Stay in the House: A Sad Self-Defense Scenario

[wingchun100]

This happened ages ago, so I don't remember all the details. However, a recent post by Paul D made me think of it. I heard about this story because my friend's wife knew the gentleman who died. Since I don't remember his name, I will just call him Greg.

Greg was friends with a young woman; let's call her Tina. He went out to dinner with her because they hadn't hung out in a while, so they went to a diner and caught up. Tina had an ex-boyfriend (let's call him Donny), who was an abusive psycho, hence why he was an ex.

Little did either of them know, Donny had followed Tina to the restaurant. When Greg and Tina parted, they followed Greg home. (Donny also had some friends with him.) Donny and company catch up to Greg on his front lawn. Some heated words are exchanged. Greg went in the house.

That is probably (in my opinion) the most important part of the story: HE MADE IT INSIDE SAFELY.

From what I recall, Donny and friends stayed on Greg's lawn after he had gone inside. Greg headed back outside with a baseball bat and told the crew to leave. Well, someone got the bat away from Greg, and they beat him to death.

Those are all the details I had. I never knew any of the people involved, so I cannot say with ANY certainty why Greg went back outside once he was inside, safe and alive. Was it to show Donny and his friends who the alpha male was? Who knows?

Why not call the cops? Did he fear the cops would make these guys leave, only for them to come back later and angrier? There is no way to tell.

All I know is: if I made it inside the house, that is where I would have stayed. Still, however you look at it, it is sad that the young man had to die because of some psycho's insanely jealous rage.

Any thoughts?

 

[CB Jones]

Any thoughts?

Call cops....have arrested for trespassing.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

This is definitely a case where "avoid" is the safest SD strategy. I won't say he did anything "wrong" - I wasn't there, and can't say for sure there wasn't a reasonable decision involved. In general, though, based on what we do know, it seems the most prudent move would be to call the cops and wait it out. Maybe grab the bat and be ready in case they come in.

 

[Juany118]

This is definitely a case where "avoid" is the safest SD strategy. I won't say he did anything "wrong" - I wasn't there, and can't say for sure there wasn't a reasonable decision involved. In general, though, based on what we do know, it seems the most prudent move would be to call the cops and wait it out. Maybe grab the bat and be ready in case they come in.

Pretty much. Like today. Guy allegedly gets jumped tells his mom, mom comes tearing out of the house goes at the girls that allegedly jumped him. We arrest her. He comes charging us, drops one officer on his head, I take the guy down with solid head control. The girls that jumped him get away in the tussel.

Stay inside... Call 911

 

[Steve]

Yeah... you're spot on. Call the cops. Let them deal with it. Be prepared to beat some *** if they get inside. As an aside, this is why gus for home protection are a pretty good idea. I would not advocate taking the gun outside, but if those yo yos decide to try and break in, a bat might not do the job.

 

[Tames D]

Pretty much. Like today. Guy allegedly gets jumped tells his mom, mom comes tearing out of the house goes at the girls that allegedly jumped him. We arrest her. He comes charging us, drops one officer on his head, I take the guy down with solid head control. The girls that jumped him get away in the tussel.

Stay inside... Call 911

Curious why you arrested the mom, allowing the girls to get away. Those girls must have been laughing all the way home.

 

[Paul_D]

The thing that stands out for me is they took the bat from him. Always something to bear in mind before you decide to introduce weapon, especially if you have no training.

 

[Juany118]

Curious why you arrested the mom, allowing the girls to get away. Those girls must have been laughing all the way home.

We aren't psychic. We show up and see a woman reaching in through a car window trying to throttle someone. That is a threat that needs to be addressed. You can't conduct an investigation until the scene is secured. Afterwards we explained to all of them "if we didn't have to address you three they would not have been able to walk off."

 

[Gerry Seymour]

The thing that stands out for me is they took the bat from him. Always something to bear in mind before you decide to introduce weapon, especially if you have no training.

Agreed. I have had this discussion on several occasions with folks who have weapons handy they aren't trained in. It's also why I train weapon retention before I train weapon use. The more important factor is not to provide a weapon to the other guy.

 

[JR 137]

Yeah... you're spot on. Call the cops. Let them deal with it. Be prepared to beat some *** if they get inside. As an aside, this is why gus for home protection are a pretty good idea. I would not advocate taking the gun outside, but if those yo yos decide to try and break in, a bat might not do the job.

I don't own a gun, nor do I have any desire to. But I fully agree with your point. Kinda an oxymoron, huh?

I think I'm going to buy that chainsaw I've been contemplating. I've got a few trees that need to be trimmed, and I keep borrowing a friend's.

I think seeing me holding a running chainsaw with a "come on in" smile would send a pretty powerful message. Not the easiest weapon to wield, but I think it would let people know "this guy's pretty f'ed up" and they'd walk away.

Then again, I really don't get myself into situations like that. Then again, it only takes one idiot to turn it into a situation like that.

A dog is probably the best deterrent to people trying to get in.