New Tactic

[nedmoore]

Yesterday afternoon I took my wife and my newborn twin daughters to "Babies "r" Us" to buy some clothes and diapers on the tax holiday. While I was unloading the strollers from the back of our SUV (my wife and girls were still in the car) a car pulled up next to me....

It was a four door sedan with two black women in the front seat and two black men in the back, the driver, a black woman, said "Excuse me sir can I ask you a question?" (I thought I knew were this was going) and promptly replied "I do not have any money" She said, "I do not need money, can you tell me what this light means? It just came on."

She wanted me to lean in her car and look at her dash gauges! I stood my ground, I was not going to fall for this. My hand was now on my hip, clutching my new Walther PPS .40 and said; "I do not know what that light means." The men in the back seat mumbled something and they drove off.

So what did I learn? Situational awareness! Always stay alert...

[fickman]

Interesting.

You could also tell them to go to read the manual, go to Firestone, or go to Auto Zone. . . but no way am I sticking my head in a car occupied 4x - especially if the "damsel in distress" has two males available. Race doesn't even enter the equation (not saying you did anything more than report the facts. . . just anticipating somebody crying about it).

Well done.

It goes against everything in me, but I have come to the realization that sometimes you have to risk being rude to somebody. I've let far too many people cozy up to me when I was among the sheep. Luckily they were usually just begging for money. . .

During my last semester at North Texas (working on an MBA in '05), four young black males approached a single male and asked for directions. When he stopped to assist, they robbed him at gunpoint. This was about 9:00 pm (tons of night classes on campus). That one hit close to home. I definitely would've tried to give them directions back then. Gun free zones at their finest.

[Purplehood]

With that many people in the car I probably would have ignored them totally and kept my distance. I tend to be anti-social anyway.

I agree with what you did. No sticking my head in the car.

[joe817]

Well done! Red flags were popping up all over the place. You assessed the potential threat accurately, and avoided it.

Which store was it, if you don't mind me asking? Wife & I go to one almost weekly. The one at Pipeline & Loop 820 in F.W.

[USA1]

funny that i'm reading this as i just came from a gas station where i was approached by a guy asking for directions .

i almost drew down on him , till i saw his wife and kid waiting in the car .

i still didn't trust him

[DoubleJ]

Paintball grenade
imagine one ah deez filled with pepper spray. I mean, c'mon, how awesome would that be?

just sayin', that's all...

[shootthesheet]

Good job.

[Keith B]

funny that i'm reading this as i just came from a gas station where i was approached by a guy asking for directions .

i almost drew down on him , till i saw his wife and kid waiting in the car .

i still didn't trust him

All jesting aside, there are legitimate times folks ask for directions or other information. Being in Condition Yellow when out and about is good, but unless there are other indicators that push the level to Condition Orange, then don't assume everyone is up to no good just because they ask a question of you. I have had people approach me because they needed information and I looked like the safest person to ask, even above the clerks in the convenience store.

[USA1]

funny that i'm reading this as i just came from a gas station where i was approached by a guy asking for directions .

i almost drew down on him , till i saw his wife and kid waiting in the car .

i still didn't trust him

All jesting aside, there are legitimate times folks ask for directions. Being in Condition Yellow when out and about is good , but unless there are other things that push the level to Condition Orange, then don't assume everyone is up to no good just because they ask a question of you. I have had people approach me because they needed information and I looked like the safest person to ask, even above the clerks in the convenience store.

i totally agree Kieth .
i may have enhanced the story a little bit .

my real problem is that i am too trusting . i just like to see the good in people .
but in the back of my mind , i sometimes picture how a seemingly nonthreatening person can turn on you
once they have gained your trust .

[joe817]

my real problem is that i am too trusting . i just like to see the good in people .
but in the back of my mind , i sometimes picture how a seemingly nonthreatening person can turn on you
once they have gained your trust .

I can relate to that very well.

[chamberc]

imagine one ah deez filled with pepper spray. I mean, c'mon, how awesome would that be?

just sayin', that's all...

This works too, by Kimber: http://pepperblaster.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[pdubyoo]

I had a situation about 6 months ago...I was pumping gas and an old Ford Exploder pulled-up on the other side of the pump. A middle-aged MiddleEastern gentleman got out and I noticed that he was fiddling with his steering column and key switch. After a brief time, he turned toward me and asked me for help. I could see that he was alone, and I asked him what he needed help with. He said that he was borrowing the truck from his brother. He had just picked it up and needed to fill the tank, and needed to go inside to pay first, but he couldn't get his ignition key out of the igntion switch.

I immediately knew what the problem was, as I had owned a Ford Exploder of the same vintage once upon a time. There is a little lever next to the key switch that you have to push down in order to turn the key all the way back and pull the key out. Before I stepped over to help him, I sized him up, and he was a fairly small and skinny man. I knew my 240lbs could squash him, if needed. Then I looked through the back window to ensure that there was nobody hiding in the back seat. I also touched the butt of my pistol with my elbow just to make sure it was on my hip. I then asked him to step around to the passenger side so I could show him what the problem was, and how to work the lever and key switch. He complied and I reached in and showed him how it worked.

He was so grateful. He said that most people don't trust MiddleEasterners because of recent history, and he thanked me for helping him. He then told me that he and his family fled from Iraq during Saddam's reign. His family is Kurdish, and he said that Saddam wanted his type dead.

I was glad to help him, and found him to be a most interesting man. But, I will always size-up the situation first. I've been in too many uncomfortable situations that have made me overly cautious. I agree with your quick read on your situation. That would have been a major red flag for me.

[The Annoyed Man]

It was a four door sedan with two black women in the front seat and two black men in the back, the driver, a black woman, said "Excuse me sir can I ask you a question?" (I thought I knew were this was going) and promptly replied "I do not have any money" She said, "I do not need money, can you tell me what this light means? It just came on."

All jesting aside, there are legitimate times folks ask for directions or other information. Being in Condition Yellow when out and about is good, but unless there are other indicators that push the level to Condition Orange, then don't assume everyone is up to no good just because they ask a question of you. I have had people approach me because they needed information and I looked like the safest person to ask, even above the clerks in the convenience store.

FWIW, my gut inclination would be to dismiss the fact that the folks in the car were black. It's irrelevant. What IS relevant is, color notwithstanding, what kind of people did they appear to be? Did they look and act hinkey? Maybe they were just poor and ignorant. Or not. The truth is that you could have been approached by a carload of white or Hispanic folks who were bent on doing you harm too.

I try to balance my natural suspicion with a little bit of grace, just in case the "apparently" innocent really do turn out to be innocent.

[Keith B]

FWIW, my gut inclination would be to dismiss the fact that the folks in the car were black. It's irrelevant. What IS relevant is, color notwithstanding, what kind of people did they appear to be? Did they look and act hinkey? Maybe they were just poor and ignorant. Or not. The truth is that you could have been approached by a carload of white or Hispanic folks who were bent on doing you harm too.

I try to balance my natural suspicion with a little bit of grace, just in case the "apparently" innocent really do turn out to be innocent.

This is a good point. Just the other day I was approached by an extremely shiny vehicle model that I had never seen before. The four men in it said they were looking for a route to get back home. They really didn't seem to fit the normal type of person for the locale I was in, so that really made me suspicious. When they asked me to take a look in their vehicle, told them no thanks and pointed to the direction I thought they should go to get out of the area. The fact that they were green really shouldn't have played into the mix on my suspicions though.

Seriously TAM, you are correct. Just yesterday we had an ACTUAL suspicious vehicle in our company parking lot with a male driver and female passenger. The drove in, parked in a remote area, one person (the male) got out and walked through the lot, then got back in his vehicle and proceeded back to park beside a truck with his windows widely cracked. Just as he tried the door to the truck and started to reach down through the window he noticed an employee watching him. He immediately jumped back in the car and left. Got a good description of him and the vehicle (to far away in the lot for license number by visual or video though.) Had it not been for that employee sensing something was not right when they saw the car slowly progress across the lot, the police would not have as good an information as they got and the pickup owner might be filing an insurance claim. BTW, these individuals were clean cut and white, so nothing by their outward appearance would be a stereotypical trigger for most folks.

[stevie_d_64]

Yesterday afternoon I took my wife and my newborn twin daughters to "Babies "r" Us" to buy some clothes and diapers on the tax holiday. While I was unloading the strollers from the back of our SUV (my wife and girls were still in the car) a car pulled up next to me....

It was a four door sedan with two black women in the front seat and two black men in the back, the driver, a black woman, said "Excuse me sir can I ask you a question?" (I thought I knew were this was going) and promptly replied "I do not have any money" She said, "I do not need money, can you tell me what this light means? It just came on."

She wanted me to lean in her car and look at her dash gauges! I stood my ground, I was not going to fall for this. My hand was now on my hip, clutching my new Walther PPS .40 and said; "I do not know what that light means." The men in the back seat mumbled something and they drove off.

So what did I learn? Situational awareness! Always stay alert...

You did well...No need to change a thing...Keep the head on a swivel, and your mind sharp...

Just last night the Wife-Unit and I were celebrating her fist day on the job as a teacher at the Roadhouse restaurant on Shaver and the Beltway 8 in Pasadena...It was about 7:30pm, and we were in separate vehicles...One beat up looking Crown Vic was keeping me from being able to swing into the space next to her, so I went to a spot a few spaces away...

An adult hispanic male got out and headed straight for me as I was getting out of my truck and he had a teenager with him semi-leading the way to me at an aggressive pace...

Before they got within 20 feet of me I had the hand on the grip and yelled STOP! They quickly abandoned their ever-spreading flanking manuever as they were approaching me, and reversed course heading back passed the Wife Unit who saw and heard everything and had her hand stuck kinda funny in her own purse as they went by her... Good girl!!!

It is amazing to me how frequent these little incidents are occuring...Lets hope we all learn to keep our thoughts clear and our wits about us, and I hope no one ever has to really take that last step...

As always, I went ahead and made a call to the local PD and gave them a description of the vehicle, plate and occupants...Thats just about all you can do, and if it turns out to be nothing, well, at least they will learn not to do something like that again...At least for a while...