# Attacked in my front yard



## matt.m (Feb 19, 2007)

Guys,

Since I have been out of the Marine Corps I have not used Martial Skill unless through competition.  Screwing around with the buds does not count.

This evening I had to.  I had just gotten off the phone with our good pal zDom, went outside to my car.  

I have this drunkard neighbor that has a record of beating the snot out of his kids, wife, and mother in law.  A few weeks ago he stepped on his wife's foot that just had surgery.  This guy is a jerk.

Well I had made it to my car and I heard "Hey tough guy".  ***A side note - Quote cleaned up for posting purposes***  I just out of instinct turned and dropped into a wide shallow h-stance, dropped the hips in perfect rotation and reverse punched.  I mean this guys right hand knocked my St. L Cardinal ballcap off, which means he intended to hit me in the back of the head. Yikes!


The punch hit him square in the solar plexus and knocked him out cold.  I was reaching towards his right wrist to perform a wrist lock but he was on his way to the deck.  The guy was bleeding out of his ear, very scary. I quickly pulled the phone out of my pocket and called the police.  Luckily I live all of 2 minutes from the police station.  They were there before he woke up.

I told them what happened, the cop told me...."Sir, you have an American Flag and Marine Corps standard hanging by your garage.  He has a record and you're not in the wrong.  Time to take him away."

So he wore shiny bracelets and got to ride in the nifty car.

You know, I absolutely feel bad.  The last thing I hate is confrontation, invited or otherwise.

The thing is I love competition, that is one thing that really drives me.  I hate fighting, now 3 hours later I still kinda feel like I did something wrong even though I didn't.  First time I have had to defend myself, instead of someone else since the early 90's.  Who else can identify?  Thoughts?  Opinions?  

I called and talked to Bill Evans and GM about it, there response was, "Are you hurt?  We know you, you don't even go to places that invite nonsense, you didn't do anything wrong.  Don't worry."


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## Drac (Feb 20, 2007)

matt.m said:


> You know, I absolutely feel bad. The last thing I hate is confrontation, invited or otherwise


 
*DO NOT* feel bad, you did *NOTHING*  wrong..20 yrs on the job and I *STILL *hate confrontation, but I will (like you) not become a punching bag for some drunken jerkoff...



			
				matt.m said:
			
		

> now 3 hours later I still kinda feel like I did something wrong even though I didn't


 
See #1 answer... 





			
				matt.m said:
			
		

> I called and talked to Bill Evans and GM about it, there response was, "Are you hurt? We know you, you don't even go to places that invite nonsense, you didn't do anything wrong. Don't worry."


 
Sound like they are very intellegent men..Listen to them...


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## Brian R. VanCise (Feb 20, 2007)

I have to echo what Drac said!  Do not carry around unnecessary baggage and guilt because of this drunken fool.  Instead concentrate on what you do know that he is a potential violent person and you need to safe guard yourself against him in the future.  Good luck!


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## matt.m (Feb 20, 2007)

Funy thing is, now that I have rested on it I am ok.  I think the adrenaline rush is what did it.  I think I was more angry than remorseful.  I mean, yeah I feel a little bad for someone whose is 40 and never mentally matured past 15, but I was attacked and that is it.


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## Drac (Feb 20, 2007)

matt.m said:


> Funy thing is, now that I have rested on it I am ok. I think the adrenaline rush is what did it. I think I was more angry than remorseful. I mean, yeah I feel a little bad for someone whose is 40 and never mentally matured past 15, but I was attacked and that is it.


 
Glad you're OK with it...


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## Brian R. VanCise (Feb 20, 2007)

matt.m said:


> Funy thing is, now that I have rested on it I am ok. I think the adrenaline rush is what did it. I think I was more angry than remorseful. I mean, yeah I feel a little bad for someone whose is 40 and never mentally matured past 15, but I was attacked and that is it.


 
Good for you! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





  Now follow through with charges and get that restraining order.


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## Drac (Feb 20, 2007)

Brian R. VanCise said:
			
		

> Now follow through with charges and get that restraining order.


 
Yes...The faster you get it in the system the better...


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## matt.m (Feb 20, 2007)

I have called the appropriate court house and got the ball rolling on that.


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## howard (Feb 20, 2007)

Brian R. VanCise said:


> ... you need to safe guard yourself against him in the future.  Good luck!


Matt (and Brian), that's exactly what I was thinking.

I'd get a restraining order too.  Unfortunately, you can probably bet that this turd will come back at you somehow.

At the very least, it should make him think twice about doing something else stupid.

Good luck, and just try to avoid him as much as possible.


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## Odin (Feb 20, 2007)

not meaning to worry you or anything bro ( to be honest i would have dropped the guy to no doubt) BUT this guy is your neighbour, things could become complicated.
Not saying the police wont do thier jobs but it might be a good option to inform your family to be on guard.

Wish


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## matt.m (Feb 20, 2007)

howard said:


> Matt (and Brian), that's exactly what I was thinking.
> 
> I'd get a restraining order too. Unfortunately, you can probably bet that this turd will come back at you somehow.
> 
> ...


 

Good to see you online Howard.  The thing is, I know he won't let it die completely.  Once he is done with the law I think I am going to try and test the water and see if we can have some kind of co-exist, you know the whole.......

Me- Sorry for the misunderstanding, hope we can put it behind us.  Neighbor - (Hopefully) - Yeah man.

The thing is if I got hurt then that sucks.  If my wife or dog got hurt that would be unbearable.  That is just not an acceptable path to go down.


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## Odin (Feb 20, 2007)

not meaning to worry you or anything bro ( to be honest i would have dropped the guy to no doubt) BUT this guy is your neighbour, things could become complicated.
Not saying the police wont do thier jobs but it might be a good option to inform your family to be on guard.

Wish you the best of luck


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## matt.m (Feb 20, 2007)

Odin said:


> not meaning to worry you or anything bro ( to be honest i would have dropped the guy to no doubt) BUT this guy is your neighbour, things could become complicated.
> Not saying the police wont do thier jobs but it might be a good option to inform your family to be on guard.
> 
> Wish


 

I talked to pop about it this morning, if need be he is only a bit over an hour and a half away.


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## Odin (Feb 20, 2007)

matt.m said:


> I talked to pop about it this morning, if need be he is only a bit over an hour and a half away.


 

cool bro im sure everything will be okay.

Funny enough just friday gone a  guy attempted to mug me and i was arrested and put in a cell over night and the guy let go, even though I was the one that inially attacked! 

so you can imaginemy faith in the police is abit fragile right now.lol


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## Drac (Feb 20, 2007)

The good thing (if any) is that the creep will be in the CAD system..If you call again the  responding officers will know all about what's been going on there...


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## Drac (Feb 20, 2007)

Odin said:


> Funny enough just friday gone a guy attempted to mug me and i was arrested and put in a cell over night and the guy let go, even though I was the one that inially attacked!
> 
> so you can imaginemy faith in the police is abit fragile right now.lol


 
OK, why were you arrested?? You were the victim?? Is police work that backward in your part of the country..


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## Odin (Feb 20, 2007)

Drac said:


> OK, why were you arrested?? You were the victim?? Is police work that backward in your part of the country..


 

lol not really..to be honest i was attacked and because i  was attacked i retaliated, a police car drove by just as I had hit the guy and continued to hit him while he was down ( i was making sure!) I was grabbed off the guy and arrested...to be honest it was my fault i cant blame the police officer, he saw someone being attacked and so he stopped it,he didnt have the pleasure of seeing how it started but still after 5 witness given statments were given to him stating that i hadnt started the conflict i was still taken to the station and kept in a cell.

I apperantly used to much force but then if that guy had a knife/gun i would have been in the right.


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## Drac (Feb 20, 2007)

Over here we seperate the combatants and if one them get stupid with us then THEY get "cuffed and stuffed"...With 5 witness statements saying that you didn't start it and were defending yourself I would not have jailed you...


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## zDom (Feb 20, 2007)

Garsh, Matt ... now _I_ feel bad: I shoulda kept you on the phone another five minutes!  (but dinner WAS getting cold )

Seriously though, I agree: don't feel bad. There's no telling who he would have run into and beat the snot out of if you hadn't stumbled into his path first.

Considering your rehabiliation is still ongoing, I'm thankful you still managed to be effective and come out unharmed. Hoshin!


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## zDom (Feb 20, 2007)

Drac said:


> Over here we seperate the combatants and if one them get stupid with us then THEY get "cuffed and stuffed"...With 5 witness statements saying that you didn't start it and were defending yourself I would not have jailed you...



What sucks is being attacked by a group of five or six punks who then can all claim that YOU attacked THEM first   The only choice then for a LEO is to cuff all the principals (including the assault victim!) and sort it out down at the station.

Luckily for me, when this happened to me, the other guys soon showed their true colors at HQ. I was released and my name never appeared on the docket, while theirs did.


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## kidswarrior (Mar 8, 2007)

matt.m said:


> The thing is, I know he won't let it die completely. Once he is done with the law I think I am going to try and test the water and see if we can have some kind of co-exist, you know the whole.......
> 
> Me- Sorry for the misunderstanding, hope we can put it behind us. Neighbor - (Hopefully) - Yeah man.


 
Sorry to take so long to get back to you on this, Matt. I always seem to remember it when I can't get to a computer. I think your plan here shows utmost maturity, and spirit of budo.

Got a minute to take a trip down memory lane with an old man? If not, just stop reading this now.  

When I was 19, the next door neighbor (mid-30s and neighborhood bully), who had been feuding with my parents, called me out in the street one day as I got home from factory job (wearing steel toed boots). He thought that me being a kid, I'd be easy pickin's. Long story short, he swung, I lost it (whole world turned white) and the only thing that stopped me from probably killing him (was pounding his head into the pavement pretty good) was that his daughter's screaming from the driveway 'woke' me up. Cops came, ambulance took him, and deputy was already to arrest me for ADW (he told them I'd used boots). Fortunately, work dust was still on the boots while everything else was covered in blood, so deputy put it together pretty fast. Didn't even take me in.

Thing is, I regretted it almost immediately and am ashamed of it to this day. My family moved, I went into the service, etc. Still, I got in touch with him a couple years later to apologize. It was like the air went out of him--not what he was expecting at all. Don't know what it did for him long term, but allowed me to make peace with it; am not as embarrassed telling it now as I would have been had I not tried to clean up my side of the street.

Now, your situation is totally different--he gave you no choice, went for the sucker punch, you responded exactly according to your training, and you stopped as soon as it was reasonable to do so. Textbook self defense situation/response. All I'm saying is, I really like your idea of trying to square things with this guy. Will it make him a peach? No. Will it make him less dangerous? Don't know, probably not. But I know what taking the step did for me, and that's all I'm concerned about--you.

Anyway, thanks for letting an oldtimer ramble. Helps me to share, even if there's absolutely no applicability for your situation.

Good on ya' for setting such a shining example of what it means to be a true martial artist.[/quote]


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## kidswarrior (Mar 8, 2007)

zDom said:


> What sucks is being attacked by a group of five or six punks who then can all claim that YOU attacked THEM first  The only choice then for a LEO is to cuff all the principals (including the assault victim!) and sort it out down at the station.
> 
> Luckily for me, when this happened to me, the other guys soon showed their true colors at HQ. I was released and my name never appeared on the docket, while theirs did.


 
Yeah, that makes sense: that you were the aggressor, _starting a fight with a mob_ :xtrmshock Glad it worked out, but come one, why was your side of the story even an issue? This is kinda a sore point for rme, because at least a couple of times a month I get to face down/put myself between a group of off-campus punks (some adults) and the street-wise kids at our school that they may be waiting to jump. Always try to avoid trouble, for the exact reason of what happened to you: They'll later say I picked on them/started it, whatever.

Glad it worked out for you, tho. And glad you had the training/giftedness in your art to handle it (told you to remind me to call you Sir, didn't I? :ultracool).

Best, ~kidswarrior


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## jim777 (Apr 3, 2007)

Firstly Matt, I'm glad you came out OK. I'm guessing the reason he didn't swing a bat at you was because there wan't one readily available to him in his drunken state. If he would walk up behind a neighbor and punch them in the back of the head for no reason, he's either insane or suicidal or something. You absolutely did the right thing. What if he got a lucky blow to the back of your neck and caused you paralysis?

Secondly, I think it is extremely impportant to follow through on the protection order, simply because he might see a lawyer's commercial the next time he's lying drunken on his living room floor in front of the TV and decide to sue you for hitting him. Crazy, put possible. Never underestimate an a-hole's ability to be an a-hole. Get that protection order, and consider filing assault charges.

I bet some of your other neighbors want to shake your hand today  That's how it would be on my block.

Jim


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