I think I was "approached"... What do you think?

Status
Not open for further replies.
shouldazagged: "Hmmmmm...whatever could you be implying?"

I'm implying the "man in black" needs a bigger squeegee.
 
Pulling your weapon is a decision for YOU. Whether or not you do so should have nothing to do with what some "brandishing" law says. If you feel threatened...let me change that...If I feel threatened, worrying about commiting some misdemeanor or other violation is not a factor.

EVERY law that deals with threats, armed robbery etc are all based on the "perception of a threat" by the other person. If you commit a hold up of a bank with a plastic toy gun, it's still an armed robbery if the bank teller perceives the threat as real ... "...That would cause an ordinary man to feel threatened..." is typical statutory language.

But regardless of what that law might say in your area, surely you're better off committing that minor offense, and defending it later, than getting car jacked or killed.


Sgt Lumpy
 
it sounds like he may have been trying to distract you while someone else was waiting for some sort of signal to enter the vehicle from the other side.
 
Everything is not some wicked prelude to attack. Sometimes people over dress. Sometimes people act oddly but have no intent to bother anyone. Sometimes you cant always fit everything people do into a nice neat rational package- and when you cant, it doesn't automatically mean they are up to no-good. Only you can decide when your life is in danger so I wont say that you weren't (I don't know) but this story doesn't seem to be in the same universe with that level of danger. This story sounds like a odd fellow who typically washes windows decided he was going to grab a bite to eat and on the way, noticed your very dirty mirror and did you a freebie.
 
I'm going to bust your chops OP. Why in the world did you WAIT until the guy was AT YOUR DOOR before you locked them? You were in your car w/ your kid, daydreaming to music (code white?), then scanned the lot? Why didn't you scan the lot as you were pulling in and already driving w/ your doors locked? IMHO the only time your car doors should be unlocked is when you are exiting/entering the car. It may have all been just an innocent interaction or perhaps you just got lucky.
 
business owners/liability....

Id also reconsider patronizing a restaurant or shop that allows vagrants to hassle customers.
In 2011 a 7-11 near where I worked had a homeless guy cut in half by the van door of a scared customer he approached. The street bum was dead on scene. He reached into the drivers side window then the driver hit the gas. The victim got stuck between the door & a metal 7-11 sign.
If a store or fast food place is sketchy then avoid it.
 
I have been known to take command presence and say something like "STEP AWAY FROM ME NOW", without displaying a weapon. I do that when someone is too close behind me at an ATM or even just in line at the grocery store. Nearly always those situations aren't impending catastrophe. I'm simply letting people that they are in my space and I do not intend to let them continue to be there.

I'm not interested in being polite to someone who invades my space, be they bad guy or simply clueless.

In the case of this window washer scenario, I'm not interested in engaging him in conversation. I'm letting him know that I've escalated the use of force continuum to VERBAL. I am in command of the interface, not the other person. That by no means suggests that I aim and prepare to fire on everyone who gets near me. Bad guys can read command presence. They always know I'm an ex cop. Good guys can either read it as I'm in command or I'm being an Alpha Hotel. Doesn't matter how they interpret it, as long as they comply and exit my space.


Sgt Lumpy
 
I think you did a good job, and may have very well stopped a bad situation. My only suggestion is that the doors should always be locked until you're getting out of the vehicle. My doors lock automatically at 15mph but I still always lock them as soon as I get into the car, and have tried getting my parents to do the same thing. Glad everything turned out ok though!
 
My own - maybe overly optimistic - opinion is that he was probably just mentally ill and harmless.
I'd probably have reacted the same way (lock doors, have gun ready), but I don't think there would have been any justification for drawing on him. We don't even have to conjecture about what he was reaching for. We know the way the story ends - he was going for a squeegee, not a gun (unless you think by not drawing your gun you somehow intimidated him into not going for his).

Also, I'd assume that a career criminal with the wherewithal to case you out that carefully - and to think far enough ahead to have a squeegee - would not dress so conspicuously. Unlike comic-book villains, most real criminals try pretty hard to blend in to their surroundings.
 
Really all I can say is "all's well that ends well." You weren't hurt, he wasn't hurt and above all your child wasn't hurt.

You did get a scare, but that is no bad thing: reminds us to be vigilant.

However, looking at the story there are nothing but assumptions about his intent, so no I can't say that drawing would have been a good idea.

The only things I could say about him based on the event as described is that he was a wind-shield cleaner with a bit of goth fashion-sense who decided to do you a favour or has a personal intolerance of dirty side-view mirrors.

I think you did well, precisely because you did listen to the voice in your head, yet didn't over react by drawing just because someone is a bit odd. If he was a guy up to know good, your body language would have been screaming "I'm not a day dreamer thinking of other things, I'm already aware of you". Next time you clock someone that trips your alarms, though, keep a closer eye on their advance!!
 
I have done such things. Cleaned snow off people's taillights or rear window at a stop light. I don't usually engage in conversation about it, though.

But in your case, you do seem to have been "interviewed" for a possible hostile act. But with no compelling evidence presentation might have been premature. Getting the gun in-hand wise, as was the door-locks.

In my neck of the woods, preemptive door-locking is still not necessary, but in a lot of cities in the lower 48, it is prudent to keep your doors locked all the time. (Sad).

Lost Sheep
 
Your situation sounds like a common day in most larger cities. I doubt the guy had a gun he sounds like a goth,grunge,??? black wearing scrounger. I have had countless people try to clean my windshield, "got any spare change", "can you help me out"

You can avoid places that have homeless, hustlers and other shady creatures or you can deal with it and go on with life like most people in the city.

Personally I think knives are the biggest threat with low life city thugs.
 
I can hear the interview now..... " I was walking towards my car and this man in his car pulled a gun on me. I felt my life was in danger so I pulled mine and shot him."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top