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Big Calhoun wrote:Plus I have a Treo which seems to attract unwanted attention all on its own.

I used to think Bluetooth headsets were silly until I tried one and realized how discreet they can let you be; hit the button and start talking. Mine picks up pretty well at mumbling-to-myself levels, even in noisy environments.

I also keep a good bit of stuff in the trunk as an excuse to stay near the shotgun and concealed (by the trunk lid) if I run into a third-party situation like yours.

I don't think getting on a phone is provocation.

VP - you and probably 99.9% of the people on this forum wouldn't think it would be provocation, but let me assure you that there's a group of people (a better term might be: predator, thug, animal) out there that would.

Please don't let this come across as an "I know better than you" type situation but for the most part individuals on this forum, along with the majority of the people that they associate with, have no clue to as to how these "others" operate. I'm not special by any means I just have a different perspective on things due to my experiences. We're exposed to certain areas of society that the majority of people will never know even exist, and I thank God for that. People that live in these type of neighborhoods know the rules and learn how to survive in them. People that don't quickly become victims. It's sad but true.

The people that seem to have the biggest problems are the ones that are living on the fringe areas of these neighborhoods in transition. They can't understand what's happening to them or why it's happening to them. Most of these people have lived there for most of their adult life and either can't or won't leave. Trust me when I tell you this really bothers officers when they see these people being victimized on a daily basis. Most of them become recluses in their fortress house; what few friends and family they have left won't visit, and they live out their remaining days in despair.

A simple analogy we use is the "Fire Ant" example. Let's say that someone moved away from Texas 20 years ago to a place where there were no fire ants. They move back and go outside to walk barefoot in their yard. They soon learn that the "neighborhood has changed" and that they need to adapt or suffer the consequences. Now they can call the exterminator (police) but sooner or later even more fire ants will be back. If you have lots of money you can call the exterminator every day (full-time armed security) and have some peace of mind but if you're like most people you learn to live with the fire ants and understand what might happen to you if you run around your yard bare footed.

Over the years I've worked quite a few shooting and cuttings where all one person did was look at someone wrong. This type of behavior is so foreign to most people that they find it hard to believe even when we tell them about it or they see it on the news. That's because those type people operate with a value system that the normal person can not relate to - and that's a good thing.

The same type of violence happened to people that tried to call or summon help. These "thugs" know exactly what you are doing and they value one thing more than anything else and that's their freedom. They associate your call for help as you personally trying to send them back to jail. Lots of them hold no value for human life and would not hesitate to kill you for something that you might think you had every right to do (or say) but they don't see it that way.

In-car videos and episodes of COPs are great but what I really wish is that every person could spend a week on patrol in the worst part of a major metropolitan area just so they could experience what the other side of life is really like. For my wife and I one of our biggest challenges is to teach our children how to exist in today's big city world. We're constantly pointing things out to our older kids who are off to college or out on their own. Unfortunately you sometimes have to personally get stung by the fire ants to learn a lesson. What we hope is that none of them "fall into the whole nest" and get seriously hurt.

I hope the same for each of you. While you might not be able to always avoid the situation where someone tries to make you a victim, at least you are preparing to defend yourself, along with your family and friends.

Well put CHL/LEO. I grew up in suburbia and after finishing grad school spent four years working with the homeless. Man what a rude awakening!

There is a whole other world out there and, once I was exposed to it, I've been armed in one way or another ever since.

Photoman wrote:Well put CHL/LEO.

Ditto. It's easy to believe the world is like what we see day in and day out. But we see so little of the world. Thanks for keeping things in perspective for us.

Thanks for all the responses and support!! I absolutely agree the situation had the desired end result, everyone went home the same way they came. I had to smile last night to myself, just a little. I was thinking about it some and said to myself, "Well, at least I had the drop on both of them!". But I'm much happier it ended the way it did.

Relative to the phones, CHL/LEO explained it perfectly. One of the biggest things I learned hanging out in New York was to attract as little attention as possible. People have triggers that set off other events. Seeing flashy jewelery gets someone thinking about robbery, or a nice car gets someone thinking about auto theft or a car jacking. Since I was 'in' the situation, I didn't want to add any additional circumstances or attract attention which seems to work best; I had plenty of time to concentrate on both their faces and the little Hyundai they left in and could identify the two of them in a snap.

Re: bluetooth headset...you know I have one and just rarely use it...and I'm the one that got my wife to start using one to enhance her driver safety. This has definately been a good reason to start using it more frequently.

Photoman wrote:Well put CHL/LEO. I grew up in suburbia and after finishing grad school spent four years working with the homeless. Man what a rude awakening!

Good post CHL/LEO. Some time being street smart is better than book smart. Growing up I have seen a few things. While they are not on any scale that a LEO would see. I know from experience that there are something thats you shouldn't do.

I had an encounter where I was the target of a bike jacking. Late one night I was on my sportbike and I was stopped at a light alone. A black truck (One of the Mazda B2000 with the black marker that made it read B2L000) pulled up on my right side. I glanced over and didn't get a good feeling. Kinda unsettling since I wasn't even in a bad part of town. I put the bike in gear and gritted my teeth. I heard the passnger side door open and out of the corner of my eye I saw a man holding what appered to be a handgun. Needles to say I ran the red light and didn't stop running till I was well away. I could have swore I heard a few shots but I wasnt about to wait around and find out. Had I not put the bike in gear and been ready that encounter could have been worse. Fortunatly the guy was a bad shot. And also fourtunate that there was not alot of traffic casue broadsiding a car trying to get away would have sucked.

Sorry didnt mean to hijack I just thought it was a similer story to share. Just being aware of your surroundings is a big part of surviving any encounter.

I think you did good Big C.

I would have been on the phone, but sounds like you did what you thought was best at the time.

Dan