A bad situation that thankfully didnt turn worse

[fastscooby01]

I've been reading through various stories on here, so I decided that I should give a little piece of my input. I am primarily writing this because I have read several posts with people asking people what they think they would do. I feel I handled this situation very well, and am very happy that I was not one of the persons just standing from the side to afraid doing nothing.

Sorry for the long story lol

In January I moved into a new apartment that is in a very nice neighborhood in hopes to cut the chances of getting into any bad situations. Well about a month after living there I was out on my patio smoking a cigarette around 1am on a Tuesday morning. I was just finishing up and about to walk inside and I hear a girl scream. So I stopped and listened a little more closely because I didn’t know if it was just some young girl making noise or a serious scream. Then I hear the scream again followed by her yelling "Get away from me!" (All of this post is censored by the way). So I immediately run inside my apartment because this scream was coming from the other side of my building about 30 yards from my door. I run inside and call 911 and tell them what I heard and they said they would dispatch an officer. I then go into my room and holster my 1911 owb and put a shirt over it.

Immediately after that I walk outside to see what is going on, and I start walking toward where the scream came from. Before I could get to that part of the building a guy and girl walk very fast to a car and try to get out of the parking lot in a hurry, stalling the clutch several times. Another guy runs out and punches the passenger side window out with his fist. So I begin to walk closer. I still do not know what is going on so I keep a little distance. The guy driving the car stops and gets out and the other guy starts walking with haste toward his car with the driver of the other following. The guy that punched the window out turned around and yelled "I will run you over if you follow me". And he gets into his car and runs off. The other guy asks me to call 911, and I told him I already had. It took Bryan PD approximately 1 hour to arrive on scene. Out of about 10 people watching this situation from their window or patio I was the only person to step outside or to even call 911 for that matter. That is absolutely pathetic in my opinion. The fact that so many people were watching and they were to big of a coward to do anything at all besides watch just absolutely disgusts me.

What had actually happened was the girl was visiting the guy that lives here, and he got drunk and violent. He punched her and pulled a knife and threatened to cut her, and then threatened to kill himself. The guy that was driving the first was the girls friend that she called to get him to come get her. I do not know why she did not call 911 first. I waited for an hour for the cop to arrive with them and they filed a report, and I filed a witness report. The officer was very nice and said given the situation and no visible proof he would not request a warrant to search his apartment, and he would not issue any type of arrest warrant for the "bad guy" that is now sitting at the hospital getting his hand stitched up. In some ways I can understand because the girl's story did not completely line up (why would she call a friend instead of calling 911 if she was in fear for her life?).

When it was all over I asked the officer to step to the side for a moment so I could ask him a question if he had time, and he said that he did. I told him I was a chl holder and that I was carrying. Oddly enough he didnt ask me for my chl or about my pistol. But either way I asked him about a hypothetical situation. I asked him, what if I had approached the guy that punched out the window, and asked him to stop. And given the situation the guy turned on me and started to approach me. I asked him, what if I asked the guy to stop and he continued to approach me and I unholstered my pistol on him (Given this guy had just punched out a window, if he continued to approach me I would consider that a dangerous situation.) His reply was that given the circumstances if the guy had continued to approach me and I drew my weapon on him it would have been likely that nothing would have been done to me legally, but it was also possible that they could bring me in and file charges and go to court over it. But he said given the circumstances if I to go to court for this situation a grand jury would more than likely drop any charges. He then thanked me for being a good neighbor and citizen and left.

Thankfully this situation did not come to drastic measures, and everything ended with only minor damage. The girl was not really hurt from what I could tell, and the guy that lives here and caused all of these problems was never charged with anything to my knowledge. An investigator called me several weeks later, but obviously nothing was done because the resident was not evicted. This was likely a case that was lacking evidence. This is just a prime example of you never know when something can happen, and you should always be prepared for a situation.

[texasag93]

When I called that area home, the good part of Bryan was College Station.

I did live in a bad area of Bryan, of 2818 in a trailer park one summer. We got a kick out of watching the homes dissapear every couple of weeks from the home getting evicted!

texagag93

[KD5NRH]

(why would she call a friend instead of calling 911 if she was in fear for her life?).

Easy; which one got there quicker?

[dicion]

(why would she call a friend instead of calling 911 if she was in fear for her life?).

Easy; which one got there quicker?

Sad... but true.

Even quicker than either her friend OR 911 would have been for her to have added an extra digit to prefix the latter of the two ;)

Ironically, if her story was 100% true, she may have had TWO justifications to use deadly force in this situation.

The obvious one is him threatening to cut her with the knife...

The not so obvious one is him threatening to commit suicide, If he actually started to attempt it.
You are authorized to use deadly force to prevent a suicide attempt.

[C-dub]

You are authorized to use deadly force to prevent a suicide attempt.

Ironic, isn't it? I've never understood this one.

[stevie_d_64]

Thankfully this situation did not come to drastic measures, and everything ended with only minor damage. The girl was not really hurt from what I could tell, and the guy that lives here and caused all of these problems was never charged with anything to my knowledge. An investigator called me several weeks later, but obviously nothing was done because the resident was not evicted. This was likely a case that was lacking evidence. This is just a prime example of you never know when something can happen, and you should always be prepared for a situation.

You did the best thing possible...Witnessing an incident...And then reporting it for them to investigate...Thats all I would have done...

[dicion]

You are authorized to use deadly force to prevent a suicide attempt.

Ironic, isn't it? I've never understood this one.

I think it's due to the fact that, while it's "Lethal Force", you will try your best to apply it to do the least damage possible to save their life, where their suicide attempt is almost guaranteed to take it.

That's the best I could come up with at least.

[Abraham]

"But either way I asked him about a hypothetical situation. I asked him, what if I had approached the guy that punched out the window, and asked him to stop..."

You aren't a Law Enforcement Officer and hypothetically considering stepping into such a situation is to start thinking of yourself as one.

In addition to that thought, if the victim herself didn't call 911- why would you (or anyone else for that matter) involve yourself beyond calling 911?

No, we shouldn't look the other way when crime is in progress. Yes, we should be good Samaritans, but there are definite limits to what us non-LEO's should consider doing if we decide to involve ourselves.

Our CHL doesn't come with a badge.

[The Annoyed Man]

No, we shouldn't look the other way when crime is in progress. Yes, we should be good Samaritans, but there are definite limits to what us non-LEO's should consider doing if we decide to involve ourselves.

Well said.

Our CHL doesn't come with a badge.

That can be arranged.



Hey now! Before anyone gets irritated with me, admit that you were all thinking the same think and snickering!

[Abraham]

I'm guffawing - in addition to chortling...

[Fangs]

Good thing you didn't get involved and try to hold anyone at gunpoint until the LEOs got there... an hour later

[fastscooby01]

I was in no way claiming or trying to be a superhero with an invisible badge... I heard a girl scream and I acted on it. I couldnt beleive it took an office over an hour to show up though.

[rdcrags]

Good thing you didn't get involved and try to hold anyone at gunpoint until the LEOs got there... an hour later

What is the difference between "citizen's arrest" and "kidnapping"?

TX CHL 1997
CO CHP 2005

[The Annoyed Man]

I was in no way claiming or trying to be a superhero with an invisible badge... I heard a girl scream and I acted on it. I couldnt beleive it took an office over an hour to show up though.

I'm sure you did, and I think it is better to be concerned and act accordingly than not. It's just that when you carry a gun yourself, there is an additional responsibility to exercise due caution. I guess my own standard would be, "is this something I would get involved in if I wasn't carrying a gun?" If the answer is still yes, then so be it. On the other hand, if the gun is the difference between whether or not I would get involved, then the answer would be "no, I better not do anything more than calling the cops, and to observe and report, perhaps."

And the badge stuff is just good natured kidding. Don't take that seriously. You hang around here long enough, you'll see lots of good natured joshing about CHL badges, and CHL sashes, and silly stuff like that.

[quidni]

You are authorized to use deadly force to prevent a suicide attempt.

Ironic, isn't it? I've never understood this one.

I think it's due to the fact that, while it's "Lethal Force", you will try your best to apply it to do the least damage possible to save their life, where their suicide attempt is almost guaranteed to take it.

That's the best I could come up with at least.

The way it was explained to me in one of our classes (Tx State Guard) is that someone who is serious about committing suicide through violent means (knife, gun, jumping, suicide by cop etc) is irrational and very often doesn't care if he takes someone else down with him. If you're forced to react, you're not using deadly force to prevent his death, you're using DF to prevent someone else, which could include yourself, from being hurt as well.