Reference self defense stories

[Spartacus Maximus]

When teaching or discussing self-defense, it is useful to have a few stories to use as examples to illustrate what to do or what to avoid. These can be from personal experience or accounts of situations witnessed. Here are two of mine:

#1 while out enjoying the nightlife and on the way to the next stop a violent drunken incident happened at the first place. Several locals were injured and that business's property front heavily destroyed.

Believing I was the culprit, a group of 3 aggressive locals suddenly approached. All were firmly convinced that I was to blame. As soon as the first and most aggressive individual was close enough, a single strike to the nose was all that was needed to run, find a taxi and get as far away as possible.

Lessons learned: avoid seedy areas, reasoning does not always work and hit-and-run is a good strategy.

#2 An acquaintance asked for advice on dealing with violence at work. A group was constantly threatening and one day cornered him with intent to rough him up. After managing to escape, he finally called the police because despite reports, the management would do nothing about the situation. Nobody was seriously harmed, but the management and the police blamed him for causing trouble.

This man was a combat veteran quite capable of defending himself but he was a foreigner and double standards applied. Furthermore, the situation was a social setting(workplace) with people whom he dealt with regularly. Eventually after convincing him he did the only sensible thing to do, he followed my advice to find a safer place to work.

Lesson learned: Escape is the best way to deal with social violence. Sometimes it is the only solution. Not every situation is, nor should it be treated as do-or-die.

Who else has stories useful for teaching about self-defense?

[jaypo]

I just found out that a woman that used to train with us periodically had hired a man she knew from work (with a known mental illness) to work on her upstairs bathroom in her house. She hired him because she (thought) she knew him. However, as he was working in the room, she had to get something out of her bedroom, which was adjacent to the bathroom, and as she walked across the room, the man threw her on the bed and exposed himself to her, trying to force himself on her. She screamed, and he ran out of the house. She did nothing to report the incident. Then, last week, she looked outside her window before work, and the man was standing in the yard. When she told him to leave, he said he gave her a couple of weeks to think about what happened and that he was "obsessed" with her. She then called the cops.

The lesson here is more about situational awareness. She should not have been in the house alone with a man known to have certain issues, and she should have been fully aware of every move he made. AND, she should have reported the incident immediately to hopefully avoid the man being at her doorstep a few weeks later. To break it down a little further, she should know a few techniques to get herself out of the physical situation she was in the first time.

[sensei8]

When I first opened up my first dojo, I worked the weekend nights as a bouncer in a stripping bar for a few years, and man oh man, what I could share with you all, could fill up a book. But, those memories will stay in the recesses of my mind...sorry!!

[Montana]

When teaching or discussing self-defense, it is useful to have a few stories to use as examples to illustrate what to do or what to avoid. These can be from personal experience or accounts of situations witnessed. Here are two of mine:

#1 while out enjoying the nightlife and on the way to the next stop a violent drunken incident happened at the first place. Several locals were injured and that business's property front heavily destroyed.

Believing I was the culprit, a group of 3 aggressive locals suddenly approached. All were firmly convinced that I was to blame. As soon as the first and most aggressive individual was close enough, a single strike to the nose was all that was needed to run, find a taxi and get as far away as possible.

Lessons learned: avoid seedy areas, reasoning does not always work and hit-and-run is a good strategy.

#2 An acquaintance asked for advice on dealing with violence at work. A group was constantly threatening and one day cornered him with intent to rough him up. After managing to escape, he finally called the police because despite reports, the management would do nothing about the situation. Nobody was seriously harmed, but the management and the police blamed him for causing trouble.

This man was a combat veteran quite capable of defending himself but he was a foreigner and double standards applied. Furthermore, the situation was a social setting(workplace) with people whom he dealt with regularly. Eventually after convincing him he did the only sensible thing to do, he followed my advice to find a safer place to work.

Lesson learned: Escape is the best way to deal with social violence. Sometimes it is the only solution. Not every situation is, nor should it be treated as do-or-die.

Who else has stories useful for teaching about self-defense?

Similar situation, different outcome. In 1985 my father passed away and I had to take care of his affairs. I took a break from sorting through his house and deciding what to do with 70 years of "stuff", and went downtown to a favorite bar of minbe to have a beer and relax a bit.

About an hour later as I was walking thru the parking lot towards my car I pass by the dtrivers side of a parked car facing the same way I was going. The window rolled quickly down and the driver spit out of it, nearly hitting my leg.

I said "Nice try, better luck next time." and continued walking. The doors of the car opened and 3 college age men got out of it and lined up in front of me (Moe, Larry and Curly) Words were exchanged whem Moe decided to cock his arm back and lunge at me. I hit him once hard in the nose and he went down. Larry came at me next and a front snap kick to his stomach doubled him over. I looked at Curly like.."Well, whatcha gonna do?"..and he put up his hands in a obvious "Not me!" gesture.

Fight over.

I fully realize that running away is a common practice taught by many sensei, and I do also, but for me anyway, I don't like to run. I did enough of that as a kid and unless s the odds are overwhelming, or the outcome of the fight is in doubt, I will stand and fight.

[jaypo]

Montana- I feel the same way. I'm 42 now, and I have 2 bad knees. So running would probably be as bad for me as confronting the issue!!

I'm a firm believer in de-escalating the confrontation, but if it is evident that it can't be fixed by talking or avoiding, I'm not going to let someone get close enough to me to knock me out. I'm going to do what I need to do to get home to my family.

The old saying that there is no first attack in Karate has a gray area- does an "attack" have to be a strike? Or does 3 men approaching me in an aggressive manner count as an attack? I believe any confrontation that makes me believe that it can't be avoided is an attack. And I will react accordingly.

[Nidan Melbourne]

I have used my MA Training a few times in Self Defense, but strangely every single time it has been on Public Transport. Twice on a Tram and Once on a Bus!

On two of those occassions it was with multiple attackers and they clearly didn't think things through! So i'll tell you about the bus incident because that seems to me the most interesting of these attacks.

I was on my way out to uni and the bus was still at the Depot in Footscray and was sitting on the front seat near the front door but had a piece of glass between me and it. 3 teens come up to me asking for cigarettes and since i don't smoke and i apologized for not having any due to being a non-smoker. They first started hurling abuse and i was trying to calm the situation before things escalated, but to no avail. The first teen decided to throw a punch but blocked and drew into a triangle choke (don't know how I managed it due to the lack of available space), the second teen chucked a punch and i managed to lock him into a headlock whilst still controlling the 1st teen. and told the third one that I will let them go immediately upon him stepping away and going towards the door.

This happened within' 10-15 seconds and at no point did I attempt to fully lock in either of those chokes to make them unconscious, but i only applied minimal pressure to ensure that i had control.

But those teens failed to realize that there were police standing outside the bus door speaking to the bus driver casually and they saw and heard absolutely everything. The officers assured me that I wouldn't be charged due to my reasonable attempts to calm things down and to defend myself reasonably with a fair level of force required. When they did a pat down of all 3 teens it turns out that the one I had in a headlock had a flick knife in his jacket pocket that he could have easily pulled at any time.

After my interview with the police where i gave my statement, they told me that the three teens were 13, 14 and 16 years old respectively but they were a lot larger due to their physical stature. I thought that they were 17, 18 and 19.

I told the police that I didn't want them to be locked up, but would like them to be formally charged but as a punishment that they should do community service for both the council and old peoples homes that could use volunteers for the elderly and to keep them company. I told the police this because I didn't want to ruin their lives completely by putting them at risk of danger on the inside. And that they could be rehabilitated and learn from working and still getting an education whilst they are at it.

[jaypo]

The only time I've personally had to use my skills in self defense was over 25 years ago. I was probably 15 or 16. A guy that I had recently fought in my neighborhood to make him stop beating up the kids in the area had come back looking for me. So I went to the field behind the houses, and there he was, waiting for me. He charged at me, tackled me, and had full mount on me. However, he was not able to land a single punch! I was able to get up and pop him a few times, and he gassed. He tried to get his friends to jump in, but they didn't. It was over within a few minutes. The only thing I was able to use was blocks. I only knew strict JKA Shotokan at that time, and I didn't have the time to do anything. He came charging in from a short distance, and I didn't have time to kick or punch.

If this occurred now, I would be a lot more prepared. I am a lot more self aware of my surroundings now. Distance and movement are my strong points (thanks to my new system). And I'm "slightly" stronger than I was as a 125 pound 15 year old!!! I see that scenario playing out now with a clinch ending with a bout 6 knees or a head and arm choke.