I've had several encounters with coons, and unless you corner them or try to pet/touch them, they'll simply slink away, looking over their shoulder at you the whole way.
I once ran outside to throw out the trash at night and surprised a HUGE one (30-36 inches long, PLUS tail) in the open-air shed where we keep the cans. He was cornered, and I knew that was bad, but he froze, and I backed out of there slowly, and he climbed the gate on the other side and took off.
The largest one ran down and threatened to jump down on me, I went inside and came back with a .22 and plugged him.
He screamed like a dying woman for about 15 minutes, all neighbor's lights came on, (I live in town) cops were called, searched the neighborhood with spotlights, I stayed hid 'til daylight, buried coon in flower planter.
Close call!