Post by Rick Allain on Jun 29, 2011 9:21:15 GMT
Here's a good article on TheBlackBeltBlog written by Mark Lee of RealWorldSelfDefense.com. It is a great example of a scary situation where anything other than very agressive self-defense falls short, but controlled resistance and confidence can keep you alive. My comments are below. First of all, I’d like to congratulate Gabriel on a situation well handled, that he and his friends got out of alive. Secondly I’d like to make it clear that I am not passing judgement of any kind, and having not been in a situation like that I can not be sure exactly how I would react either. Ok now that’s out of the way I’d like to speculate on how the situation could have been handled differently (or how similar situations could be handled in the future), and whether various courses of action would have made the situation better or worse. I just figure it’s best to try and learn from these things. My initial thoughts are: - This is a a good advert for a peephole, as the girl could’ve seen who it was at the door. Though I suspect the attackers might have prepared for them not opening the door, it could have bought them long enough to dial the police. - It says he hit the first guy, but it doesn’t say where so I’m assuming it was in the face/head. Perhaps the throat would have been better, if he had time to hit the guy several times, two or three hard punches to the throat are enough to incapacitate most men. I try to ingrain this self-defense response into myself incase I need it. How the bigger guy would have reacted though we can’t be sure. It might have deterred him, or it might’ve made the situation worse. Without knowing why they were there or who they were it’s impossible to say. - An alternative could have been to pick up a non-lethal weapon. I’ve had a few instances when I’ve thought noises could have been an intruder and I always pick up something, even if it’s just to throw at them as a temporary distraction. - His friend/flatmate stood frozen when he was needed. This just highlights that you cannot rely on other people to protect you or themselves in dangerous situations. |  |
Let me know what you think - how do you think you would have reacted in that situation? Have you or someone you know ever been in a similar position?