abaddon
Member
Hey all,
A friend of mine owns a bar and showed me a video of one of the bar fights that apparently break out pretty often there. There weren't any serious injuries, but I think there's a few things that can be learned from it. I drew a diagram that I can use to describe the action. It would be nice to hear your input. Sorry for the long post, but I don't have access to the video and wanted to make sure everyone understood the situation.
Basically what happened was a man (wearing a red shirt) was minding his own business and didn't appear to be causing any problems when another man (wearing blue) approached him and got in his face. There was no audio, but it was very heated. My friend, who knows some of the parties involved, says that the color of the clothing was probably the main reason this started. A second or two after the initial aggressor got in the victim's face two more (very large) people came from different areas of the bar and attacked the same victim who was being verbally assaulted. The aggressor who attacked from the north on the diagram (red arrow) threw the first punch, immediately after getting within range. The victim was pushed onto the table behind him (note the directional arrow on the diagram) and the three aggressors started punching him. It was a very crowded bar and almost immediately the owner of the bar (my friend) and a few others pulled the aggressors off of the victim and pushed them outside the front door.
In the diagram the victim is represented by the "V" and the initial aggressor is represented by an "A." The two lines of attack by the aggressor's friends are represented by the red and blue arrows. The directional arrow behind the victim indicates the direction that the victim was pushed onto the table.
Initial thoughts:
1) If anyone gets in your face and starts threatening you it would be wise to pay attention to what's happening on your peripherals. If he had seen the aggressor's friends coming he could have escaped to the SE, which opens up onto a larger area. There's no exit there without going behind the bar, but it could have bought him some time.
2) Once they got there he had nowhere to go and almost nothing to do as self-defense. He was immediately pushed onto the table (which collapsed) and was in a horizontal position with three different people pummeling him. I seriously doubt that he would have been able to draw a gun or other weapon from his position. His only chance of doing so would have been if he had a lot of practice in drawing from a horizontal position.
3) The rest of the bar reacted very properly - separating the parties within 2 or 3 seconds. From looking at the footage prior to the attack it looked like most of the people around him were his friends.
4) The aggressors who were kicked outside stuck around. They wouldn't leave for quite a while. The police were called, but it took them a long time to get there. All of the aggressor's friends (the ones wearing the blue shirts) went outside with them and judging by their body language were claiming the area just outside the door as their 'turf.' The friends of the victim (wearing red shirts) made sporadic attempts to push through this area and get outside, but my friend and other peacemakers were largely able to keep the two parties separated. If such a fight breaks out it may be very difficult to leave, as the management's immediate response will be to force the aggressors outside. The aggressors didn't want to lose face by giving ground once they got pushed outside so they stayed put, effectively blocking the only exit.
5) After the initial fight all of the troublemakers wanted to get involved. There were minor shoving matches throughout the bar until closing time. This, combined with number 4 above make a very bad combination. You can't leave the bar without passing through a yelling match, but everyone wants to start fights within the bar too.
Any other thoughts/ideas/screams of outrage?
A friend of mine owns a bar and showed me a video of one of the bar fights that apparently break out pretty often there. There weren't any serious injuries, but I think there's a few things that can be learned from it. I drew a diagram that I can use to describe the action. It would be nice to hear your input. Sorry for the long post, but I don't have access to the video and wanted to make sure everyone understood the situation.
Basically what happened was a man (wearing a red shirt) was minding his own business and didn't appear to be causing any problems when another man (wearing blue) approached him and got in his face. There was no audio, but it was very heated. My friend, who knows some of the parties involved, says that the color of the clothing was probably the main reason this started. A second or two after the initial aggressor got in the victim's face two more (very large) people came from different areas of the bar and attacked the same victim who was being verbally assaulted. The aggressor who attacked from the north on the diagram (red arrow) threw the first punch, immediately after getting within range. The victim was pushed onto the table behind him (note the directional arrow on the diagram) and the three aggressors started punching him. It was a very crowded bar and almost immediately the owner of the bar (my friend) and a few others pulled the aggressors off of the victim and pushed them outside the front door.
In the diagram the victim is represented by the "V" and the initial aggressor is represented by an "A." The two lines of attack by the aggressor's friends are represented by the red and blue arrows. The directional arrow behind the victim indicates the direction that the victim was pushed onto the table.
Initial thoughts:
1) If anyone gets in your face and starts threatening you it would be wise to pay attention to what's happening on your peripherals. If he had seen the aggressor's friends coming he could have escaped to the SE, which opens up onto a larger area. There's no exit there without going behind the bar, but it could have bought him some time.
2) Once they got there he had nowhere to go and almost nothing to do as self-defense. He was immediately pushed onto the table (which collapsed) and was in a horizontal position with three different people pummeling him. I seriously doubt that he would have been able to draw a gun or other weapon from his position. His only chance of doing so would have been if he had a lot of practice in drawing from a horizontal position.
3) The rest of the bar reacted very properly - separating the parties within 2 or 3 seconds. From looking at the footage prior to the attack it looked like most of the people around him were his friends.
4) The aggressors who were kicked outside stuck around. They wouldn't leave for quite a while. The police were called, but it took them a long time to get there. All of the aggressor's friends (the ones wearing the blue shirts) went outside with them and judging by their body language were claiming the area just outside the door as their 'turf.' The friends of the victim (wearing red shirts) made sporadic attempts to push through this area and get outside, but my friend and other peacemakers were largely able to keep the two parties separated. If such a fight breaks out it may be very difficult to leave, as the management's immediate response will be to force the aggressors outside. The aggressors didn't want to lose face by giving ground once they got pushed outside so they stayed put, effectively blocking the only exit.
5) After the initial fight all of the troublemakers wanted to get involved. There were minor shoving matches throughout the bar until closing time. This, combined with number 4 above make a very bad combination. You can't leave the bar without passing through a yelling match, but everyone wants to start fights within the bar too.
Any other thoughts/ideas/screams of outrage?
!
