jblomenberg16
Grandmaster
I had an unusual experience this morning. I was driving to work as usual and noticed the car ahead of me on the state highway was driving strangely. He'd hit is brake lights every time he passed a house, and was driving about 40MPH in a 55MPH zone. I kept my distance since I didn't want to potentially rear-end him if he stopped suddenly.
Once we were past a row of houses he sped back up to the speed limit for the next 1/2 mile or so, before stopping at a stop sign that was a "Tee" intersection. He sat there longer than normal and I slowly pulled to a stop behind him, again giving him a bit of room. By this time a few more cars had pulled up behind me.
The driver got out of the car and started quickly walking towards my truck. Until then I hadn't thought much about it other than maybe the guy was lost or distracted and maybe texting and driving. As he approaches he gives a friendly 1/2 wave and we make eye contact. Because I'm a low speed high drag Tier 5 operator, I watched his hands to make sure he didn't have a weapon. No weapons visible and his hands were both in front of him in a non-threatening manner. I roll down my window and as "may I help you?" He asked if I could help him find <Farmer Brown's> Farm (not the real name he asked for of course). He said he worked for a contractor that was helping do a job out there and had gotten lost on the country roads. He was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt with a construction logo and Carhart work pants, so story sounded legit.
The farm he was looking for was 5 or 6 miles away, and there wasn't an easy way for me to tell him how to get there without the usual country directions of "go to the old farm house by the crick, hang a left, and then go until you see the 5 legged billy goat farm, then take a right." So I pointed him in the general direction and gave him a few turn by turn directions from where we were that at least got him closer than he was now. I wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt since it is easy to get lost in the country, especially for someone from out of state. He thanked me and said he'd go that way and hopefully he'd be able to find someone else to help him get the rest of the way there.
After that he went back to his car and went on his way. I genuinely hoped I was helpful and kind of felt bad that I wasn't able to get him all the way there with easy directions. I've had other people pull in my drive way while I've been working in the yard and I always help them or at least get them pointed in the right direction. I always figure I'd want that same kind of help if I were lost.
I had some time to think about it a bit more and started wondering how I might have reacted different had I determined the guy was a threat. Most of my self defense plan is either based upon keeping our home secure in the event of a break in, or defending myself in a public place while walking or sitting. I haven't really planned at all about what to do if I was in my vehicle.
Lets say the guy got out and clearly had a weapon, such as a knife, tire iron, gun, etc. Then what?
Once we were past a row of houses he sped back up to the speed limit for the next 1/2 mile or so, before stopping at a stop sign that was a "Tee" intersection. He sat there longer than normal and I slowly pulled to a stop behind him, again giving him a bit of room. By this time a few more cars had pulled up behind me.
The driver got out of the car and started quickly walking towards my truck. Until then I hadn't thought much about it other than maybe the guy was lost or distracted and maybe texting and driving. As he approaches he gives a friendly 1/2 wave and we make eye contact. Because I'm a low speed high drag Tier 5 operator, I watched his hands to make sure he didn't have a weapon. No weapons visible and his hands were both in front of him in a non-threatening manner. I roll down my window and as "may I help you?" He asked if I could help him find <Farmer Brown's> Farm (not the real name he asked for of course). He said he worked for a contractor that was helping do a job out there and had gotten lost on the country roads. He was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt with a construction logo and Carhart work pants, so story sounded legit.
The farm he was looking for was 5 or 6 miles away, and there wasn't an easy way for me to tell him how to get there without the usual country directions of "go to the old farm house by the crick, hang a left, and then go until you see the 5 legged billy goat farm, then take a right." So I pointed him in the general direction and gave him a few turn by turn directions from where we were that at least got him closer than he was now. I wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt since it is easy to get lost in the country, especially for someone from out of state. He thanked me and said he'd go that way and hopefully he'd be able to find someone else to help him get the rest of the way there.
After that he went back to his car and went on his way. I genuinely hoped I was helpful and kind of felt bad that I wasn't able to get him all the way there with easy directions. I've had other people pull in my drive way while I've been working in the yard and I always help them or at least get them pointed in the right direction. I always figure I'd want that same kind of help if I were lost.
I had some time to think about it a bit more and started wondering how I might have reacted different had I determined the guy was a threat. Most of my self defense plan is either based upon keeping our home secure in the event of a break in, or defending myself in a public place while walking or sitting. I haven't really planned at all about what to do if I was in my vehicle.
Lets say the guy got out and clearly had a weapon, such as a knife, tire iron, gun, etc. Then what?
