.  he was hitting me with his ring finger and pinky knuckles and didn't know how to punch.  still it was a quick succession of hits and very disorienting.

[Nilsen]

I have learned to talk my way out of trouble even if i have to eat a big slice of humble pie. On the extremly few other occations were that has not worked I have always made the first move. That has _always_ been the end of that.

Not something I ever hope to do again. 

[Leslie]

that's about right and a good thing too.  he was hitting me with his ring finger and pinky knuckles and didn't know how to punch.  still it was a quick succession of hits and very disorienting.

Plus I imagine after many years of Karate training you have been punched in the face a number of times.  Some of those are pretty hard punches. It happens accidentally during training, so you have an idea what your reaction will be to that.  In other words you are desensitized to being punched in the face.  Goes with the territory.  If anything, a couple face punches probably made you mad to where you were ready for a fight.  In that situation it became  second nature to defend yourself.

That car maneuver sounds like an intentional robbery attempt.  Pulling in front of another car and slamming on brakes, forcing the other car to collision.  Miami is a dangerous place for things like that I've heard.  Glad you're ok.



Les


 

[storch]

I suspect an attempt to steal the vehicle for the tools that are in it but you can't rule out road rage.  as I was driving away from the service call I was also logging my time on site in order to prepare the billing and I was driving somewhat slowly.  theft was probably the intent though as the guy attempted to get me to chase him which I started to do and only luckily saw the guy out of my right eye by great fortune.  I suspect they expected to leave me there truckless and phoneless.  it would have been a good score for them.  yes I have been face punched often and it does not have the impact that it would on one who has not experienced it.

[Xasthur]

I'm not sure driving without a seatbelt is wise, Storch. Keeping your doors locked should give sufficient time to release the belt and step into action.

I always drive with my doors locked.

[SteveBailey]

funny you should pose this question, I wasn't going to share this here because of the negative responses these types of machoy posts tend to draw. in any event here it is.  just recently (maybe six weeks ago) I left a service call on NW 199 st and NW 60 ave not too far from county line/honey hill road at a private residence in a not too shabby residential neighborhood.  as I was travelling southbound on NW67 ave in the middle lane when a little japanese car came from my right side cut in front of me and stopped so abruptly that even though I was standing on the brakes I hit his rear end.  in the next instant the driver of the car opened my door and pounded me with five or six punches to my face, closing my left eye.  as I removed my seat belt I pivoted in my seat and kicked him squarely in the chest, pushing him out from on top of me.  I exited the vehicle and squared up on the assailant who then ran back to his car.  as I proceeded to chase him out of my right periphery I see a crouched/running figure running from the assailant's car toward the back of my truck.  at that point I drew my revolver.  when the other assailant came around the back of the truck and saw my weapon he started screaming in spanish that I had a gun and immediately turned and fled back to his car.  as I turned about the first assailant who was most likely returning to strike me from behind was now running towards his car as well.  I held my fire.  they jumped into their car and drove away.  in doing so my truck starts to putt putt away from me because I never put the transmission on park after the impact.  at that point I had to sprint (as it were) to catch the truck and jump in.  I'm thanking god for those nerf bars on that truck.

what have I learned?  well a lifetime of martial arts training and shooting did little for me in that instant.  I thought myself as always maintaining pretty fair situational awareness I now see that I thought far too highly about myself and my ability.  I now no longer wear a seatbelt as I lost too much time fumbling with the release mechanisim under duress.  I now lock my doors at all times.  I learned that at 52 years of age I can still take punches to the face in a hostile confrontation and that my fat bellybutton can still sprint if the need arises.

So my disguise as a hispanic worked! I planned this for months... how to pummel Storchie and get away with it.  Muhahahahaha!

[Gunthr]

Thats a heck of a story Storch...  I'd say you did pretty darn good.  You won, and you did it intelligently.  I'm glad you didn't shoot in this case, but glad you were ready to shoot.  Obviously, you had given personal defense some thought beforehand, so you reacted very well.

at our age, the best plan is: "I win - you lose."  - by any means, and as quickly as possible...

<S>

[storch]

no I didn't win.  I am the clear loser in this one.  eye closed solid for two days and a nice ring for about ten days with the question "geez what happened to you?" from all I met.  I felt like a wuss for being pounded.  I had the sympathy of all of the women in my life, a clear sign of wussliness and the snickers of the men I work with and my son to make matters worse.  also I find myself looking intently for that little car as I go about my business through town.  the whole incident has been an embarassment to me.  I probably should have shot them and the only reason why I didn't was because I didn't think that I could get away with it because they would have both been shots to the guy's backs.  I didn't shoot for fear of the consequences and not from any concern for the two individuals.  that was the first time in my life I ever needed any of the skills I thought I had and I put none of them into practice.  there is a big difference between going into a confrontation knowing, being mentally prepared for a fight to one occurring spur of the moment.  there were no cues and I was completely unprepared and respond weakly.  I can excuse myself to the extent that I had lots to do quickly.  as I hit the brakes the stuff I carry in the passenger's seat all flew forward, looking to the right quickly to see if I could dodge even while standing on the brakes etcetera but the reality is I must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights to the assailant because I never saw him approach.  I saw my door pop open and fist coming.  my reaction to the next punch was an upward block but I also turned my head and started fumbling with the seat belt release.  he was punching with both hands but the closeness of the confined space made it difficult for him to get powerful punches and made it easy for me to get the one good kick in to his center of mass.  anyway that kick was the only lick I got in and it was really more of a push because of how close he was to me.  it was a good kick because it allowed me to scramble out and confront the guy on more or less equal terms.  but at the end of the foray I felt like I had gotten my bellybutton kicked and I felt ashamed of myself.

[indy007]

but at the end of the foray I felt like I had gotten my bellybutton kicked and I felt ashamed of myself.

Oh please. You got bruised up by some suckerpunches. It happens. You just didn't get the satisfaction of a KO or submission (I <3 armbars). They ran, you didn't get stabbed or shot. There's definately worse outcomes.


edit: wear the seatbelt. It kept me from egressing my 4Runner recently. Had I had one on my dog's harness I wouldn't have ended up dropping 3k on surgery either.

[33Vortex]

easiest thing? don't be in the areas where you're gonna hafta worrty about that.

<<S>>

Easiest the best post so far in this thread. 

[bongaroo]

funny you should pose this question, I wasn't going to share this here because of the negative responses these types of machoy posts tend to draw. in any event here it is.  just recently (maybe six weeks ago) I left a service call on NW 199 st and NW 60 ave not too far from county line/honey hill road at a private residence in a not too shabby residential neighborhood.  as I was travelling southbound on NW67 ave in the middle lane when a little japanese car came from my right side cut in front of me and stopped so abruptly that even though I was standing on the brakes I hit his rear end.  in the next instant the driver of the car opened my door and pounded me with five or six punches to my face, closing my left eye.  as I removed my seat belt I pivoted in my seat and kicked him squarely in the chest, pushing him out from on top of me.  I exited the vehicle and squared up on the assailant who then ran back to his car.  as I proceeded to chase him out of my right periphery I see a crouched/running figure running from the assailant's car toward the back of my truck.  at that point I drew my revolver.  when the other assailant came around the back of the truck and saw my weapon he started screaming in spanish that I had a gun and immediately turned and fled back to his car.  as I turned about the first assailant who was most likely returning to strike me from behind was now running towards his car as well.  I held my fire.  they jumped into their car and drove away.  in doing so my truck starts to putt putt away from me because I never put the transmission on park after the impact.  at that point I had to sprint (as it were) to catch the truck and jump in.  I'm thanking god for those nerf bars on that truck.

what have I learned?  well a lifetime of martial arts training and shooting did little for me in that instant.  I thought myself as always maintaining pretty fair situational awareness I now see that I thought far too highly about myself and my ability.  I now no longer wear a seatbelt as I lost too much time fumbling with the release mechanisim under duress.  I now lock my doors at all times.  I learned that at 52 years of age I can still take punches to the face in a hostile confrontation and that my fat bellybutton can still sprint if the need arises.

I had a friend in high school who stopped wearing their seatbelt.  Not quite for the same reason but a quick exit if needed was the end reason.  I really wish we (my friends and I) had been able to convince him to keep wearing it.  It cost him dearly in an accident that was no fault of his own.  Please reconsider the seatbelt idea! 

[lazs2]

storch.. I understand your reluctance to repeat any stories like that..  I already regret doing so in another thread.   I would also point out (before dago does) that since you only had an obsolete and harmless revolver with a pitiful six shots.. you were unarmed.  You needed at least a semi auto with at least a 40 round mag to scare away the bad guys.

This is a strange thread for me..  not only am I in sympathy with storchita..  but...  I find that I agree.. possibly for the first time.. with nelson..

Yep, he is right.. you do everything in your power to avoid a fight.. even it it means humbling yourself a tad.. but..  know when you are in a fight..  when the fight has really started but no one has thrown a punch yet and then be that guy who throws the first punch.   I have lost a few bar and streetfights back in the day by not heeding my own advice... I have rarely won tho where I didn't get some kind of injury.  best to not get into the situation.   I avoid 99% of the situations that used to get me into fights by avoiding the places they happened and the situations.   In storchitas case.. he really couldn't avoid the situation.. that is rare.

lazs