I think they knew they messed with the wrong girl

A story with a lot of self-defense lesson. Watch the video.

First of all, Ms. Dang can obviously handle herself very well, and was more than a match for her assailants this time.

What can we learn from this encounter?

1. The attackers used common distraction techniques to outflank and surprise her in the first place.
   “Two teens came up to her on their bikes. One went in front and made eye contact with me like a smirk, like I thought he was saying 'hi.' The next thing I knew I was pretty much groped on my bottom behind left side," Dang said.”
   
   LESSON: She was running by herself, and probably appeared to be an easy target. Small, female, alone. You want to minimize your vulnerability – do not run alone. If you must, do so in a very public area so that there are many witnesses. Make sure you look around you.
2. She attacked first.
   "So I grabbed him and said, 'You need to apologize, and he did,'" Dang said.
   But it escalated when she says the second teen started swearing at her.
   "It just made something snap in me – it's not OK. It's so disrespectful," Dang said.
   That's when her Kung Fu background really kicked in as she punched him twice in the face.
   "He started coming in for a few, and I was lucky enough to dodge his shots. I came up for another one and I got him good, and I think that upset him," she said.
   After the second hit, Dang said the teen pulled out a four-inch blade.
   
   LESSON: If you attack, make it a finishing blow if you can. Devastating the first attacker may take the fight out of the second. In this case, it escalated when the teen pulled out a knife. Her response was to keep her distance. A good response may be to use something as a shield or cover, for example, a light post, fire hydrant, or vehicle.

What are your thoughts?

Read the whole story here.

18 Year-Old Mother Kills Intruder

A gripping story of self-defense.

McKinley said she asked the dispatcher, "I've got two guns in my hand -- is it OK to shoot him if he comes in this door? I'm here by myself with my infant baby, can I please get a dispatcher out here immediately?"

"I can't tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby," the dispatcher said.

The 911 conversation lasted for 21 minutes. Then the door gave in.

"I waited till he got in the door. They said I couldn't shoot him until he was inside the house. So I waited until he got in the door and then I shot him," McKinley told KFOR.

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Seen these? PoliceOne Top 5 Videos of Vehicle Incidents for 2011

These are worth heading over to PoliceOne to watch.

2011 in Review: Top 5 videos of vehicle incidents:

By PoliceOne Staff Some truly bizarre incidents can take place in vehicles, as the case of the Ohio woman who sprayed deputies with breast milk in June demonstrates — glaringly. Other clips show an officer struck by a stolen car get up and chase the driver, a suspect escape out the window of a patrol car, and a nice PIT maneuver.
Officer sent flying by stolen car, chases driver
A UK police officer goes flying after a stolen BMW plows into him, then gets up and chases the driver.
Ohio deputies sprayed with breast milk
Stephanie Robinette, 30, locked herself in a car and sprayed breast milk on the car and the deputies trying to coax her out of the vehicle.
Handcuffed prisoner jumps from cruiser
A prisoner in Utah was being driven in a cruiser when he asked to have the window rolled down, saying he was ill.
SC trooper's car engulfed in flames during chase
Miraculously, the trooper escaped without any major injuries.
PIT Success
A Trenton, Ga. patrol car stops a suspect's truck to end a pursuit. Nicely executed.

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The Knockout Game and How We Should Respond

Is the “Knockout Game” real? How can we respond?

“You don’t know them, so why care about hurting them?”

This Gateway Pundit post takes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to task for equating foreclosures and the opposition to “health care reform” with something called the “knock-out game.” I’ll leave the politics to the Gateway Pundit post, and instead focus on the following:

In April an elderly man was attacked by a mob of black youths playing “the knock out game” while walking home from the grocery store with his wife. They killed him.

In June a group of black youths beat a gay man bloody playing “the knock out game.”

In August black teen mobs targeted St. Louis cyclists in the knock out game.

In September, a 73-year-old man was knocked unconscious just outside of Tower Grove Park.

In October St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was the first person on the scene on after a local man was beat unconscious by a mob of teens. The youths were “playing” the “knock out” game. The victim’s jaw was shattered and needed to be wired shut. There were several broken bones on his face.

Personal Information May Put You at Risk - Serial Rapist Knew Details

An interesting story this morning, "Serial Rapist May Be Targeting Texas Sorority Alumnae, Police Say"

PLANO, Texas –  Police are looking for a serial rapist who may be targeting sorority alumnae in at least three North Texas cities, where at least four women have been attacked in their homes by a man who reportedly claimed he knew personal details about his victims. 

The victims, all members of the predominantly black Delta Sigma Theta sorority, were in their mid-50s to mid-60s and all were attacked late at night in their homes, according to police. It is unclear if the women knew each other.

Salient details:

• All victims were members of the same sorority
• All victims are in the same age range
• During the attacks, "the assailant revealed that he knew personal information about his victims"
  

Ok, maybe it's just me, but do any of you see a commonality here? To me, it looks like this piece of scum has access to the sorority's membership list. What do you think?

As we give some thought to this, is it possible that too many people have access to our home addresses, phone numbers, etc? The story does mention "avoid being alone or posting information about their day-to-day activities on social networking sites." But why? It could be a factor, for example, people who have wide open profiles on social media (Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Google+) sometimes use the "check-in" feature and let the world know that they are away from their homes, or even when they are home - not smart. However, in this case, the rapist knews where they all live, and, likely, that they are home alone.

US Army Staff Sgt Disarms Bank Robber (Video)

A feel-good story with lessons for all of us.

I love how he’s so casual about this:

“I took the weapon away from him, and put him on the ground…”– SSgt Eddie Peoples

Sgt. Peoples was not deterred.

"I've been through five deployments. I've fought the Muqtada militia, everybody you can think of, so weapons getting pointed at me, it doesn't really bother me anymore," he said. "I took the weapon away from him and put him on the ground and the rest was history."

Deputies arrested 34-year-old Matthew Rogers. He is charged with armed robbery.

"Every time I get deployed, I always tell my children I'm going to fight the bad men. When I walked back in the bank, my oldest boy said 'did you get the bad men?' and I said 'yep, I got the bad men' and everyone applauded," Peoples said.

Rogers has a long criminal history, including arrests for burglary, auto theft and reckless driving.

BJJ Instructor Saves Police Officer During Assault (Video)

Another story of a martial artist being the good guy!

Via the San Francisco Examiner:

A San Francisco cop enduring a pummeling from a “crazed” Muni fare evader Wednesday was fortunate that the attack happened outside a martial arts academy.

Hero jiu-jitsu instructor Pedro Arrigoni came to the cop’s rescue, putting the suspect into a choke hold and forcing him into submission at around 1 p.m., police said.

The 24-year-old Portola resident said he had just finished teaching a class at the AB Mixed Martial Arts Academy at 2975 San Bruno Ave. when he saw the suspect had mounted the cop after unleashing a flurry of punches.

Watch the video. [Warning! Graphic content.]

Now THIS just makes me mad!

Creeps Robbed a Kid’s Lemonade Stand

Scum! Whoops, I meant, “ethically challenged, underprivileged white youth.”

UFC Competitor Fights Crime

We see so many examples of bad press that MMA fighters get, so it’s time to give some well-deserved kudos, too.

Via MMATorch.com:

Jon Jones, trainers halt robber in New Jersey hours before UFC 128 title fight

Hours before the biggest fight in his young mixed martial arts career, Jon "Bones" Jones and his trainers Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn subdued a robber in northern New Jersey.

The three were en route to a waterfall to meditate when they noticed a man breaking into a car and stealing items from the vehicle. They yelled at the man and he took off running, and all three ran after him. Jones caught up to him first, and according to Jackson in comments made to Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, Jones "foot swept" the man to get him to the ground.

A great story of either a bad guy being in the wrong place at the right time, or of some heroics from an unlikely source: the much-maligned MMA fighter! Watch this interview:

Jon Jones, trainers halt robber in New Jersey hours before UFC 128 title fight

Some observations here, in no particular order:

1. These guys didn’t beat the hell out of the suspect, but used appropriate force to detain him – not your stereotype of MMA.
2. They had the conditioning to chase down the bad guy, probably far more than the larcenist had.
3. It could have gone down differently if the guy was armed (always a risk), and we should all consider it when deciding to intervene in a crime in progress. There is always the risk of injury, death, or damages via lawsuit, so be careful. Personally, if there’s a rape or assault and battery in progress, I’m going to probably jump in there and take my chances, but a property crime is less likely to get me in there. You make your own call. That said, we should always be glad that someone’s willing to stick his neck out for others.
4. What??? “The three were en route to a waterfall to meditate…” Uh, are you sure these were mixed martial arts guys? Breaks the stereotype in half, at least, doesn’t it?
5. I have participated in debates about MMA, and one of the knocks on it has consistently been that MMA fighters are undisciplined thugs (OK, no one ever went that far, but it’s an exaggeration only by a little), and have no respect for the arts which make up their “mix.” My argument is that, yes, there is a fair amount of dorkish/caddish/loutish behavior in MMA, but I have seen the same in “traditional” martial arts tournaments, and that will definitely take place anytime you are talking about competition at a high level, especially when hundreds of thousand of dollars are at stake. How could we expect MMA to be different? It’s a sport.
6. We have also discussed (in the martial arts blogging community) the efficacy of MMA in self defense situations, as opposed to traditional arts, and this should be included in those discussions. In the story, all of the skills that a good police officer should use were employed, takedown, nullification of striking, then restraint. Those skills, along with the incredible conditioning that all combat athletes have, plus the striking skills will make any MMA fighter a force to be reckoned with in a self-defense situation. Add to that mix that MMA fighters are used to falling, getting hit, and reversing position from any grappling range, and you have a formidable self-defense package.

Agree? Disagree? Please comment, or join us at our TDA Facebook Page to discuss.

Technorati Tags: Jon "Bones" Jones,Greg Jackson,Mike Winkeljohn,MMA,UFC,UFC128,robber,Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

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Home Invasion Survival

John Vesia has a post on Surviving a Home Invasion prompted by receiving information from an alarm company. He’s asking for comments as to what readers have done to prepare for the possibility, and how to survive.

Has anyone taken measures to ward off the possibility of a home invasion? Certainly, the very thought of one should be horrifying. But what to do? Keep a bat or some other handy weapon in the closet or drawer? Is owning a gun and keeping it at home a good idea if you have young children?

We’ve posted before on it, and thought it might be helpful to remind our readers.

In our post, Anecdotal Information on Home Invasion - Use of Deadly Force we cover the following:

During my recent time with a retired police officer (see Real-life Pit Bull Encounter) was home invasion, which is defined as, "burglary of a dwelling while the residents are at home." I've had several posts on what type of response you should have, or how you should prepare for the possibility of home invasion.

As we compared notes on burglary (I don't remember why the subject came up), the gist of our conversation was that true home invasion is actually pretty rare. Most are accidental - burglaries where someone isn't supposed to be home. For example, a home is usually burglarized when the residents are known to be away, or during the day. During those times, if someone is at home, it's likely that the burglar will attempt to flee, because he's after your property, not you, and wants to get away, not hang around.

The most frequent cases of intentional home invasion may be where the invader is an acquaintance (or relative) or former partner ( or spouse) of the resident, and intends harm to said resident, usually murder, rape, or robbery. In other words, someone breaks into your home because they know you are there, and want to harm or harass you while you are present.

In any case, depending on the original intention of the home invader (burglary of an unoccupied residence, robbery of the residents, or worse), your response should be appropriate. You don’t know what the intentions are, and can’t trust that it’s not to rape, rob, or murder you and your entire family. You don’t know. Will you risk it?

Our response in the same post was:

"weapons should always be your first resort, not the last. My reasoning is that, if faced with an unknown threat, especially an intruder that is so bold as to invade an occupied home, you should assume a deadly threatto your family." My position, after assuming that all other steps are taken to make the home a hard target, and assuming the invaders probably know that you are home and are coming in anyway, you are justified in using a weapon. The commenter is correct that use of deadly force may constitute a crime if not justified. I will clarify my opinion:

1. If you have a chance (or a choice), make sure that everyone in the home is BEHIND you and in as safe a place as possible. There are many cases in the news of inner-city shootouts that kill residents in their homes because bullets keep going until they stop. That means that you want everyone you care about behind you, if possible.
2. Call the cops - let them know where you are, meaning your full address and WHERE YOU ARE IN THE HOUSE. Make sure you let the dispatcher know that you are armed, and give a description of your appearance. For example, "My family and I are in the second-floor bedroom furthest back. I am a five foot, nine-inch white male with a beard, and wearing a blue t-shirt and boxer shorts. I am armed with a small semi-automatic pistol." For a good example of why you want to do this, go here.
3. Let the intruder know that you are there, armed, and that law enforcement has been called. Do this while staying on the phone so that it's recorded by the dispatcher (almost all 911 calls are recorded). Do this in a loud, clear voice.
4. If you believe the lives of you or your family are in danger, do what you have to do.

Consult with legal authorities in your state. Is that clear enough?

There is more good information linked from Weapons first or last?, a post on whether to use weapons or empty-hand self defense skills in a home invasion. Can you guess where we come down on that?

UPDATE: Wim weighs in on the subject here.

For more information:

Be sure to read Martial Views
Crime Doctor's Home Invasion page
Equalizer saves the day
The Armed Citizen

Lessons from the DC Metro (video)

[Content warning: violence, language]

UPDATED: Adding comments and other feedback.

Watch.

Attack at DC Metro station

The video posted here is likely from a bystander witnessing an attack at a Washington, DC Metro station. According to the story (posted here), it was in public, and no one assisted the victim. My summary:

1. Victim is minding his own business.
2. He is also distracted, not paying attention.
3. He is cornered, and then distracted again.
4. Unable to defend himself effectively, he tries to enlist aid in a busy public place.
5. No one comes to his aid.
6. Law enforcement takes a report.

Does that seem accurate?

Several thoughts, all my opinion as to what happened, and what we should all take away as lessons:

First, there are bad people in this world, who love to hurt others because they either don’t see them as human (and worthy of respect), or don’t care. My opinion, but justified in the newspapers and television every day. The beginning of awareness is knowledge that there is a potential threat and that may change your behavior.

Second, awareness of possible danger is fundamental to avoiding it. My friend tgace wrote an excellent, profound post early in his blogging career, Self-defense “magic formula”, wherein he shares this nugget:

As a LEO I believe I can give you the “magic formula” to avoid 99% of “street attacks”:

Don’t participate in illegal activity. Don’t hang out with people who attract trouble (need I clarify that?). Don’t hang out in places that attract trouble. Don’t get drunk or high. Don’t tolerate domestic violence, call the police and/or leave the abuser. Be alert to your surroundings and if something “feels” wrong…leave. Many people stick around thinking that they are being needlessly paranoid.

The point is that survival is almost always our choice. Our victim made a choice, probably out of ignorance, but chose to pay more attention to his book than the people (potential threats) around him. He was struck from one side, then the other, even while we was responding to the first. He had lost the initiative, which is always key to winning. The reason that most criminals continue to be criminals is that they get away with it. That’s because they act, rather than react. By knowing that you are already a step behind, you should be encouraged to at least be aware to give yourself some kind of chance.

Additionally, if something does happen, you’d better believe it. One of the most common responses by victims of violent crime is “I can’t believe this happened to me.” But that’s after the fact. The real problem is that many of us have that outlook during an attack, or while it’s developing. This is an extension of the first two points: 1) no conception of the predatory nature of others, and, consequently, 2) being unaware of what’s developing or happening, as in, “Someone’s approaching me with a closed fist and a scowl.” Another aspect of this attach was that the attackers were “kids.” If you have any ideas that kids, women, or smaller people won’t attack someone else, let this scenario be your education.

His reaction of asking for the attackers to stop had the same effect it almost always does – encouraging the attack to continue. As someone who’s taught dozens of women’s self-defense courses, it’s important to understand that one of the last responses that works is begging the attacker to stop. Additionally, the presence of others, adds the mob mentality to the situation, which makes extreme violence more likely regardless of the age and sex of the attackers.

So enough Monday-morning quarterbacking here. What is the proper response to an attack like this? First of all, let me say that these are my opinions only, as stated before, and should not be considered advice. That said, I would:

1. Be aware of possible danger – even in public places. Look around, make brief eye contact with everyone around you to let them know that you are aware of them, and that you’re not afraid.
2. Have an out – an exit strategy is more important in self-defense than anything else. How can you extricate yourself? Where are the exits? Is there anything in the way of your escape (especially threats)? Make a note of where, and how far they are, and make sure you don’t get disoriented.
3. Arm yourself. That may mean whatever is appropriate for your environment and potential threats. It may, or may not be permissible to carry a weapon, so consult with your attorney or state and local codes. My intention is to say that we should do what is necessary and legal to protect ourselves. In this guy’s case, it may be beneficial, in hindsight, to take some courses on effective self-defense. In other words, be armed with knowledge and ability to defend yourself and your loved ones.
4. Don’t count on help. The reason that the bystanders did nothing to help is probably more the rule than the exception, and is well-documented. In other words, you have to rely on yourself first, and if someone helps, all the better. This includes assistance from, or protection by, law enforcement. How many crimes in progress are interrupted by police officers, as opposed to solved after the fact? I’d hazard that most arrests are for suspects to crimes not witnessed by officers, meaning you’ve got little chance. In the case of our Metro patron, the fact that the attackers were so brazen as to do this with witnesses all around them means that they weren’t very afraid of getting caught.
5. I’m going to stop here - I’d suggest you read this, then comment. I’d love to get your feedback as to whether there are any other lessons here. I will update the post and add your suggestions with credit.

UPDATES from comments and other feedback:

• Rick, don't be stupid (you can’t put a price on wisdom, AKA common sense- Nathan)
• Elias The only thing I disagree with, is the part where you said that asking the attackers to stop is useless. It is probably useless as far as stopping the attackers goes, but it might be necessary from a legal point of view. (Excellent point, and great advice- Nathan)
• Via Facebook:
  FB User Good tips... now what would master pak do if (for the sake of argument) a little girl started wailing on u? How would u get them to back off, without looking like a grown man beating a little girl (..bitch...) it would be hard for me to run away, but having an angry mop push me on the tracks doesn't sound good either...
  
  Master Pak- Ignore the little girl and take out the biggest one and be sure to drop him. I'm pretty sure I can push her hard enough to fall or sweep her to be out of the picture if I can't be scary enough yelling at her. I yell pretty damn loud. if she comes back, I can whip her jacket over her head a la hockey fight style to temporarily subdue

Remember, the nature of self-defense is proactive.

For more information:

See the original post Man attacked by kids at L'Enfant Metro
Self-defense
Multiple Attackers

Hat tip to my friend and peer Jhon Pak, whom I’m betting would not respond in the same way!

Technorati Tags: DC,Metro,Attack,Mugging,Crime,Public Transportation,Subway,Self defense

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Always the last place you look!

A man who eluded police was found hiding under his bed [Emphasis mine-Nathan] Friday morning after he and another man stole a car, tried to ram a police cruiser with it, and then crashed it into a fence, authorities said. - Source