Here's a really interesting video from The Smoking Gun, sort of a modern version of the Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train." You gotta go there to watch itm but come back here and let's do a little discussing.
In short, the video is of a subway mugging on the A Train in NYC...a girlpack works up its nerve to clobber a fellow subway rider. The other subway riders of course do nothing except record it on a cell phone and post it to YouTube.
Assuming you've watched the video, what are the Lessons Learned?
Let me start things out here:
• Predators come in both sexes! Shocking, isn't it?
• A bunch of teenaged girls can do the macarena on your head every bit as good as one drunken streetfighter.
• Avoid public transportation...I lived in NYC a long time and took trains because I was dirt poor. When I visit now...I walk or take a cab.
• Know when to engage verbally...and when not to.
• Fight back? There's a concept!
Thoughts?
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10 comments:
Guy should have kept his mouth shut, then try moving away from them.
If they still attack, defend yourself.
Unfortunately, the "Urban Socialist's" feelings are somewhat akin to those of sheep. They won't fight back, as the wolves only wants one of them. As long as it's not them individually, no problem. So, sheep have never evolved to grow fangs and claws. Their weakest become food for another species and the flock goes on. Sad isn't it?
Life Member
Here's a question - at what point is it justified to go on the offense as a self-defense measure?
I think it's been well established that when things turn violent the correct option is to provide your attacker with more violence in return than they can handle, as quickly as you can deliver it. And, in this instance - facing multiple assailants - the only solution would be to apply maximum violence to each in turn, as rapidly as one could. Being in NYC severely limits weapon choices (Bernie Goetz, anyone?), but a little training with a kubotan might go a long way against attackers like these.
So, when do you activate that option? In many cases responding to the first blow may be too late if the bad guy's first blow take you out of the fight.
This is good example of denial by the victim. Just because you don’t think its worth fighting about doesn’t mean everybody else does.
He doesn’t realize he insulted the “lady”.
He doesn’t realize the more he talks, the more agitated they get.
He doesn’t realize he should have got off the subway car at least twice before the beating.
He doesn’t realize the longer he stays there, the madder they are getting.
He doesn’t realize that they are not afraid of him and they know he’s afraid of them.
He doesn’t realize that he’s alone and they will fight together. He lets them surround him instead of moving to stack them to his advantage.
He really doesn’t believe this is going to end up as a fight. They know it will.
He was very lucky, they didn’t want to kill him, just beat some street justice into him.
You can see the perps trying to pull the more aggressive “ladies” off the pile so they can make there escape.
IMHO, any one of those girls would have kicked his butt. He was condition white the until way too late to do much about it.
I'm with HaroldB on this one.
Ratcatcher 55
Condition White insanity.
STFU. Move to a defensive position. Leave ASAP. If you can't run, fight back ... pick the most aggressive attacker, and inflict permanent injury, and then move down to the next, and repeat.
In a victim disarmament hell-hole like NYFC, I would be tempted to pull an illegal pistol, shoot, and walk away.
NYC knife law is maximum of a 4 inch blade (from what I read). If I was being attacked (assume it's to that point for whatever reason), my life is in danger, I would escalate the encounter and draw my blade. Hopefully it would defuse the situation, or at least pause it, giving me time to get away or whatever.
If I was in the car, I would pull the emergency stop, hopefully throwing the girls to the floor, and giving the man some time to gather himself. This would also alert the transit cop on board (is there one on every train?).
What I take from this is that you're not always safe. You can't do what you want, where you want, and when you want, and not face possible repercussions. I the man thought himself safe.
I wonder if there is any regs/laws etc, that cover how MANY knives a person can carry in NYC? I generally carry one folder accessible by each hand, and am considering how to add backups to these. BTW, these are not carried as weapons, each has a particular type of cutting chore it is dedicated to. Such as delicate slicing, heavy carving, etc. The fact that they can be utilized as defensive tools in an emergency is a 'bonus'. That I might be able to loan one to a companion during such an emergency is an added bonus.
A four inch blade? Has anyone ever had an object rammed four inches into any part of their body. Maybe not lethal, immediately, but damn disconcerting. Then, remember the juguler vein is less than a half inch deep, you cant make a fist if some one has sliced the tendons in your wrist. If nothing else, let them pile on and stsrt jabbing with that four inch pointed thing, (scredriver, icepick) bet they won't hang around long.
Or they pull a gun and kill you.
Pay the ferryman.
At the point the video ends, he doesn't know their intentions, go for a good body count, object lesson for the next pack of trouble makers.
I worked as an Exterminator in Manhattan during the Bernie Goetz thing. The NYPD warned us about carrying big screwdrivers. The kids Bernie shot were armed with them. Large Screwdrivers were standard equipment for Bug Men. I switched to a four cell maglite and carried a can of aerosol insecticide on my belt. Plan of defense was to spray the eyes and beat attackers with the flashlight. You can defend yourself.
Best defense would have been to ignore the little cunts and leave the area. He let them work up their courage to attack him.
I've worked underground on the subway (Not in NYC) and saw some pretty dumb stuff, but that one is mighty dumb.
Generally speaking, it isn't really bright to make eye contact with the kooks (unless you feel like having an adventure which isn't altogether unintersting) let alone have a conversation with them.
It's usually better to bury your face in a paper, keeping your eyes over it so you can see what's going around you.
You get in trouble on a train like that and you are ON YOUR OWN. No one is going to help you and unless it's your lucky day and there is an LE on the very train car you are sitting in, help won't arrive in any kind of a timely manner. Where i work, there definitely is NOT a transit cop on every train. Since they take the train to get where they are going, that means back up is not going to be there unless the municipal police come down from up top, or the next train arrives. And since cell phones do not work underground and (where I work) the emergency call boxes call for transit police, the 911 dispatcher is not going to get a call from the transit police dispatcher very quickly either. Which will slow up a response from above ground too.
Lastly, where I work the vast majority of the transit cops are on duty at daytime to protect the commuters, and they have only a handful (one night there was ONE) working the whole city after midnight.
I have witnessed a few assaults and even an armed robbery. The perps were all long gone before any law enforcement officers
showed up.
Generally speaking it is a pretty good way to travel during the business day, but it is a bit gritty after dark.
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