Recent Attack And Response

ZAMBONI

Newbie
Last Saturday I was with my wife at an indoor rock concert where everyone was standing listening to the band. All lethal, semi-lethal and non-lethal self-defense tools were forbidden at the event and cell phone availability is very poor signal (1x). There was a man drunk and dancing wildly with a woman, banging into people. He was in his late 20s of muscular upper body build about 5’6” tall and short blonde hair. I am in my mid 60s, 6’ and very good physical condition. I politely asked him to control himself and this angered him. He charged me and I side stepped him to the right grasping his outstretched hand and used a wrist lock to bring him to ground. His friends picked him up and moved him away with the woman he was with comforting him. I wanted to leave and report the event but my wife wanted to stay for one last song by the band. This was a mistake because it allowed the attacker to regroup with his friends. I don’t drink alcohol and I am very situationally aware. While my wife was listening to the music I was busy scanning the crowd. I saw the attacker glaring at me 20 feet behind my position centered in the concert hall by himself. His arms were crossed, he was not talking or moving and standing watching me intently. His girlfriend and male friends were no where to be seen.

When he saw that I observed him he became agitated and started to gesture at me and yell something repeatedly. I notified my wife that we were in danger and that we should try and flank the man toward the exit, which we did. There was no security present in the crowd (colored t-shirts) as we moved toward the exit. The man moved to intercept us and became uncomfortably close. I was scanning for his friends but focused on the man. He came within striking range and shouted a curse word and swung at me with his right hand, which I anticipated from how he reached earlier when he lunged at me. I deflected the strike with an arm block but do to his close proximity his fist glanced off the top of my head. He immediately attempted to grapple and throw me to ground. I always wear heavy insulated calf high boots with very aggressive rubber tread. I lowered my center of gravity to a crouch position with knees bent at 45 degree angle with feet spread apart slightly wider than my shoulders. I remember looking down at my boots and saw I was locked to the wooden floor. The attacker was struggling violently and focused on throwing me to the ground (my wife later said he looked like an alligator trying to rip me to the ground). I earlier estimated his weight at 185-195 pounds. The weight on my back increased dramatically and later was told that his two male accomplices had jumped on me from my right side to try to help bring me down (the first attacker was on my left). I was in a very stable position with the attacker trying to throw me and the two others trying to crush me to the floor (although I did not know that at the time, I just knew I was solid in my crouched position). At this point it was time to counter attack. I had my left hand on the first attackers lower back, pulling him against me to keep him locked in place and unable to maneuver. I decided to attack the first attackers groin using a USMC LINE grab-twist-pull. I did not want to turn my head so I took my right hand and reached for the first attackers groin. I felt his penis and squeezed it to determine how far my hand was from his testicles. I quickly moved down the shaft and located his testicles. I next jammed my fingers hard behind his testicles and into the thin skinned area just behind them. I executed the grab of his scrotum and a violent twist to 45 degree angle. My right hand locked to his testicles, I moved my left hand up to his right shoulder blade for balance. At this point I began extending my legs and back from the crouch position (like coming out of a 45 degree squat at the gym). I was suddenly aware that the effort required to lift the attacker off the ground by his scrotum was enormous. I regularly squatted 750 pounds at the gym and this felt like that. I later found that the unusual weight was caused by the other two people trying to crush me to ground. Slowly my legs and back extended, balancing the attacker with my left hand on his back and lifting him off the ground by his testicles in my right fist. The attackers violent pulling stopped as soon as I executed the grab-twist-pull but he continued to hold on to me. However, as soon as his feet left the ground the enormous weight disappeared and the attacker went limp. I dropped him to the ground on his back where he flailed randomly and his head moving from side to side. I immediately activated my surefire tactical watch light on my left wrist, turning the 500 lumen beam on and sweeping the watching crowd to momentarily blind them so as to disrupt possible follow on attack by his friends. I observed his friends picking the attacker off the floor and shuffling him away. My glasses and Indian wars horse soldier reproduction wool hat had been knocked to the ground and my wife and I found them with the help of the surefire wrist watch light.

My left leg and lower left lumbar were very sore. My wife and I went to the exit and had the (worthless) concert unarmed security call the police. The police arrived and I did my report to them (one of the arriving two officers was a gym lifting buddy). The attacker and his friends were from out of town and unknown to the security people. The police tried to identify the attackers from surveillance video inside the concert hall. I was told since the rock band was using a steam or smoke generator for special effects that the concert room surveillance camera video was not able to show anything of use to identify the attackers. I asked one of the officers to check my eyes for concussion signs but there were none. I and my wife went to the ER where I was evaluated and released. I took the ER report and gave it to the police officer who I lift with at the gym. I will never go back to that place ever again.

This is a true account. I realized later when told that there were three men trying to bring me down that I must have lifted 500 pounds (ER doctor said an example of old man strength). This accounts for the difficulty I experienced extending my legs and back while lifting the attacker by his testicles. The two other attackers jumped off as I started to extend my body and lift their disabled comrade off the ground. At no point did I experience fear or tunnel vision, although I experienced time dilation where it seemed I had plenty of time to think although the engagement happened quickly and I was told was concluded rapidly. The only thing I was thinking was protecting my wife and executing my tactics as effectively as possible. I had decided that striking the attacker would not be as effective as completely disabling him. He was the leader and I wanted his friends to be in fear to attack me. I believe that self-defense response must be balanced with the attack you are presented with.
 

ZAMBONI

Newbie
Bit heavy on the junk-grabbing description...
This duplicates the report filed with police without edits. They were going to beat me to death, without question. I could see nothing but the dim outline of my boots on the floor. I had to work by touch alone and I only had one chance to survive. I improvised and prevailed. They were believed to be Canadians who came down and cause problems and then fled across the border once they were through. They still are not apprehended. My ferocity saved me and perhaps my wife too. One of them swung at her before they focused on me. No regrets whatsoever except I should have left the area after the first attack, as I said.
 

Santostype1

Amateur
Maybe it would have been better to ignore/avoid him..... you instigated the entire thing by “politely asking him to control himself”.

What did you say to him, exactly? Why even say anything to him at all? Did he “bang” into you? As you say he did others?
 
Man, I have several questions:
1: in retrospect do you think the “assailant” could have just been trying to start a pit as is common at most rock/metal shows?
2: why did you engage rather than simply mind your own business and not fuck up other people’s evenings. (I also hope you live nowhere near me and I never run into you at a show).
3: as you note the correct action for yourself would probably have been to disengage, why did you not?
 

MojoNixon

Established
Man, I have several questions:
1: in retrospect do you think the “assailant” could have just been trying to start a pit as is common at most rock/metal shows?
2: why did you engage rather than simply mind your own business and not fuck up other people’s evenings. (I also hope you live nowhere near me and I never run into you at a show).
3: as you note the correct action for yourself would probably have been to disengage, why did you not?
He seems to have enacted #3 (disengaged) here. Makes one wonder a bit.
 

MrMurphy

Regular Member
I've gotten into a multiple felony charge fight inside a quiet house against 1 opponent and it took me 30 minutes to describe what happened even with partial body camera (it deactivated accidentally mid fight)...

I still can't tell you exactly what went down to the blow by blow recollection. Much less about grabbing a dude's dick in the dark by feel while being dogpiled...
 

chucktay

Newbie
Forum Support II
Your failure was trying to do someone else's job. It is not your job to control patrons at a music venue, that is up to venue security. You admittedly engaged with someone who had impaired faculties, so no matter how "nicely" you told him to knock it off he would have taken it as you being an ass and trying to ruin his night. Him charging you could have been him just trying to start a pit mosh because he's a drunk idiot. Wrist lock was mistake number two, now in his eyes you've attacked him. If you felt that he was being a nuisance you should have alerted security.
My profession allows me to be one of the few people allowed with knives at venues like that and I would never had placed myself in that situation.
 
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