As I was walking out of a restaurant with friends this evening, two college-age guys of average build standing in the alcove were having a little beef as we walked past, and it didn't take but a moment before it escalated to shoving and grabbing out on the sidewalk.
This is actually the first time anything like this has happened in my presence since I began routinely packing upon moving to New Hampshire two years ago, and for about a year or two before that (it was surly panhandlers in San Francisco throwing bottles).
The time dilation that everyone talks about - it was a very strange sensation.
My friend and I, both armed in hip holsters, immediately stepped in trying to get them to dial it back and chill out - "Not here," "take it easy," etc - and a girlfriend was trying to talk sense to one of them and another guy came out of the restaurant (I think) and intervened as well, holding one of them back.
My friend got grabbed by the jacket by one of them who was pissed at his interference, and I grabbed that arm (I think), while my friend very calmly explained that he needed to let go of him, and that if we needed to get the cops involved, it would be a simple phone call - or something like that.
Eventually there was one last testosterone-imbued alpha-monkey lash-out by one of them trying to get past the guy restraining him, and they broke off and went their separate ways.
Nobody drew anything, and nothing more than shoving and grabbing transpired, thankfully.
In hindsight, though, I think I need more training.
In analyzing after the fact, I feel like I was dithering a bit - it was all so low-key, sedate, and surreal, like they were just standing there holding each other's jackets at arm's length, that I felt I couldn't really figure out what kind of response was called for in the situation.
Obviously, drawing down on them would have been massive overkill, because there wasn't any reasonable fear of GBH at that early stage. I remember yelling "back off!" or something to that effect but then they ignored me and I felt like I was standing there wondering what to do next - either that, or only 1.5 seconds elapsed and I didn't realize it wasn't 15 seconds.
I thought of grabbing one of them and pulling him back, but I was at the same time concerned about escalating the situation. Even that kind of thing seemed like it would have been overkill, it seemed so sedate and serene, and for that matter, even a booming command voice almost seemed like overkill - instead of "take it easy," "let go," "back off," etc in calm even tones.
On the way home, I started thinking about how things could have gone differently...
... getting an elbow to my face or some such.
Oh, and the tunnel vision - when I grabbed the guy's arm, it was almost as if the texture of his jacket filled my entire field of sight. Very weird.
I'm thinking that some kind of adrenalin-inducing training would be useful to overcome that dithering sensation, the tunnel vision, and the feeling of freezing up. Any recommendations?
Also, I guess I've never really given much thought to how one should go about breaking up an impending fight in the safest way possible - other than standing back and dialing 911 and waiting for the cops to arrive, which is probably what my mother-in-law would advise. I guess neither my friend nor I wanted to see anyone get hurt, including the two combatants.
In the end, the two young turks broke off and my friend and I, the girlfriend, and the other guy prevented an uptick in the city's crime rate, none the worse for wear, so I guess it turned out okay in the end, but it was definitely an eye-opener.
This is actually the first time anything like this has happened in my presence since I began routinely packing upon moving to New Hampshire two years ago, and for about a year or two before that (it was surly panhandlers in San Francisco throwing bottles).
The time dilation that everyone talks about - it was a very strange sensation.
My friend and I, both armed in hip holsters, immediately stepped in trying to get them to dial it back and chill out - "Not here," "take it easy," etc - and a girlfriend was trying to talk sense to one of them and another guy came out of the restaurant (I think) and intervened as well, holding one of them back.
My friend got grabbed by the jacket by one of them who was pissed at his interference, and I grabbed that arm (I think), while my friend very calmly explained that he needed to let go of him, and that if we needed to get the cops involved, it would be a simple phone call - or something like that.
Eventually there was one last testosterone-imbued alpha-monkey lash-out by one of them trying to get past the guy restraining him, and they broke off and went their separate ways.
Nobody drew anything, and nothing more than shoving and grabbing transpired, thankfully.
In hindsight, though, I think I need more training.
In analyzing after the fact, I feel like I was dithering a bit - it was all so low-key, sedate, and surreal, like they were just standing there holding each other's jackets at arm's length, that I felt I couldn't really figure out what kind of response was called for in the situation.
Obviously, drawing down on them would have been massive overkill, because there wasn't any reasonable fear of GBH at that early stage. I remember yelling "back off!" or something to that effect but then they ignored me and I felt like I was standing there wondering what to do next - either that, or only 1.5 seconds elapsed and I didn't realize it wasn't 15 seconds.
I thought of grabbing one of them and pulling him back, but I was at the same time concerned about escalating the situation. Even that kind of thing seemed like it would have been overkill, it seemed so sedate and serene, and for that matter, even a booming command voice almost seemed like overkill - instead of "take it easy," "let go," "back off," etc in calm even tones.
On the way home, I started thinking about how things could have gone differently...
... getting an elbow to my face or some such.Oh, and the tunnel vision - when I grabbed the guy's arm, it was almost as if the texture of his jacket filled my entire field of sight. Very weird.
I'm thinking that some kind of adrenalin-inducing training would be useful to overcome that dithering sensation, the tunnel vision, and the feeling of freezing up. Any recommendations?
Also, I guess I've never really given much thought to how one should go about breaking up an impending fight in the safest way possible - other than standing back and dialing 911 and waiting for the cops to arrive, which is probably what my mother-in-law would advise. I guess neither my friend nor I wanted to see anyone get hurt, including the two combatants.
In the end, the two young turks broke off and my friend and I, the girlfriend, and the other guy prevented an uptick in the city's crime rate, none the worse for wear, so I guess it turned out okay in the end, but it was definitely an eye-opener.
