Cosmoline
Member
Tonight on my way home from work I ran into some troubles that thankfully ended well but offer some opportunity to rethink things. As always I feel like I was caught unaware and could have done better. I'll give a simple rundown:
--I'm riding my bike, stopped at the curb of an uncontrolled downtown intersection with a busy one-way street and traffic coming from my right. I'm looking right, waiting for a gap which can take some time to show up at this spot.
--Suddenly I hear a pounding to my left, and turn to see a small car with dark tinted windows. The passenger door opens and the car bolts out into traffic as a woman screams for help and demands to be let out. My brain processes all of this a bit slowly, and by the time I realize I've just seen something serious the #$@ driver has shoved his way through traffic and is on the other side of the street zooming away too fast for my eyes to get the plate.
--The drivers, who STOPPED FOR HIM, then continue driving past me as I yell and point "STOP THAT CAR!" Honestly I didn't know what else to yell, and was PO'd they were not going to let me through after letting the woman-beater through. This is more proof that cars are a species of livestock.
--But then a van swings over and blue flashing lights come on. It's some kind of LEO, and he's seen me and drives down after the suspect. Thank the Lord!
--I follow once traffic finally lets me through because I am a witness.
--I reach the scene four blocks down where the car is stopped, the woman is out and standing with several bystanders 50 feet away. The driver is out and walking around, which surprised me. No cuffs? Well the LEO in question is a fed of some alphabet soup variety, and is calling APD to come help.
--The suspect, as with all predatory creatures, is adept at sensing opportunities. So when he realizes this plainclothes bearded fellow ain't APD, he starts walking fast. He doesn't get into his car thankfully. Bearded man follows close behind, and I follow both of them to keep eyes on the situation.
--At this point I wasn't too worried about a shooting, because Beard Man is armed and if the suspect was I would have expected him to have already shot it out before I got there. But just in case I have the Makarov in the man purse ready as I ride along behind these two.
--As before, the cars let the suspect walk past but BLOCK me. If the incident tells me anything it's that car drivers have tunnel vision even worse than my own. NO car drivers apart from the LEO took any effort to stop or offer assistance or even paid the slightest attention to any of this. They just shoved their way past and kept driving. It was pedestrians and bike riders who noticed, in addition to the beard man.
--After about seven blocks and a little inconsequential tussle between the suspect and the beard man, an off duty APD officer arrives. Obviously an old hand, he has the suspect cuffed in seconds. Another officer arrives and takes my statement. I tell her I'm armed but that I didn't need to draw. She doesn't care about that, though.
Overall, I'm incredibly grateful for the LEO who took action. If he hadn't been there I would have had to watch that woman vanish into the night with no way of knowing what ever became of her.
Personally, I don't see how I could have physically intervened short of taking a shot. I could have shot at the car as it fled, but the other cars were zipping along as well and I simply didn't have enough information to know what level of danger the woman was in. Because of those terrible tinted windows (which really ought to be illegal) I couldn't tell where she was in the car either) It was entirely possible I was being "punked" at that point. That sort of thing has happened to me before. So I chose not to draw.
But while I was doing this analysis, I neglected to get the plate! I had a chance but was focused on the woman trying to leave. Well there wasn't squat I could do for her then. If I'd grabbed her I would have dislocated her arm as he drove off, maybe worse. And there was barely any chance to do that because those awful car drivers were just making a hole for him, then closing it right back up. It's the plate that matters. And without that I have only a vague description of make, model and color. I'm terrible with car make and model, too. I hate the things. Hate them more after tonight, too.
On the other hand, I'm proud at the way pedestrians and cyclists intervened here. Some to comfort and protect her, and myself to be a witness at least. Another man on foot approached as they cuffed him to say he'd seen him toss her in the car a few minutes earlier and had been trying to find out where he went. The cops were great but 911 was a busy signal, so my call to them did squat. Thankfully beard man had a direct line.
I don't feel that I went too far. I never drew or physically restrained the man. I was just eyes and ears. I told him he should stop and that he wasn't helping himself. He ignored me but seemed pretty frightened. I was about twice his size but I kept a good look at his hands to see if he was pulling a weapon. If he had, I planned on moving laterally across his field and only shooting if the beard man went down. I had confidence I could make the shot even from a bike. But my greater concern was a fight breaking out, which almost did happen. Beard man had no control of the situation and obviously wasn't trained for this kind of police work. The contrast between him and the old APD fellow was telling. The suspects seem to be able to sense authority and weakness. I did not try to stop him myself because I'm also not trained for that and could kill or paralyze someone that size if I screwed up. Plus I knew APD was on the way, and I just wanted to eyeball him. And a citizen's arrest is fraught with legal peril.
Any thoughts?
--I'm riding my bike, stopped at the curb of an uncontrolled downtown intersection with a busy one-way street and traffic coming from my right. I'm looking right, waiting for a gap which can take some time to show up at this spot.
--Suddenly I hear a pounding to my left, and turn to see a small car with dark tinted windows. The passenger door opens and the car bolts out into traffic as a woman screams for help and demands to be let out. My brain processes all of this a bit slowly, and by the time I realize I've just seen something serious the #$@ driver has shoved his way through traffic and is on the other side of the street zooming away too fast for my eyes to get the plate.
--The drivers, who STOPPED FOR HIM, then continue driving past me as I yell and point "STOP THAT CAR!" Honestly I didn't know what else to yell, and was PO'd they were not going to let me through after letting the woman-beater through. This is more proof that cars are a species of livestock.
--But then a van swings over and blue flashing lights come on. It's some kind of LEO, and he's seen me and drives down after the suspect. Thank the Lord!
--I follow once traffic finally lets me through because I am a witness.
--I reach the scene four blocks down where the car is stopped, the woman is out and standing with several bystanders 50 feet away. The driver is out and walking around, which surprised me. No cuffs? Well the LEO in question is a fed of some alphabet soup variety, and is calling APD to come help.
--The suspect, as with all predatory creatures, is adept at sensing opportunities. So when he realizes this plainclothes bearded fellow ain't APD, he starts walking fast. He doesn't get into his car thankfully. Bearded man follows close behind, and I follow both of them to keep eyes on the situation.
--At this point I wasn't too worried about a shooting, because Beard Man is armed and if the suspect was I would have expected him to have already shot it out before I got there. But just in case I have the Makarov in the man purse ready as I ride along behind these two.
--As before, the cars let the suspect walk past but BLOCK me. If the incident tells me anything it's that car drivers have tunnel vision even worse than my own. NO car drivers apart from the LEO took any effort to stop or offer assistance or even paid the slightest attention to any of this. They just shoved their way past and kept driving. It was pedestrians and bike riders who noticed, in addition to the beard man.
--After about seven blocks and a little inconsequential tussle between the suspect and the beard man, an off duty APD officer arrives. Obviously an old hand, he has the suspect cuffed in seconds. Another officer arrives and takes my statement. I tell her I'm armed but that I didn't need to draw. She doesn't care about that, though.
Overall, I'm incredibly grateful for the LEO who took action. If he hadn't been there I would have had to watch that woman vanish into the night with no way of knowing what ever became of her.
Personally, I don't see how I could have physically intervened short of taking a shot. I could have shot at the car as it fled, but the other cars were zipping along as well and I simply didn't have enough information to know what level of danger the woman was in. Because of those terrible tinted windows (which really ought to be illegal) I couldn't tell where she was in the car either) It was entirely possible I was being "punked" at that point. That sort of thing has happened to me before. So I chose not to draw.
But while I was doing this analysis, I neglected to get the plate! I had a chance but was focused on the woman trying to leave. Well there wasn't squat I could do for her then. If I'd grabbed her I would have dislocated her arm as he drove off, maybe worse. And there was barely any chance to do that because those awful car drivers were just making a hole for him, then closing it right back up. It's the plate that matters. And without that I have only a vague description of make, model and color. I'm terrible with car make and model, too. I hate the things. Hate them more after tonight, too.
On the other hand, I'm proud at the way pedestrians and cyclists intervened here. Some to comfort and protect her, and myself to be a witness at least. Another man on foot approached as they cuffed him to say he'd seen him toss her in the car a few minutes earlier and had been trying to find out where he went. The cops were great but 911 was a busy signal, so my call to them did squat. Thankfully beard man had a direct line.
I don't feel that I went too far. I never drew or physically restrained the man. I was just eyes and ears. I told him he should stop and that he wasn't helping himself. He ignored me but seemed pretty frightened. I was about twice his size but I kept a good look at his hands to see if he was pulling a weapon. If he had, I planned on moving laterally across his field and only shooting if the beard man went down. I had confidence I could make the shot even from a bike. But my greater concern was a fight breaking out, which almost did happen. Beard man had no control of the situation and obviously wasn't trained for this kind of police work. The contrast between him and the old APD fellow was telling. The suspects seem to be able to sense authority and weakness. I did not try to stop him myself because I'm also not trained for that and could kill or paralyze someone that size if I screwed up. Plus I knew APD was on the way, and I just wanted to eyeball him. And a citizen's arrest is fraught with legal peril.
Any thoughts?
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