Posted on 03/26/2011 6:24:27 AM PDT by marktwain
Sometimes when you are working on a project you sit back holding your spray can and realize while you've done some good work, it just needs another coat.
It was a Friday night, shortly after 10:00 p.m.; I was sitting in the family room with my wife watching a TV program about a mathematician that helps the FBI solve crimes. The phone rang; there was a young woman on the other side that was clearly in distress. With a pen and pad in hand I started taking notes on what had occurred. When my telephone goes off in the late hours, it is most often because somebody found themselves in a self-defense engagement and used force in defense of themselves or someone else. Tonight would be no different, but this time I started laughing and during the conversation. My wife thought I was losing my mind.
On the other end of the phone was a young woman who was clearly in distress. She was speaking quickly and it sounded as though she was trying to choke back some tears. She began telling me the story of what happened, and as is often is the case, I asked her to skip some details and provide me with some very specific information. Once this information was provided I had a clear picture of what had happened. I knew right then and there she would be okay.
Missy, Jessica and Bob were heading to a friend's surprise birthday party. They did not want to arrive too early so they stopped at a local bar to talk and enjoy a cocktail before moving on. While inside, a jerk began hitting on Missy. The jerk's advances were unwelcome and Missy made it clear that she wasn't interested. The jerk was drunk and continued his advances. Bob and Jessica tried to intervene, but it was apparent that the jerk was not going to give up, and it was best they leave the bar and move on to the surprise party. So out they went. Bob was distracted as he left the bar and did not see the jerk coming up behind him towards the two girls.
When Missy turned around to look for Bob, she sees the jerk lumbering towards her and he starts calling her some very unpleasant names. She is now frightened and begins to shake. The jerk then begins to threaten her. Missy is smart. She carries a firearm in her purse and since she knew she was heading to a bar and to a party where alcohol would be consumed so she thought it was best to leave her purse in Jessica's trunk. As she approached Jessica's car, she thought about asking Jessica to open the trunk so she could retrieve her firearm to "encourage" the jerk to move onto easier prey. Then she gave some thought to the other tools available to her. In her jacket pocket was a very small wallet containing some cash, credit cards, her ID and a keychain. Attached to that keychain was a small canister of pepper spray. She reached into her jacket removed the pepper spray from its pink pleather holster, and sprayed him in the eyes and face. The jerk collapsed like an unset jello mold. He began screaming obscenities. Now Missy is pissed. While the jerk is on the ground on all fours trying to cover his face, she "gives him a second coat".
This is probably the funniest thing that I've ever heard on that emergency line. Missy, Bill and Jessica were now in the car with the doors locked. No one had called 911. Missy kept me on the phone while Jessica called 911 from her cell phone. While Jessica was calling 911, a bouncer from the bar came out and insisted that Missy get out of the car so he could speak with her. I told Missy to stay in the vehicle as the bouncer had no authority to instruct her to do anything, and she was safe in the locked car. She was to sit in the car until law enforcement arrived. Within a few minutes, three patrol cars rolled up to the bar and immediately took the jerk into custody since he thought it would be a good idea to resist their advances and to call them obscene names as well.
The police then questioned Missy, Bill and Jessica. The officer assured Missy that she did the right thing and that everything would be just fine.
That was the end of the evening for the jerk. He was brought to jail for a number of charges including disorderly conduct. Then the police told Missy that she was free to continue with her evening. She was thrilled. She really had no idea what would happen to her, and in her heart she honestly thought she would be arrested as well.
Had she discharged her firearm instead of her pepper spray, there is a good chance she would have been arrested. I will not speculate on the outcome of that scenario, but use this experience in Missy's life to once again show the value of having multiple tools in one's self-defense tool box. OC spray (pepper spray) certainly has its time and place, and one enormous benefit of hitting somebody with OC spray is that at the end of the day everyone goes home (eventually).
When the police rolled up at the bar, they saw two upset women and a guy lying on the ground screaming while trying to breath. The gals relayed a story of unwelcome advances and his attempt to follow them to their car. In the end the officer simply told the jerk that he picked on the wrong girl.
It sounds like he has a job with the 911 service in his area, answered the call, alerted the police. The guy in question; it may not be that he was without all the “socially acceptable equipment”. He may have just been drunk and disorderly. - He got himself arrested.
Finding dates in bars is pretty much nuts anyway. Rather, become friends with someone instead (maybe in church), real friends, and go from there. If you marry your friend, you have some hope for a life. If you don’t, misery lurks.
“Wasp and Hornet spray is super effective at disabling any aggressor, You may want to reconsider that:”
http://personalprotection4u.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-recently-received-following-email.html
http://findinfoworld.com/blog/2011/02/02/self-defense-tools-wasp-spray-vs-pepper-spray/
Thank you, this is the only useful information on the whole thread.
I keep the Mace Pepper Gun in my glove box and one next to the door to spray aggressive dogs which might attack my small dogs. I MIGHT use it on an unarmed human, like a drunk, otherwise I will use something louder.
I agree. I wondered if it was just me but seems we are getting more and more of these stories that just don’t ring true, makes me wonder why.
Let me get this straight - you’re defending the boor!?
You need to re-read the events.
No problem with hitting on the girl. If he had gone back to his chair after being rebuffed in the bar, things would have been OK. It crossed the line when he followed them to their car while swearing at them drunkenly in the parking lot. When he closed to within OC spray range, enough was enough.
You should re-read these events carefully, it might help keep you out of trouble yourself.
very clever and useful.
My first thought was, "What kind of sissies are Bob and Bill?" The one guy locks himself in the car and the other guy disappears? It sounds like the drunken creep was the only man there.
One important note. Pepper spray is a wonderful tool, mostly against aggressive stray dogs. However, though you use just a little bit, usually, it’s probably a good idea to buy a new canister, when next you think of it, and discard the old one.
This is because it is very hard to judge how full one of those canisters is, and the next time you need it, you might need the whole canister.
N.B.: If you are in a much more serious defensive situation, and you need some standoff distance between you and an aggressor, wasp spray is a good alternative, as it sends out a thin stream a goodly distance and is very potent.
If it is an extremely dangerous, life or death defensive situation, use spray on oven cleaner. Alternatively, some strong sprays are very flammable, and make an impressive, short range flame thrower.
This line sounded like one of those emails that contain too many typical stereotypes to be real...
“She reached into her jacket removed the pepper spray from its pink pleather holster...”
But the link provided is a law blog, and apparently the story is told in the first person by this guy:
J. Patrick Buckley is an attorney focusing in firearm's law, self-defense and use of force law as well as business, corporate, real estate and constitutional law. He is a National Rifle Association certified firearm's instructor and a certified pepper-spray instructor. He can be contacted at Buckley@jpbesq.com or (239) 278-7700.
Although I'm not sure why one would need a "pepper-spray instructor" anymore than one would need a insect-spray instructor.
Some states require you to attend a class about the uses of pepper spray before you are allowed to purchase and/or carry it.
How in the world do you let anyone threaten your gal?
It's beyond our way of thinking.
Wasp spray for self defense is a bad idea. It is a myth! Stick with the Pepper Spray. Wasp spray is unproven and has never been tested on humans. Wasp Spray will NOT work on those who cannot feel pain i.e. drugs or alcohol. Pepper Spray is an inflammatory which will cause the eyes to slam shut no matter the situation. Thats why over 40,000 law enforcement agencies carry it nationwide and even the smallest canisters will fire 10 ft while the larger canisters will fire 25 to 30 ft.
In many states, throwing an alkaline substance, or a lot of other things, in someone’s eyes is a serious crime.
Now, if you are in fear for your life, and it is truly all you have available...
But if you are in fear for your life, why not use the firearm?
Dude, the guy was an obnoxious drunk who followed a woman onto the street and started calling her foul names. Anyone who does that to one of our companions will be lucky if pepper spray is the only thing he gets a face full of.
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