speedsix wrote:...ARMED with an SUV...state jail felony in the big KA, isn't it?!!!
Imagine the penalties for someone like me that drives an F450 converted to run Semi wheels and tires. Yes it costs me $10 a day to drive the short trip to and from work...but nothing would get in the way either. If I can't drive over it, I can hitch up to it and MOVE it.
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Welcome to Texas. If you ain't packin, you are slackin!
Hoi Polloi wrote:You know, if I were turning into my neighborhood just like I had a gazillion times and I came across limestone pavers across the street, I would first be struck by them being out of the ordinary and would then start going through all the possible ways they got there.
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but any time I come up on an obstruction that looks like it might have been put there, I get the car gun ready and use the big flashlight to check around from relative safety inside the car before I get out to do anything. That goes double for any vehicle blocking a county road in the middle of nowhere.
So, "scenario time", you come upon rocks in the road late at night, what do you do? I definitely would not continue, being late at night, there is no traffic, so reversing out of there would be my best plan I think.
Sounds like she was in condition white, didn't have a plan "out". Be careful out there!!!!
Ryan
You know, if I were turning into my neighborhood just like I had a gazillion times and I came across limestone pavers across the street, I would first be struck by them being out of the ordinary and would then start going through all the possible ways they got there. My first thought would be a prank by teens. I'd assume it is the same kids who put soap in the water fountains. By that time, I'd have a gun in my face like she did. Then what? Even if you have a CHL, your best course of action is probably using the car as a getaway. Floor it from a stop and hope to go over the pavers or put it in reverse and be an easier target for a longer period? Tough choice, especially if you're in a little car, and particularly since there are gun men on both sides.
I most likely wouldn't have made the connection from out-in-the-open suburban area with no one apparently around to it being a trap in the 5 seconds she had--and I was once the victim of a similar attempted crime. The road block element and it being a general neighborhood entrance would have seemed more like a prank than a robbery. I would have likely been quick-thinking and impatient enough to have just moved on to an alternate neighborhood entrance in that time, though. Not everyone has alternate entrances or, especially at that time of night, would be impatient enough to have moved on that quickly. Obviously, I'll now be aware of road block situations other than a car blocking you on a deserted rural road, but this lady sure paid a high price for showing the way.
I hate hearing about something like this happening so close to home, or anywhere for that matter! This discussion makes us all think about what we'd do in a similar situation. There are many variables to consider when a decision needs to be made quickly, and prior planning is the key to a good outcome. I hate to think about my wife being in this situation, and will make sure to show her this thread, and discuss it with her. IMHO situational awareness is of utmost importance. With thought, and the contributions made here we can all be better prepared than this woman was.
KD5NRH wrote:
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but any time I come up on an obstruction that looks like it might have been put there, I get the car gun ready and use the big flashlight to check around from relative safety inside the car before I get out to do anything. That goes double for any vehicle blocking a county road in the middle of nowhere.
I never thought about all that this thread addresses before.
I am now.
And I think this is a good approach.
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe."
- Noah Webster
"All we ask for is registration, just like we do for cars."
- Charles Schumer
...same goes for a Bonnie&Clyde situation...they were trapped by a "broken down" vehicle...I've seen so many TV shows where that ruse was used...I'm sure there's a bad guy out there who'd get the idea...you may get more than a warm feelin' in your heart if you stop to help a pretty damsel in distress these days...
speedsix wrote:...same goes for a Bonnie&Clyde situation...they were trapped by a "broken down" vehicle...I've seen so many TV shows where that ruse was used...I'm sure there's a bad guy out there who'd get the idea...you may get more than a warm feelin' in your heart if you stop to help a pretty damsel in distress these days...
That is literally true.
I know some one from Puerto Rico.
The ruse is to put a scantily clad female in the middle of the road laying down.
When you stop to assist, you are robbed.
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe."
- Noah Webster
"All we ask for is registration, just like we do for cars."
- Charles Schumer
speedsix wrote:...when I first came to Tx, in the 80s, I had a customer who lived in Grand Prairie...had a fine new sportscar...and an old primer-gray 65 Chevy...I asked him why he kept the junker...it was his "Dallas car"...wouldn't take his good car to Dallas to work...between the drivers and the roads...didn't blame him...
In the mid seventies, living around Houston, I kept swearing I was going to buy an old beater pickup and make front and rear bumpers out of a dozer blade and then dare anyone to hit me.
I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do those things to other people and I require the same of them.
Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
speedsix wrote:...when I first came to Tx, in the 80s, I had a customer who lived in Grand Prairie...had a fine new sportscar...and an old primer-gray 65 Chevy...I asked him why he kept the junker...it was his "Dallas car"...wouldn't take his good car to Dallas to work...between the drivers and the roads...didn't blame him...
In the mid seventies, living around Houston, I kept swearing I was going to buy an old beater pickup and make front and rear bumpers out of a dozer blade and then dare anyone to hit me.
I know a guy back then who put thick steel bumpers on his jeep. He would actually push cars in a parking lot if they parked too close to him.
WildBill wrote:I know a guy back then who put thick steel bumpers on his jeep. He would actually push cars in a parking lot if they parked too close to him.
Don't tell anybody, but I MIGHT have pushed a Mustang back into its own space once... it had pulled through the first space and halfway into the second.
At a mall.
On Black Friday.
Only visible parking space for a mile in any direction It had nasty notes all over the windshield... so I might have pushed it backward a couple of feet with the little Miata I might own
OldCurlyWolf wrote:In the mid seventies, living around Houston, I kept swearing I was going to buy an old beater pickup and make front and rear bumpers out of a dozer blade and then dare anyone to hit me.
My $200 1981 Nissan 720 had what appeared to be F350 bumpers creatively mounted and then torch cut to length. It also had a tendency to backfire. People rarely cut me off and didn't tailgate for very long.
The bumpers went well with the one-coat-of-black-Krylon-over-powder-blue Chevy Luv fender and the rust holes in the floorboard.
OldCurlyWolf wrote:
In the mid seventies, living around Houston, I kept swearing I was going to buy an old beater pickup and make front and rear bumpers out of a dozer blade and then dare anyone to hit me.
Here's my idear.....
Mount a railroad tie in place of the bumpers with a steel plate on the leading edge.
Gotta mount one front and rear for symmetry.
Make the plate 1" thick with a reverse plasma cut that says something like "Thank You" so when you hit em, or you get hit,
you message is loud and clear and stamped in their vehicle.
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe."
- Noah Webster
"All we ask for is registration, just like we do for cars."
- Charles Schumer
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. - John Adams
It had nasty notes all over the windshield... so I might have pushed it backward a couple of feet with the little Miata I might own 
