03Lightningrocks wrote:You bring up the code thing reminds me of a funny situation I was in several years back. I went to meet a friend in the parking lot of a gas station. I back into a parking space and turn off my truck. I have been known to keep a weapon stuck between my seat and the console with a wrap thrown over it. This muscle bound guy gets out of the car beside me, walks around the front of my truck to the passenger side and hops in. Before I can say anything, he unzips his bag and asks me what I needed. I was stunned. He was selling steroids and thought I was a guy he was meeting to sell to. I told him he had the wrong guy. I laughed and said, " do I look like I do steroids?". He apologized profusely, hopped out of my truck... And got out of there as quick as his lady friend could drive. I'm not sure which one of us were more flipped out by the episode. It happened so quick I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn't some weird dream.Av8rtx wrote:Set aside for a moment the superficial details (rap music, tattoos), your in a strange town with a child, in a vulnerable position-(pumping gas) when approached by one of several strangers-(out numbered) and asked a seemingly innocent but anachronistic question-(possibly being "interviewed") so you move yourself in a position to access your firearm and assertively deny being "James' friend".
Based on those facts I would say moving to condition orange was reasonable and you handled it well.
I guess there are a few possibilities:
1. You looked like a friend of James and they wanted to introduce themselves and enjoy the warm glow of a mutual friendship
2. You were being assessed as a target or perhaps a threat
3. They were there to meet someone for a "deal" of sorts and the "friend of James" was just code
Now if this had been a group of church ladies or something, all the other details would remain true but only you can say for sure if your alarm would have gone off
WOW! And I thought a guy randomly trying to sell me hash on a median in the Central City part of London was weird. You got me beat by a mile, or two.