Here are 2 major incidences that keeps me on the fence about this issue. The names have been changed to protect the innocent!
Story #1: I knew this guy who knew martial arts. He was only about 18 years old, but he was well trained for his age. He was in a car with a friend following another car with his friends sister and her friend driving on the highway. The friend driving was about 19, the 2 girls in the other car were about 30. They were all driving home from a family event. It was summertime, and dark outside. The car with the 2 girls switched lanes. A pickup truck had thought that the girls cut him off, so he rode her @$$ and flashed his brights. The Girl driving tapped the brakes to slow down. Enraged, the pickup truck decided to drive on the shoulder of the road to pass the girls in their car, pass, get in front of the girls car, then completely slam on his brakes, causing both the truck and car to swerve off the road and stop. Luckily there was no damage to the vehicles or passengers....yet. Since the 2 guys were following, they pulled over as well. Both guys, who were young and unrealistic, suspected just to be able to talk the circumstance out, and then be on their way. There would be no talking, however. The driver of the truck grabbed the lady driver out of the driver side window, dragged her accrossed the hood of her car to the passenger side, propped her up, and cocked his fist back to hit her like she was a man. Just in time, the martial arts guy grabbed the guys punching arm in the crook of his arm preventing him from punching, grabbed the man behind his neck, twirled him around, and threw him headfirst into the front wheel well of his truck. The young man turned around to meet the fist of a 235 lb guy in the left eye. He was surrounded by 3 other guys all of a sudden. As it turns out, there was another car following the guy in the truck with 3 friends. This young martial arts man only weighed about 150 pounds...these 4 guys probably ranged in size from about 165 (the smallest guy) to 235 (the largest). They also ranged in age from 24 to 28 years old. Luckily, the young martial arts man didn't drop after that punch. He was able to fight the three that surrounded them off. He didn't get hit again...but they had bruises and bumps and black eyes. The fight ended with a rotary break on the 235 pound mans good wrist...a wrist that will never work correctly again. They all looked like construction type workers, so this would not be good for the man's future career. While the young martial arts man was fighting off the three guys, the original attacker who's head was thrown in the wheel well of his truck had been fighting the 2 girls and the friend. He had bitten up the arm of one of the girls. It is important to note that this man, the truck driver, also had his wife and a baby in the truck with him, watching the whole thing transpire.
At the break of the largest mans wrist, the chaos had ended. The very vocal 30 year old sister, the one who was originally pulled out of her vehicle, yelled for the young martial artist to grab his cell phone and call the cops. The Truck driver yelled, "What do you mean, you guys started it!" The Sister exclaimed, "Started it!?!?! Look at the bite marks on my arm! Look at us! We are 2 women and 2 young kids (the sister still looking at her 19 year old brother as a 'kid'), you are 4 grown men! I don't know what the hell is wrong with all of you, but I know one thing for damn sure is that the cops aren't going to give a damn who started it...and your going to jail. By this time the martial art guy made it to his cell phone and had called 911. The men all looked at each other after she said this....then they ran.
When the local small town cop arrived, they had the 2 guys and 2 girls drive down to the station where a similar report was filed by some other individuals. Yup...you guessed it, the 4 guys, wife, and baby, were all locals, and they ran to the station to file the report. Through questioning and filling out the report. The cop, who obviously knew the locals, said to the 2 guys and 2 girls, "You all are in a world of trouble. They have sustained some pretty serious injuries, and they may press charges." The 30 year old sister of the 19 year old said, "Well I want ot press charges! Look at my arm [showing bite marks]. Also...they reek of alcahol! I know that none of us have been drinking. If we're going to file reports, I want all of us to take a breathalizer test to see who is inhibited and who isn't!" That was the one smart thing the 30 year old said all night. The cop looked back at the other car with his local 'friends', looked back, then tore the report in half. "I don't think filing a report will be nessicary miss...why don't yall just drive along!" "They are drunk!" she exclaimed, "why don't you make them breath into a tube!" He replied,"Lady...I am an alcahol enforcement officer. I know if they are too drunk to make decisions, and I can tell you that they are not. So lets just leave it at that...why don't you all just go home." The cop walked away. Before the 30 year old could say another word, the martial arts guy who knew the severity of the evidence against him even though they weren't the criminals said, "Don't say another word. We don't need to get dragged through the courtrooms on this. There is too much evidence against us, and they are hurt way worse then us. Let it go...lets get the F-- out of here."
Those 4 could have been dragged through the courts on a case like this. With a biased report, a complicated story with complicated details, how would a jury be clear on who was really at fault? Plus, the injuries sustained by the attackers were far greater then the defenders, which would have further sealed the deal. The Young Martial Arts man may have been paying a lawsuit to the man with the broken wrist for the rest of his life. Was it right to report it...? Well considering that the attackers may have gotton license plate #'s, it was probably right in this case. But the fustrating thing is, the situation could have been much worse for the defendors in that the law might not have worked in their favor. In that cops attempt to save his buddies...he also saved their butts.
Story #2: I knew this other guy...A young man with combatives training was coming home from a bar in Windsor Canada, right accrossed the border from detroit, at about 1AM. He was leaving early by himself to beat the traffic. he had on a leather jacket, leather gloves, and no weapon. It was the dead of winter. He had to walk through a parking area between 2 buildings that was not secured to get to his car. He was approached by 3 young men around his same age...2 big guys over 6 feet tall, and one smaller guy about 5 feet 6 inches. The smaller guy yelled out a bunch of profanities nonsensically, and pulled out a knife, and stabbed at the young man who was by himself. The young man, without thinking and from instinct, intercepted the knife attackers wrist with his right hand, disarmed with the aid of the leather gloves with the left, and did a left handed downword slash on the attackers face, splitting it wide open and down the middle. The attacker dropped to the ground. The 2 larger accomplices backed up with a look of shock on their face...and the lone man went running through the parking lot. The whole incident took only a few seconds...happening so fast that the young man had no realization as to what happend until he got out of of site from the attackers. When he got out of site from his attackers, he ditched the blade. When he got to his car, he checked himself for blood, and then got into his vehicle. He drove 2 blocks, then ditched his leather gloves. He drove all the way accrossed the border and back home...unnoticed. There were no other witnesses outside of the 3 attackers, so the young man kept the event a secret even from his closest friends for about 5 years. He told no one. He lined up alibis for the evening, and he waited months before returning to windsor.
This young man didn't report the incident. SHould he have? What would have stopped the attackers from saying that the knife belonged to the young man? What would have stopped the victim from being prosecuted in this case. Now the event is long gone....and he got away with it. The attacker walked away with a lesson better then if they were dragged through court. In this case...I wouldn't have reported either. But... What would you have done?
I used the third grade example previously just to illustrate a point. But...we all know that life isn't like the third grade. These stories above are all true though. When I hear stuff like this...where it seems that if you successfully defend yourself your the one who is going to get prosecuted, then it makes me think that reporting an assult that you come out of unharmed when they are hurt is not in the best interest of the defendor, unless there is a good chance that they might face the police anyways.
What do you all think of these incidences? What would you have done?
PAUL
