TexasCHLforum.com

Great food for thought... Thanks.!

Might be good to find a place to practice this gas station scenario and do some training.

Excaliber wrote:

RoyGBiv wrote:In early July I was in Winston Salem, NC. Long story short, I was downtown, on Saturday evening (before sunset) and was nearly out of gas. Below "E" on the rental car. No excuse. I should have known better.

I pull into a gas station right near my highway entrance and start pumping gas. It's a typical inner city area. 4 other cars in the station, 2 at pumps and 2 at the convenience store. I'm busy watching around the station, my back is to the car. After about a half tank I spot two guys to my left, across the street, looking at me and taking to each other. Maybe 50 yards away.

The two guys start walking towards me. I stopped pumping gas, hung up the hose and closed my gas cap. Relaxed attitude, but not wasting time, less than 10 seconds. The two guys split up. One walked over behind the pump I was using and the other was headed straight for me. I turned my strong side to the car. The guy walks between me and the pump (Imagine yourself standing at the gas pump. How much room is there between you, your car and the pump? Would you ever think about waking between someone else's car and the pump? ) stops just past me and just looks at me. I stared back and could feel my heart pumping. The guy says "Hey Man"... I said "How's it goin'?" He took maybe a 1 second pause and as he walked on I got in my car and drove away.

I guess they were just trying to have some fun with me.
Thankfully, NC and TX are reciprocal states.

Lesson 1: Never drive with less than a 1/4 tank of gas.
Lesson 2: Always carry.

Consider lesson 3: Challenge and move if necessary before letting someone get within bad breath range where your options are severely limited if his intentions aren't good.

I've thought about this "lesson 3" a lot since it happened.
A potential aggressor is approaching, but I have no idea how things will unfold.
Am I about to become the target of a robbery or violence?
How do I act to dissuade the potential aggressor without "appearing like I'm looking to escalate" or "giving the aggressor reason to escalate"?

Here's what went through my head at the time....

I'm armed, witnesses around, daylight, in the open.
I can fight, I can run, I can stand my ground and prepare. But, if I begin to take obvious action to avoid some confrontation, the situation is more likely to escalate. If the potential aggressor is just "feeling me out", any obvious avoidance or aggressive action on my part will give him an immediate reason to go to the next step.... Like a child, but more dangerous. My immediate reaction was to button up the gas situation and prepare to leave the area, but, maybe the live gas pump could have been a good weapon if needed? Too much downside there I thought...

If he was intending to just have some fun and "scare the white guy", as I suspect was the case, in hindsight.... Then if I would move away from the car, or put my hands up defensively, or call him out verbally or some combination of available options, his reaction, on his turf, would almost certainly have been to "escalate the fun".... Maybe call his friend over for support.

If he was intending felony, I was ready. 6 protected, weapon ready with strong side away from the aggressor, escape routes available (I would have moved towards the convenience store).....

My gut said be ready but don't act. Turned out ok, but I think about how it could have gone otherwise.

Is taking a more aggressive response to this situation a better deterrent?...... I just didn't think so at the time.
Given the setting, I had a clear feeling that he was feeling me out, but I was ready if I was wrong.
When I looked into his eyes and didn't cower, his fun was over.

I'm certainly open to suggestions.... How else to learn?

Thanks.

In early July I was in Winston Salem, NC. Long story short, I was downtown, on Saturday evening (before sunset) and was nearly out of gas. Below "E" on the rental car. No excuse. I should have known better.

I pull into a gas station right near my highway entrance and start pumping gas. It's a typical inner city area. 4 other cars in the station, 2 at pumps and 2 at the convenience store. I'm busy watching around the station, my back is to the car. After about a half tank I spot two guys to my left, across the street, looking at me and taking to each other. Maybe 50 yards away.

The two guys start walking towards me. I stopped pumping gas, hung up the hose and closed my gas cap. Relaxed attitude, but not wasting time, less than 10 seconds. The two guys split up. One walked over behind the pump I was using and the other was headed straight for me. I turned my strong side to the car. The guy walks between me and the pump (Imagine yourself standing at the gas pump. How much room is there between you, your car and the pump? Would you ever think about waking between someone else's car and the pump? ) stops just past me and just looks at me. I stared back and could feel my heart pumping. The guy says "Hey Man"... I said "How's it goin'?" He took maybe a 1 second pause and as he walked on I got in my car and drove away.

I guess they were just trying to have some fun with me.
Thankfully, NC and TX are reciprocal states.

Lesson 1: Never drive with less than a 1/4 tank of gas.
Lesson 2: Always carry.