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Wfahey wrote:

Medic624 wrote:... As he neared my 8 o'clock and about 50' to the left I rolled the window down about 3" and yelled "Get the heck away from my car!" This stopped him in his tracks and startled him enough that by this time the light had turned green and I went on my merry way.

Why'd you roll down the window? You were in a covertable!

kjolly wrote:Sounds really hinky and I too would suspect ill intent. The situation looks to me like he was planning something, maybe only asking you for a ride but didn't have the courage to approach your car so the actual threat level was pretty low. If he didn't have anything in his hands rolled windows and the locked door would protect you. Your response was appropiate.
Also most likely don't need to say this as most people on this board are paranoid but never give rides to strangers.

One time I admit to being lost in my own thoughts at a red light and had a panhandler approach from blind spot. Scared me so bad I almost reached for the gun.

Keith B wrote:

texanron wrote:

OldCurlyWolf wrote:The only thing you didn't do which IMHO you should have done is call and report the pair to HPD. They would have sent a unit out to check out the pair. They might have ended up spending some time in jail or being transported to a shelter, whichever was appropriate.

I'm pretty sure in the two hours it would take HPD to respond, if they repsonded at all, the pair would've been long gone. Don't get me wonrg, I'm not trashing on HPD, its not their fault that the decisions makers keep making the worng decisions which has led to department cuts across the board.
Back to the topic at hand. I think the OP handled the situation flawlessly.

There is a piece of this that is frequently being missed when people say it would not do any good to call the police. That is there is now a record of you calling and making a report. It is just like unsecured rummaging through cars and minor loss of change or items. If there is no report made, then the police don't know it happened, and in turn can't see that there may be a trend going on in a particular area. It is up to the citizens to call and report suspicious activity and even minor crimes so the police can tell there is something going on in the area and add extra patrols if they feel it is needed. And, you probably don't have to stick around, just let them know there is something suspicious, what happened and then let the police take it from there. If you provide your cell number and they have questions or need additional information, they will call you.