Originally Posted by
Zhurdan
A little long winded, but pertinent.
Been there regarding third party folks. Not a fun situation. All in all, I got lucky and the Trooper told me as such in very colorful words.
My brother and I came up on a stop light right after we'd been shooting at a range with the really cool video range, but anyways... There were about five cars ahead of us and it appeared there was a wreck or something going on in the intersection. People were skirting by as the lights changed until we got up near the front. We could hear someone yelling and figured it was just some pissed off motorist. I rolled down my window to see what the mess was all about.
At that time, it became very clear that this wasn't your every day fender bender. There was a mini van at 45 degrees in the middle to far side of the intersection. Ok, no big deal, except for the skinny dude with one of those 45 degree lug nut wrenches working over the windshield and hood of the mini van. At this point, I was fairly new to carrying a gun (approx 2 years) and may have had delusions of grandeur that would make Greedo back away.
I could see the woman in the van and she was definitely frightened. I told my brother to get on the phone (huuuuuge bag phone back then) and to call it in and to especially let them know what I'm wearing and that I am a permit holder and armed. I got out of the car, after pleading from my brother to "just drive on", and yelled at the guy to stop. Figuring at the distance he was at, I could simply jump back in and drive off. Right up until I saw the baby seat in the back. Couldn't tell at that point if there was a baby in it, but that isn't what was really going through my mind. He didn't hear a word I was saying. I repeated for him to stop several times and still nothing. He started to move towards the driver side window and at that point I escalated my words to include those of which cannot be said on this forum. He heard that fo sho!
All this time, I've got my hand near my gun right until he turned towards me (saying a few choice words, some of which were I'll kill you too M'r F'r). I put my hand on the gun and he was approximately 35-40 feet away. He started closing distance but not very fast. I drew the gun to low ready while telling him to drop it/stop it. He didn't even see it. He was target locked on my eyes and honestly, I was a bit locked on to his as well. When he got a bit closer, probably 20 feet (waaaaay too close for comfort) I raised the gun while still barking at him to stop. Flicked the safety off and put my finger on the trigger. At this point, he saw the gun and things changed dramatically. He dropped the lug wrench and went to his knees. No shots fired, thank God.
Ok, on to the question at hand... 20-21 feet, in my opinion is waaaay too close for comfort. I know that's the Teuller drill distance, but in the real deal, that feels like they're breathing down your neck! So, if you can see the threat, and it doesn't involve a projectile firing device, I'd say that it comes in stages. I think it worked out pretty well in this case, but if it did involve a gun, I'd have been toast.
All that being said, involving ones self in a third party incident has been bumped way down on my list... right next to fight a polar bear and a brown bear at the same time. The responding officers did their jobs well. I followed commands and ended up in the back of a patrol car. On par with what I would have expected. They took their statements, checked out the scene and came to talk to me. The trooper that hooked me up and put me in his car said something that has stuck with me all this time.
He said "You know what? You're a lucky Son of a B***h! Her story of what happened matches your story, and let me tell you bub, that never happens!"
Yup, I involved myself in a domestic situation and 9 times out of 10 they still side with their abuser and go running back to them in the end. I was about 4-5 lbs of pressure away from changing my life forever and thank God that it didn't come to that AND thank God that that woman was ready to get out of that abusive relationship or it would have STILL been a very very bad day for me.
As far as drawing a line in the sand... well, I'd hope that others would come to my aide in a time of need, but I really can't blame them if they don't. I know that I'd have a much harder time in the same situation today.
I also think as I said earlier, that line moves depending on the threat. Non-gun threat, stages. Gun threat, sky's the limit if they're looking my way because bullets don't know or care about Teuller.
