Close call with bangers this AM. (Wreck)

[kyreb]

Sitting at a red light by the Galleria mall this morning in my Tacoma. ( The Tacoma I just paid off last week) Then WHAM! I get smashed from behind and pushed almost through the intersection.

Four Hispanic youths emerge from the Malibu. They look stoned and have all the garb on that spells hoodlums.

I am totally unarmed. I can't carry due to a stupid company policy outlawing guns and knives in vehicles on the parking lot. They search our garage with dogs trained on dope and gunpowder. I am 50 and have worked there almost 30 years...too old to quit...need more 5 years to retire. These stupid policies are realatively new.

Anyway....these four guys are really agitated. Turns out one of the passengers had borrowed the car from his aunt while the roughest looking of the little snots was the driver. While I call HPD on 911, these two get into a knock down drag out fight right there in the intersection. They litterally beat the crap out of each other while traffic goes by.

I put my truck between me and the youthful frolics.

The punk driver gets the worst of it. He gets up wiping blood away and pulls a knife out of his pocket. It is one of those curved wicked looking folders they sell in flea markets. He does not open it but he is sure as hell thinking about it. He is also glancing over at me while finger fiddling the knife. He pockets the thing after a couple minutes.

The four of them gather by their car and argue. I hear "I am not going back to jail" more than once. The two from the back seat walked up the block to hide something, then came back and engaged in more argueing with the other two, then went back to retrieve whatever they hid and took off.

Cops take at least twenty minutes to get there. It is 7:30 AM and shift change is under way. ( the old seconds/minutes when you need a cop thing has gone thru my head a hundred times by then.) I approach the cop and warn him about the one with the knife.

They lied and said I was sitting at a green light when they hit me. They also lied saying that knife boy was not driving. ( I did not correct that in the faint hope the aunt's insurance might cover the $1000 deductible I am facing.)

The cop searched the knife guy and he was handcuffed and in the back of the cruiser in short order. No ID and carying a weapon. Driver gets mouthy with the cop because he just has a learner's permit, no picture ID and no one 21 or over in the car with him. He gets cuffed and has a seat in the cruiser too.

Three more cruiser show up to look for dope, weapons and the two youths that ran. All were long gone by then.

Cops let me go on my way. They took the two misguided youths to jail.

My Tacoma is drivable, their Malibu was totaled. I was shocked my truck took a hit like that and still ran. If I was in the mustang I drove a up till a few months ago, I would be in the hospital or worse right now. That truck is built like a tank. Cargo area and bumper are heavily damaged and the spare knocked off but the passenger compartment saw no damage.

Likewise I feel very lucky they turned their drug amped agitation toward each other rather than my way. I would have been well bled out long before any help arrived.

Hope TX manages to get that law passed that protects CHL holders storing guns in vehicles on company property. These stupid company policies are getting people killed.

Rick

[HerbM]

Glad you are safe.

Sounds like you did the best you could with what you had.

Will they let you have pepper spray?

Did you tell 911 you were facing an attack? They might have expedited if you had done so -- or called back and mentioned both the fight and the knife.

Sometimes you have to decide if the comfort of your life is worth you life. Hard decision at times; no one can make it for you of course.

I would be looking for another way, but that doesn't mean I would be DOING anything different than you are in your circumstances -- but I would be looking and scheming.

[Bart]

I'm happy you're not injured and I hope the insurance pays up.

[kyreb]

Pepper spray is OK by the policy. I do not have much faith in it though. It would have been very tough to deploy in the given circumstances today. Especially if it turned out to be 4 against 1.

In the past few months, I have bought a few of those new kimber designed spray units. But I seem to keep giving them out to various female family members to carry in their purses. Have not seen them at the area gun shows of late. Currently did not have one on hand in the truck.

I am thinking of starting to park in the randall's grocery store lot a few blocks from my building. Wonder how long before my truck would get towed?

May need to take up softball again and carry my bat on a regular basis too.

Oh, I was telling 911 all about the fight and the knife. Did not help the response time one bit. The first responder told me the dispatcher had incorrectly advised the units I was being attacked rather than the bangers mixing it up. I would have been long dead had that been the case.

[austin]

Carry a folding knife. Spyderco makes some great ones. The legal length in Texas is 5.5 inches, but 4 inches is fine.

You can leave it in your car and no one will care. Then pocket it when you get in.

That kid with the knife would probably have made mincemeat of you even if you had had a gun, but if he'd seen you with a knife, he'd kept his distance.

[DoubleJ]

I am thinking of starting to park in the randall's grocery store lot a few blocks from my building. Wonder how long before my truck would get towed?

or worse, broken into, and then have the one thing you'd wanna hang on to stolen, as well.

[stroo]

Get a cane and learn how to use it. If you pulled on knife on any of those guys, they would have sliced you up. A cane can be used to keep a little separation. And no one is going to accuse you of having a weapon. Canemasters has some good videos.

[HerbM]

+1 Knife
+1 Pepper spray

Pepper spray is FAR better than nothing. (But go check out the pepper spray thread where I have posted a lot of detail and the concerns over it have been expressed.)

It is far better than tear gas, but it is not a guarantee of safety. I do however give this to all my relatives who cannot carry a firearm (or who won't) and like it myself for an intermediate level of response.

You don't even have to spray someone to benefit -- retreat and lay down a barrier (I almost always buy and give FOG, nor spray.)

[jeeperbryan]

on the serious side...that really sucks that you work somewhere that doesn't allow you to protect yourself. is there anyway you can park outside of their "premises"?

[bdickens]

We need the "parking lot law" in Texas like they recently passed in Florida!

[kyreb]

Baseball bat (and glove) added to back seat tonight when I got home. New Kimber pepper spray ordered. My CRKT folder is a 5" and therefore is considered a "weapon" under the policy. Need to pick up a decent 4" blade at the next gun show.

Funny how 4" is considered a tool and 5" is an evil weapon under the policy.

Was contacted by the other vehicles insurance providor this afternoon. Sounds like they will cover and keep me from paying the $1 grand deductible. That would be a God send as I am having Ed Vandenberg build me a custom 9mm 1911 Commander for IDPA. That money would be much better spent there. Just dropped off all the parts at his shop last week after I made that last truck payment.

[HerbM]

Also it is a really good idea to go to YouTube, search for "pepper spray" and watch about 10 videos. Some of the idiots who spray there friends and a few of the Marines doing their pepper spray drill (subject is sprayed, then runs a multi-station simulated fighting course.)

You can work through it but it is hard. This will show you what you can and cannot expect. And remember, if someone "holds their eyes open" you can spray them AGAIN.

Shoot until the threat goes away. (No matter what you shoot.)

[dustyb]

Was contacted by the other vehicles insurance providor this afternoon. Sounds like they will cover and keep me from paying the $1 grand deductible.

That's good news on the insurance. My first impression after reading your post, was that the car would be uninsured. I am glad you are safe. Also nice to hear that two of the misguided youths get to be guests of the city.

[fm2]

Sorry to hear about this incident.

There is a Taser out their that you could get, you know the kind with the flying projectiles. Pepper spray would be a good addition, it gives you some range as well. You could also have some tools in your truck, hammer, crecent wrench, screw driver, machete, hatchet, cane, fixed blade knife, cheater pipe, or any hand tools.

[KC5AV]

I doubt a taser would do much good in a 4 on 1 fight.