Run in with a motorist this morning

[Drago]

The FBI trawled through thousands of violence reports to see what techniques were best fur defending oneself, and thus for teaching to their agents.

There were individual examples where martial arts skills etc hve the edge, but the only single factor that had an above average advantage was muscle mass. If they're bigger than you then statistically they're more likely to do you some damage.

Many, many moons ago 3 x ne'er do wells tried to relieve me of some dosh. A forearm across the face of the first as hard as I could swing it, nutted the second one and the third settled for running off. Now, I say this very carefully - reasonable force is all well and good, but you need to be alive to answer to a court. If things ever get so bad that I have no option but to use force I will use SAS. Speed, Agression, Surprise. Then run like F***!

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

The FBI trawled through thousands of violence reports to see what techniques were best fur defending oneself, and thus for teaching to their agents.

There were individual examples where martial arts skills etc hve the edge, but the only single factor that had an above average advantage was muscle mass. If they're bigger than you then statistically they're more likely to do you some damage.

Many, many moons ago 3 x ne'er do wells tried to relieve me of some dosh. A forearm across the face of the first as hard as I could swing it, nutted the second one and the third settled for running off. Now, I say this very carefully - reasonable force is all well and good, but you need to be alive to answer to a court. If things ever get so bad that I have no option but to use force I will use SAS. Speed, Agression, Surprise. Then run like F***!

I agree
Back in my early 20s I was taught then trained others in unarmed combat.
Speed, control and surprise was how we responded and always, if possible, walk away.

Only had use it twice (couldnt now if I wanted to tho) and on each occasion got away unharmed - one recipient pulled a knife and received a plaster cast on is arm.

If I was forced to defend then I would do so but only if I can't get away first.

 

[dawesome]

I like shouting "Racist!" at drivers to confuse them.

Derren Brown does something similar:

I was coming back from a hotel at about 3am one night and there was a guy in the street with his girlfriend. He was really drunk, clearly looking for a fight and he started kicking off at me. I had a routine ready in my head for this sort of situation and it worked a treat on this occasion. He asked me that typical aggressive rhetorical question — “Do you want a fight?” You can’t say “yes” or “no” — you’ll get hit either way. So, I responded with,

“The wall outside my house is four-feet high.”


I didn’t engage at the level he was expecting me to, so immediately he was on the back foot. He came back with, “What?” and I repeated my bizarre response. I delivered the line in a completely matter-of-fact tone, as if he was the one who was missing something here.

Suddenly, he was confused. All his adrenaline had dropped away, because I’d pulled the rug from under him. It’s the verbal version of a martial-arts technique called an ‘adrenaline dump’, whereby you get the person to relax before you hit them. A punch will have much greater impact if the recipient’s guard is down. I stuck to this surreal conversational thread with my assailant, saying things like,

“I lived in Spain for a while and the walls are really huge, but in this country they’re tiny.”

After a few of these exchanges, he just went, “Oh f*ck!” and broke down in tears. The guy had all this adrenaline and was on the point of really laying into me — I was seeing myself beaten to a bloody pulp — but these non-threatening nonsense statements broke that aggression down and he genuinely started crying. I ended up sitting next to him on the kerb, comforting him.

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/derren-browns-guide-to-overcoming-awkward-situations

 

[jonny jeez]

Not a lot of use if he shares your liking for disproportionate retaliation - he'll just get back in his car and run you over

Not trying to get into an argument about who's the biggest badest kid in the playground. I could give you my vital statistics (which for the purposes of this 'internet forum' are enormously impressive and scary) but as a piece of 'general advice' for those who aren't combatants discretion is always the better part of valour! Besides, if you avoid the stress in the first place you'll live longer

You've got no argument from me, I agree.

what I'm saying (and say a lot..even on this thread) is dont start something you cant finish. Which, for the most of us means, avoid getting into an argument and putting yourself at risk.

But then, if you really have to then disproportional violence is often the only language a combatant will understand.

 

[BentMikey]

Gretsky's Office, what kind of 'kin hockey player/fan are you then? RRRrrraaaaggggghhh!

OK, more seriously, I think you did fine to back off and defuse the situation. Was this in London?

 

[Crankarm]

If it is in self defence, they you are not retaliating.
In all cases you are allowed to defend yourself using reasonable force. Only you have to be sure that the force you use is reasonable, and be able to prove it in a court of law if necessary.

This is all very well except when you actually get to court you find there is an arse for a judge who disagrees with you or your counsel and then convicts you and sends you to prison. Disaster.

 

[Cyclopathic]

Please do not feel any shame whatsoever. You acted in the best way you could to survive which in itself is something to be pleased about. You got out of a hostile situation without injury by using your brains. I do not think for a minute that you were truely sorry for your part in this and nor should you have been. By saying it to this brain dead lunk you were merely filling the part of the sketch that you knew he was expecting.
You walked or rode away from this. How much worse would you be feeling if you had said something else and he beat you up. This would have been painful for you, painful for your family and had he been convicted painful for his family who for the sake of argument we shall assume are innocent. With one simple word you saved a lot of people a lot of pain without recourse to violence. I know that it stings a bit and may do for a while but try to remember everything that it bought you.
There is no doubt in my mind that the other guy will indeed suffer because of his attitude. Having such a volatile and unreasonable nature is bound to cause him untold problems in his life, most of which he will never be able to fully resolve unless he realises and addresses his stupidity. You on the other hand get to simply walk away from this git and all his madness and neurosis.
You did well.

 

[Cyclopathic]

The FBI trawled through thousands of violence reports to see what techniques were best fur defending oneself, and thus for teaching to their agents.

There were individual examples where martial arts skills etc hve the edge, but the only single factor that had an above average advantage was muscle mass. If they're bigger than you then statistically they're more likely to do you some damage.

Many, many moons ago 3 x ne'er do wells tried to relieve me of some dosh. A forearm across the face of the first as hard as I could swing it, nutted the second one and the third settled for running off. Now, I say this very carefully - reasonable force is all well and good, but you need to be alive to answer to a court. If things ever get so bad that I have no option but to use force I will use SAS. Speed, Agression, Surprise. Then run like F***!

Rather than punch someone I think I'd go for a big full handed slap as hard as I could across the face before I did a runner. I reason that I'm not a trained fighter and have never really thrown a punch when it was vital that I get it right. Also I'm fairly big so a slap as hard as I can will definitely hurt and possibly make them see stars and I reckon I'd have less chance of messing it up. It will cause less real damage than a punch both to their head and more importantly my hand. One can really mess up a hand by punching some ones bony head as hard as you can.
So yeah, I'd slap em and then run. Hard mind you, as if I were punching them but with an open hand. Much less risky.

 

[tadpole]

This is all very well except when you actually get to court you find there is an arse for a judge who disagrees with you or your counsel and then convicts you and sends you to prison. Disaster.

Sorry but I live in the real world, where desk sergeants rule, and not in the wild wild world of the Daily Wail. 99 times out of a 100 even a policeman can tell the difference between assault and self defence. Ok you may have to sit for a couple of hours in an interview room, as a policeman fills out a statement form, but I've defended my self a half a dozen times, and never had even a caution, let alone a court case.

 

[ManiaMuse]

I think you did the right thing. There are some proper nutters out there and it does not take a lot to set some of them off. Put your own safety first because, to be honest, these types of people are never going to believe they were in the wrong no matter how you explain it to them.

 

[Crankarm]

Sorry but I live in the real world, where desk sergeants rule, and not in the wild wild world of the Daily Wail. 99 times out of a 100 even a policeman can tell the difference between assault and self defence. Ok you may have to sit for a couple of hours in an interview room, as a policeman fills out a statement form, but I've defended my self a half a dozen times, and never had even a caution, let alone a court case.

Do you get into a lot of scrapes Daily Mail reader? It is the CPS who decide on charging. They are going to try to get you convicted and as I already stated you only need an arse for a judge to ruin your life. Loss of job, no income, the sentence, unemployable. It seems to me you like living a stressful life if you do this on a regular basis.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

For years I worked with adults with learning disabilities who were somewhat unkindly described as having 'challenging behaviour', one of the challenges being violence. Some of the guys I supported were very strong indeed, and very fast, and getting attacked was very common (although of course we did everything we ever could to de-escalate any potentially violent situation).

We were well trained to defend ourselves, but here's the crucial part - we were trained to defend ourselves in passive ways; pure defence, no offence actions. I'm not going to give examples, but many times I was attacked by folk who potentially did not have the capacity to be reasoned with, and yet I was able to defend myself without becoming aggressive and in most cases was able to calm the situation. Bear in mind that some attacks happened in public and I had a responsibility to support the person attacking me, meaning that I couldn't run away.

These days I can spot a situation with the potential to turn nasty like there's a bell ringing in my head, and I dissipate the tension by removing myself - the very first thing we were trained to do was to identify our exit.

Just putting forward an alternative angle.

 

[tadpole]

Do you get into a lot of scrapes Daily Mail reader? It is the CPS who decide on charging. They are going to try to get you convicted and as I already stated you only need an arse for a judge to ruin your life. Loss of job, no income, the sentence, unemployable. It seems to me you like living a stressful life if you do this on a regular basis.

Reading comprehension not your strong point, 99% of the time it doesn't even get to the CPS. desk sergeants Rule, they decide the case, and pass it on or not.
Oh I did/do this stuff for a living, so time to time it's bound to happen, someone is going to get chopsy, and have to be talked to with force in the voice.

 

[al78]

This is all very well except when you actually get to court you find there is an arse for a judge who disagrees with you or your counsel and then convicts you and sends you to prison. Disaster.

I thought it was the jury who decides whether the defendant is guilty, not the judge.