Ft. Worth Incident
Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 8:48 pm
I want to post details of an incident in Ft. Worth that I was recently involved in order to hear your comments, critical review, and ideas concerning involvement in possible future incidents of this nature.
I had just departed one of the large home improvement centers and was in a line of vehicles waiting to turn onto a street when I noticed a lot of movement in the minivan directly behind me. Watching through my rear view mirror, it was apparent that a violent physical altercation was taking place inside the vehicle. Within seconds, the front passenger door flew open and an adult male emerged, who immediately opened the sliding door on the minivan, and began throwing various contents onto the pavement. I continued watching as he then reentered the front door and dragged an adult female kicking and screaming from the driver seat, and threw her to the pavement. I was out of my vehicle within a second, and observed him kicking her while she was on the ground. She got up and he continued to flail away on her.
At that point, I drew my sidearm from a position of cover at the driver side of my truck bed, trained the firearm on the male and ordered the man to freeze. He stopped beating on the female, looked at me and said something unintelligible. I ordered him to the ground, and he did not comply. The woman, who was bloodied and beat to a pulp, told me the problem was between them. The man walked to the rear of the van, then toward the driver door, which he opened. I repositioned myself to the front of my truck for cover in the event he emerged with a weapon. Instead, he got into the driver seat and the woman reentered on the passenger side. I holstered my firearm and got back into my truck. I then turned onto the street and was followed by the minivan. I turned back into the parking lot at another driveway, and again the van followed, but stopped almost immediately thereafter. After distancing my vehicle from the van at a location in the parking lot, I called 911 and reported the full incident, including the fact that I drew my weapon and pointed it at the assailant. Due to the large amount of traffic in the immediate area where this occurred, I envisioned the 911 center being flooded with panicked callers reporting an MWAG with my description, truck description and tag. But I was told by responding officers that mine was the only call.
The van had vanished during the 18-20 minute response time. Unfortunately, I did not get the tag number. I remained on scene and spoke with officers, who were extremely respectful and professional and not the least bit antogonistic towards me. I was never asked for identification. No report was made.
I'm very glad this thing didn't escalate further. My sense is that challenging the assailant at gunpoint stopped the assault, at least for the moment. It was apparent that he had been working on her pretty good before it spilled into the parking lot. God only knows what she went through later.
I invite and welcome your input, including anything critical about how I approached and handled the situation. We live in a crazy and dangerous world, and any of us can find ourselves in a variety of situations at any place and at any time.
I had just departed one of the large home improvement centers and was in a line of vehicles waiting to turn onto a street when I noticed a lot of movement in the minivan directly behind me. Watching through my rear view mirror, it was apparent that a violent physical altercation was taking place inside the vehicle. Within seconds, the front passenger door flew open and an adult male emerged, who immediately opened the sliding door on the minivan, and began throwing various contents onto the pavement. I continued watching as he then reentered the front door and dragged an adult female kicking and screaming from the driver seat, and threw her to the pavement. I was out of my vehicle within a second, and observed him kicking her while she was on the ground. She got up and he continued to flail away on her.
At that point, I drew my sidearm from a position of cover at the driver side of my truck bed, trained the firearm on the male and ordered the man to freeze. He stopped beating on the female, looked at me and said something unintelligible. I ordered him to the ground, and he did not comply. The woman, who was bloodied and beat to a pulp, told me the problem was between them. The man walked to the rear of the van, then toward the driver door, which he opened. I repositioned myself to the front of my truck for cover in the event he emerged with a weapon. Instead, he got into the driver seat and the woman reentered on the passenger side. I holstered my firearm and got back into my truck. I then turned onto the street and was followed by the minivan. I turned back into the parking lot at another driveway, and again the van followed, but stopped almost immediately thereafter. After distancing my vehicle from the van at a location in the parking lot, I called 911 and reported the full incident, including the fact that I drew my weapon and pointed it at the assailant. Due to the large amount of traffic in the immediate area where this occurred, I envisioned the 911 center being flooded with panicked callers reporting an MWAG with my description, truck description and tag. But I was told by responding officers that mine was the only call.
The van had vanished during the 18-20 minute response time. Unfortunately, I did not get the tag number. I remained on scene and spoke with officers, who were extremely respectful and professional and not the least bit antogonistic towards me. I was never asked for identification. No report was made.
I'm very glad this thing didn't escalate further. My sense is that challenging the assailant at gunpoint stopped the assault, at least for the moment. It was apparent that he had been working on her pretty good before it spilled into the parking lot. God only knows what she went through later.
I invite and welcome your input, including anything critical about how I approached and handled the situation. We live in a crazy and dangerous world, and any of us can find ourselves in a variety of situations at any place and at any time.
