Unpredictable, that is the worst

[Goodcat]

It is not difficult to plan to react, to avoid, to back away, to give up, any of these things are easy if you run into a potentially violent situation.

The same with cars. I don't mind having to swap out an engine, but what I do mind is when a problem is unpredictable and shows no steady symptoms.

I hate going out late anymore, I hate when my friends invite me out late, but I need to spend time with old friends. I was driving home from downtown at 12:30 am and came to the intersection of College and 30th heading north. A guy is walking south from the west side of the street with a very large trench coat/hoodie. He begins walking angled toward my car in the street. I followed him with my peripheral vision and he closed about 2/3 the distance between the sidewalk and my car just before passing my car at the red light. He noticed me slowly turning my head to follow and while continuing south, went back toward the sidewalk. As he disappeared from view, I re angled my mirror so see what was going on. At this point, he had turned and was looking the car and began to abruptly approach the driver's door from his current position. I gave it a little gas to gain some distance, and the light went immediately green. This was the most unpredictable behavior I have encountered.

If I didn't know any better, I think he wanted my car or something in it.

I felt safe in the locked car, armed. But what if he had a gun under that jacket?? What if he didn't want to ask for the car first?

Stay safe out there guys, observe your surroundings!

 

[CampingJosh]

Stay safe out there guys, observe your surroundings!

Being aware of your surroundings and the people therein goes a long way. This isn't just a late-at-night thing or an in-the-city thing; this is an every-minute-of-every-day thing.

 

[littletommy]

Being aware of your surroundings and the people therein goes a long way. This isn't just a late-at-night thing or an in-the-city thing; this is an every-minute-of-every-day thing.

That is THE most important thing anyone can do to be safe, wether carrying a firearm or not.

 

[Vanguard.45]

Study Jeff Cooper's Color Codes

From Wikipedia:

"The most important means of surviving a lethal confrontation, according to Cooper, is neither the weapon nor the martial skills. The primary tool is the combat mindset, set forth in his book, Principles of Personal Defense.[5] In the chapter on awareness, Cooper presents an adaptation of the Marine Corps system to differentiate states of readiness:

The color code, as originally introduced by Jeff Cooper, had nothing to do with tactical situations or alertness levels, but rather with one's state of mind. As taught by Cooper, it relates to the degree of peril you are willing to do something about and which allows you to move from one level of mindset to another to enable you to properly handle a given situation. Cooper did not claim to have invented anything in particular with the color code, but he was apparently the first to use it as an indication of mental state.[6]

• White - Unaware and unprepared. If attacked in Condition White, the only thing that may save you is the inadequacy or ineptitude of your attacker. When confronted by something nasty, your reaction will probably be "Oh my God! This can't be happening to me."
• Yellow - Relaxed alert. No specific threat situation. Your mindset is that "today could be the day I may have to defend myself." You are simply aware that the world is a potentially unfriendly place and that you are prepared to defend yourself, if necessary. You use your eyes and ears, and realize that "I may have to SHOOT today." You don't have to be armed in this state, but if you are armed you should be in Condition Yellow. You should always be in Yellow whenever you are in unfamiliar surroundings or among people you don't know. You can remain in Yellow for long periods, as long as you are able to "Watch your six." (In aviation 12 o'clock refers to the direction in front of the aircraft's nose. Six o'clock is the blind spot behind the pilot.) In Yellow, you are "taking in" surrounding information in a relaxed but alert manner, like a continuous 360 degree radar sweep. As Cooper put it, "I might have to shoot."
• Orange - Specific alert. Something is not quite right and has gotten your attention. Your radar has picked up a specific alert. You shift your primary focus to determine if there is a threat (but you do not drop your six). Your mindset shifts to "I may have to shoot HIM today," focusing on the specific target which has caused the escalation in alert status. In Condition Orange, you set a mental trigger: "If that fraggle does 'x', I will need to stop him." Your pistol usually remains holstered in this state. Staying in Orange can be a bit of a mental strain, but you can stay in it for as long as you need to. If the threat proves to be nothing, you shift back to Condition Yellow.
• Red - Condition Red is fight. Your mental trigger (established back in Condition Orange) has been tripped. If "X" happens I will shoot that person.

The USMC also uses "Condition Black" as actively engaged in combat, as do some of Cooper's successors, but Cooper always felt this was an unnecessary step and not in keeping with the mindset definition of the color code since it is a state of action.
In short, the Color Code helps you "think" in a fight. As the level of danger increases, your willingness to take certain actions increases. If you ever do go to Condition Red, the decision to use lethal force has already been made (your "mental trigger" has been tripped).
The following are some of Cooper's additional comments on the subject.
"Considering the principles of personal defense, we have long since come up with the Color Code. This has met with surprising success in debriefings throughout the world. The Color Code, as we preach it, runs white, yellow, orange, and red, and is a means of setting one’s mind into the proper condition when exercising lethal violence, and is not as easy as I had thought at first.
There is a problem in that some students insist upon confusing the appropriate color with the amount of danger evident in the situation. As I have long taught, you are not in any color state because of the specific amount of danger you may be in, but rather in a mental state which enables you to take a difficult psychological step."Now, however, the government has gone into this and is handing out color codes nationwide based upon the apparent nature of a peril. It has always been difficult to teach the Gunsite Color Code, and now it is more so.
We cannot say that the government’s ideas about colors are wrong, but that they are different from what we have long taught here."The problem is this: your combat mind-set is not dictated by the amount of danger to which you are exposed at the time. Your combat mind-set is properly dictated by the state of mind you think appropriate to the situation. You may be in deadly danger at all times, regardless of what the Defense Department tells you. The color code which influences you does depend upon the willingness you have to jump a psychological barrier against taking irrevocable action. That decision is less hard to make since the jihadis have already made it."
He further simplified things in Vol 13 #7 of his Commentaries.
"In White you are unprepared and unready to take lethal action. If you are attacked in White you will probably die unless your adversary is totally inept. In Yellow you bring yourself to the understanding that your life may be in danger and that you may have to do something about it. In Orange you have determined upon a specific adversary and are prepared to take action which may result in his death, but you are not in a lethal mode. In Red you are in a lethal mode and will shoot if circumstances warrant."[7]

 

[Hoosier8]

It is not difficult to plan to react, to avoid, to back away, to give up, any of these things are easy if you run into a potentially violent situation.

The same with cars. I don't mind having to swap out an engine, but what I do mind is when a problem is unpredictable and shows no steady symptoms.

I hate going out late anymore, I hate when my friends invite me out late, but I need to spend time with old friends. I was driving home from downtown at 12:30 am and came to the intersection of College and 30th heading north. A guy is walking south from the west side of the street with a very large trench coat/hoodie. He begins walking angled toward my car in the street. I followed him with my peripheral vision and he closed about 2/3 the distance between the sidewalk and my car just before passing my car at the red light. He noticed me slowly turning my head to follow and while continuing south, went back toward the sidewalk. As he disappeared from view, I re angled my mirror so see what was going on. At this point, he had turned and was looking the car and began to abruptly approach the driver's door from his current position. I gave it a little gas to gain some distance, and the light went immediately green. This was the most unpredictable behavior I have encountered.

If I didn't know any better, I think he wanted my car or something in it.

I felt safe in the locked car, armed. But what if he had a gun under that jacket?? What if he didn't want to ask for the car first?

Stay safe out there guys, observe your surroundings!

OK, I have to ask, were you armed?

 

[eldirector]

12:30 am and came to the intersection of College and 30th

Sounds pretty predictable for that area. I try to time the lights when I head through that part of town, even during daylight. I lived at 42nd and College for a while, and yeah, dudes in hoodies approaching your car late at night is par for the course.

Glad you had the sense to stay aware! Could have been nothing...... or not.

 

[patandhisruger]

maybe it was just a creepy dude...you have to be able to separate fear from reality...you sound a bit scared, in general...paranoia and guns aren't good..especially in Bripple that place is home to some of the creepiest, drugged out hippies east of the mississippi....

 

[Hoosier8]

maybe it was just a creepy dude...you have to be able to separate fear from reality...you sound a bit scared, in general...paranoia and guns aren't good..especially in Bripple that place is home to some of the creepiest, drugged out hippies east of the mississippi....

Hate to break it to ya, but 30th and College is not Bripple. A guy got shot just driving through there once.

That said, since I live south of there I have been through that area many times and often late at night and have never had a problem or seen anything like the OP saw. That guy's behavior was certainly erratic, but more often than not, someone asks for money. I have even been yelled at because I would not cough up some dough, but no one has been physically violent about it. One of the reasons I don't like stopping at the gas station or Krogers on 16th street.

 

[2cool9031]

It is not difficult to plan to react, to avoid, to back away, to give up, any of these things are easy if you run into a potentially violent situation.

The same with cars. I don't mind having to swap out an engine, but what I do mind is when a problem is unpredictable and shows no steady symptoms.

I hate going out late anymore, I hate when my friends invite me out late, but I need to spend time with old friends. I was driving home from downtown at 12:30 am and came to the intersection of College and 30th heading north. A guy is walking south from the west side of the street with a very large trench coat/hoodie. He begins walking angled toward my car in the street. I followed him with my peripheral vision and he closed about 2/3 the distance between the sidewalk and my car just before passing my car at the red light. He noticed me slowly turning my head to follow and while continuing south, went back toward the sidewalk. As he disappeared from view, I re angled my mirror so see what was going on. At this point, he had turned and was looking the car and began to abruptly approach the driver's door from his current position. I gave it a little gas to gain some distance, and the light went immediately green. This was the most unpredictable behavior I have encountered.

If I didn't know any better, I think he wanted my car or something in it.

I felt safe in the locked car, armed. But what if he had a gun under that jacket?? What if he didn't want to ask for the car first?

Stay safe out there guys, observe your surroundings!

Good Advise, If I was in that situation and he got too close to the car and there was no traffic....I would have blew the red light. A ticket would have been cheaper than having to hire a lawyer and explain why I had to shoot a guy that was trying to carjack me.

 

[whoismunky]

OK, I have to ask, were you armed?

goodcat: "I felt safe in the locked car, armed."

 

[IndianaResident]

Good Advise, If I was in that situation and he got too close to the car and there was no traffic....I would have blew the red light. A ticket would have been cheaper than having to hire a lawyer and explain why I had to shoot a guy that was trying to carjack me.

Stand-off is your friend, even if you they just want to talk.

 

[Goodcat]

maybe it was just a creepy dude...you have to be able to separate fear from reality...you sound a bit scared, in general...paranoia and guns aren't good..especially in Bripple that place is home to some of the creepiest, drugged out hippies east of the mississippi....

I'd describe my entire situation and explanation much more as prepared than paranoid... Also mentioned by another poster, this was not in Broad ripple if you'd read the details. Plus he had telepathic abilities and was kidnapping my brain.

 

[littletommy]

Plus he had telepathic abilities and was kidnapping my brain.

I hate when that happens!