Hedge Hog
Member
I thought I would share a frightening experience my wife had. This occurred fourteen years ago, while I was stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA.
My young wife of eighteen and I had been married for some six months. She was three months along with our first child. We had discussed the necessity of her being able to protect herself, especially when I deployed. On a whim I purchased a small .380 for her to carry in her purse (I WILL not mention the make—I’m ashamed). After a week of hindsight, I realized it may not have been in her best interests to carry the pistol, as she was too young to do so, and had no CCW. I went to the Western WA gun show in Puyallup and sold the .380. While there I bought a CS canister on a key chain (I didn’t know about pepper spray at the time. She carried it everywhere, and I had her practice bringing it out of her purse a few times.
Some weeks later she read an ad in the paper about one of the local hospitals hiring nurse’s aides. The hospital was in the worst part of Tacoma--the Hill Top area. As a matter of fact, there had recently been a shoot-out between some Rangers at a child’s birthday party and some gang-bangers. Needless to say, I was very apprehensive about her going there. She promised to be careful…
Parking was scarce that day so she had to park some three blocks away. She filled out the application and left. On exiting the hospital she noticed three men talking across the street. When they saw her, the talking stopped and one of them crossed the street and started following her. He hung back some ten feet, and began talking to her. Most of what he had to say was obsene, explaining what he was going to do to such a “fine white†girl. My wife walked faster, not turning around, and repeatedly pled with him to leave her alone as she was pregnant.
About a block from our truck he peeled off down some alley. She thought she was safe. Wrong. He had taken a shorter route (or ran) and jumped out at her when she was some twenty feet from the truck. He grabbed her by the face, knocking off her glasses (and, indecently, scratching her cornea) and demanded all her money. She said she had none. He then proceeded to tell her he was going to throw her on the ground and rape her (not his words) right there if she didn’t give him something like her wedding and engagement rings. My wife, bless her heart, said, “Wait, I just remembered I have some money in my purse.†It doesn’t take too much imagination to realize what she brought out. The practice paid off. He got a full shot of the spray in the face and mouth from about eighteen inches. She said he immediately dropped to the ground and began gurgling and twitching like he was having a seizure. My wife continued to spray him until the canister was empty, along with kicking him and using several choice words. She then jumped in to the truck and made a hasty retreat home. She was hysterical when she called me. I could barely understand what she was saying. I immediately got permission to go home.
I called the Tacoma PD and was told she needed to come in to fill out a report. Not. I grabbed my pistol and my wife and headed back to the hospital, fully intent on shooting the slob. She didn’t see him, and admitted she might have trouble identifying him she was so upset. I realized if she ID’d the wrong guy, well, it was time to leave.
When it’s all said and done, I’m glad she didn’t have that .380. I think the chances of my young, pregnant wife ending up in jail would have been a crapshoot. I have no doubt she would have emptied it into his face instead of the CS. I know we would all like to think of the goblin lying there with contact burns on his face, but I had my wife, and she was, by all accounts, safe in the end. An unassuming black key chain of CS saved my wife in spades. To this day I wonder how she thought so clearly when it REALLY mattered.
My young wife of eighteen and I had been married for some six months. She was three months along with our first child. We had discussed the necessity of her being able to protect herself, especially when I deployed. On a whim I purchased a small .380 for her to carry in her purse (I WILL not mention the make—I’m ashamed). After a week of hindsight, I realized it may not have been in her best interests to carry the pistol, as she was too young to do so, and had no CCW. I went to the Western WA gun show in Puyallup and sold the .380. While there I bought a CS canister on a key chain (I didn’t know about pepper spray at the time. She carried it everywhere, and I had her practice bringing it out of her purse a few times.
Some weeks later she read an ad in the paper about one of the local hospitals hiring nurse’s aides. The hospital was in the worst part of Tacoma--the Hill Top area. As a matter of fact, there had recently been a shoot-out between some Rangers at a child’s birthday party and some gang-bangers. Needless to say, I was very apprehensive about her going there. She promised to be careful…
Parking was scarce that day so she had to park some three blocks away. She filled out the application and left. On exiting the hospital she noticed three men talking across the street. When they saw her, the talking stopped and one of them crossed the street and started following her. He hung back some ten feet, and began talking to her. Most of what he had to say was obsene, explaining what he was going to do to such a “fine white†girl. My wife walked faster, not turning around, and repeatedly pled with him to leave her alone as she was pregnant.
About a block from our truck he peeled off down some alley. She thought she was safe. Wrong. He had taken a shorter route (or ran) and jumped out at her when she was some twenty feet from the truck. He grabbed her by the face, knocking off her glasses (and, indecently, scratching her cornea) and demanded all her money. She said she had none. He then proceeded to tell her he was going to throw her on the ground and rape her (not his words) right there if she didn’t give him something like her wedding and engagement rings. My wife, bless her heart, said, “Wait, I just remembered I have some money in my purse.†It doesn’t take too much imagination to realize what she brought out. The practice paid off. He got a full shot of the spray in the face and mouth from about eighteen inches. She said he immediately dropped to the ground and began gurgling and twitching like he was having a seizure. My wife continued to spray him until the canister was empty, along with kicking him and using several choice words. She then jumped in to the truck and made a hasty retreat home. She was hysterical when she called me. I could barely understand what she was saying. I immediately got permission to go home.
I called the Tacoma PD and was told she needed to come in to fill out a report. Not. I grabbed my pistol and my wife and headed back to the hospital, fully intent on shooting the slob. She didn’t see him, and admitted she might have trouble identifying him she was so upset. I realized if she ID’d the wrong guy, well, it was time to leave.
When it’s all said and done, I’m glad she didn’t have that .380. I think the chances of my young, pregnant wife ending up in jail would have been a crapshoot. I have no doubt she would have emptied it into his face instead of the CS. I know we would all like to think of the goblin lying there with contact burns on his face, but I had my wife, and she was, by all accounts, safe in the end. An unassuming black key chain of CS saved my wife in spades. To this day I wonder how she thought so clearly when it REALLY mattered.