potential situation avoided

[truckster]

Today, heading back home from having lunch with a pal of mine in Plano, I had something happen that has never happened before thus scareing me into NOT doing something ever again.

I live in The Colony, a city that lies between Frisco and Lewisville about 40 minutes north of Dallas. I pulled up to a stop light (basically a 3-way) at which there are 3 lanes. The two left lanes are for left turn only and the right lane is for right turn only. There is no option to go straight as it is all residential. As I get to the light the left lane is occupied by one car and I choose the middle lane since I am turning left. I notice in my rear view mirror a truck pulls up behind me and think nothing of it, look back at the light to see if it is green (which it isn't) then notice movement out of my passenger side mirror. The passenger of the truck that pulled up behind me had exited his vehicle and was making his way up to what looked like my passenger side. I quickly looked both ways and ran the red light and pretty much hauled butt to try to lose them. Luckily I was first in line and wasn't blocked in. I noticed as I drove off the guy that had exited the vehicle turned around and went immediately back to the truck.

So once I get through the light i bet it's not three seconds and their light turns green and everyone begins to go their way...so I'm still within view of the intersection I just blew through at this point. At this time I'm unsure if they're targeting me for some reason or if I'm just being paranoid. Either way, I'm not sticking around to see which it is. Like I said, I was probably driving 50 in a 35 to try to get out of their sight and thought about turning right into the residential area since it's very large and try to lose them. What I decided to do was go all the way down to the next main intersection and, just before the stop light, cut through a parking lot and around a couple buildings to avoid the light and potentially meet up with these guys again. I got on the main road that goes through the city and drove for a couple miles to make sure I wasn't trailed and when I knew I wasn't I headed back the way I came and cut through a couple more parking lots, just to make sure.

So, you might be asking yourself, "why is this in the 'Never Again' section?" Well, I was without my firearm today. Now, had I been armed I would have done nothing different. But I got thinking basically just after I started through the initial stop light, "what if I wasn't first in line?" "what if I was blocked in and had no means of protection and this guy meant to do harm?" I'm not 100% sure what I would have done but I do know one thing...had I had my firearm and I was blocked in that thing would've been at the ready in about half a second.

Any comments or suggestions on what I did wrong or right?
Thanks for baring with me on a long-winded post

[Jago668]

Other than not carrying it all sounds good to me.

[The Annoyed Man]

Maybe he just wanted to ask for directions? I understand not wanting to get blindsided, but it also sounds like you did a LOT of escape and evasion moves without even confirming whether or not they were actually trying to chase you. No harm was done by it, but you also might have put yourself through a lot of unnecessary anxiety.....especially since you're saying that you would have probably still taken the same actions if you'd had your pistol with you. I am not saying this to be critical, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar......and sometimes a guy is just asking for directions.

So on the positive side, I would say that you had good situational awareness, and you didn't hesitate to execute your plan of action.

On the negative side, I'd say that you might have overreacted.....or not....but might have.

My question is this: if your actions would have been the same whether or not you were armed, then why did you feel in any more danger because you weren't armed?

[truckster]

Maybe he just wanted to ask for directions? I understand not wanting to get blindsided, but it also sounds like you did a LOT of escape and evasion moves without even confirming whether or not they were actually trying to chase you. No harm was done by it, but you also might have put yourself through a lot of unnecessary anxiety.....especially since you're saying that you would have probably still taken the same actions if you'd had your pistol with you. I am not saying this to be critical, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar......and sometimes a guy is just asking for directions.

So on the positive side, I would say that you had good situational awareness, and you didn't hesitate to execute your plan of action.

On the negative side, I'd say that you might have overreacted.....or not....but might have.

My question is this: if your actions would have been the same whether or not you were armed, then why did you feel in any more danger because you weren't armed?

You may be right about the extra anxiety I put myself through, but like I said I didn't want to hang around to find out. One thing I didn't add in the original story was the description of the guy that exited his vehicle. In hind sight maybe it matters, maybe it doesn't and I know that everyone on these boards has a certain "type" of character that rouses their SA. Most of us have several.

Well, the guy that exited the truck happened to be one of those guys that pegged my SA meter right into the red. If you're interested in what this guy looked like I'll gladly describe, but honestly I don't think it matters.

As far as your question I'm not sure I follow. I don't think I felt like I was in any MORE danger than had I been armed. Now had I been blocked in without my firearm the fact of not being able to find an easy way out probably would have made me feel like I was in much more danger. Like I said originally though, all things being the same except this time having my gun I still would have ran the light, cut through parking lots and whatever else I felt I needed to do.

[suthdj]

Did you notify police with descriptions?

[Excaliber]

Maybe he just wanted to ask for directions? I understand not wanting to get blindsided, but it also sounds like you did a LOT of escape and evasion moves without even confirming whether or not they were actually trying to chase you. No harm was done by it, but you also might have put yourself through a lot of unnecessary anxiety.....especially since you're saying that you would have probably still taken the same actions if you'd had your pistol with you. I am not saying this to be critical, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar......and sometimes a guy is just asking for directions.

So on the positive side, I would say that you had good situational awareness, and you didn't hesitate to execute your plan of action.

On the negative side, I'd say that you might have overreacted.....or not....but might have.

My question is this: if your actions would have been the same whether or not you were armed, then why did you feel in any more danger because you weren't armed?

You may be right about the extra anxiety I put myself through, but like I said I didn't want to hang around to find out. One thing I didn't add in the original story was the description of the guy that exited his vehicle. In hind sight maybe it matters, maybe it doesn't and I know that everyone on these boards has a certain "type" of character that rouses their SA. Most of us have several.

Well, the guy that exited the truck happened to be one of those guys that pegged my SA meter right into the red. If you're interested in what this guy looked like I'll gladly describe, but honestly I don't think it matters.

As far as your question I'm not sure I follow. I don't think I felt like I was in any MORE danger than had I been armed. Now had I been blocked in without my firearm the fact of not being able to find an easy way out probably would have made me feel like I was in much more danger. Like I said originally though, all things being the same except this time having my gun I still would have ran the light, cut through parking lots and whatever else I felt I needed to do.

Based on all the detail provided, I'm pretty sure the guy from the truck was up to no good. The one unusual thing is that he approached the passenger side. If he was going to ask for directions or try to rob or carjack you, the convention is approach from the driver's side. What may have been going on is the driver of the truck was also approaching on your driver's side but escaped your notice because you were watching the other guy.

As in most cases where situational awareness lets you successfully avoid an encounter, you'll never know for sure what they were up to. In this case I think that's a good thing.

Another good thing is that it gave you some personal insight into just how quickly things can go south any time, anywhere, and you're now applying that knowledge to your judgments of when and when not to carry. That may save your life someday.

[Teamless]

What if.....
driver asks passenger to get out, while light was red, to look at passenger side tire of their vehicle.
Heard a sound 'thumping' or something else from the tire or front bumper?

Not knowing anything, other than your side, I agree with your actions, but just putting another point of (their) view out there.

[Shotgun_jeremy]

Check your brake/tail lights. I've never, nor would I ever, gotten out at a red light to tell someone they had a brake light out, but I have followed people to parking lots and told them from a non-threatening distance/while staying in my vehicle. It could have been someone just trying to give you a friendly heads up.

[TomV]

My ex lives in The Colony and I am there a couple times a week to pick up my daughter. I know the intersection you are talking about.

I do hope you reported the incident to the police. Glad it had a positive outcome.

[RoyGBiv]

Good SA. Better to be wrong about their intentions than wrong about staying where you were.

[crazy2medic]

I think you did good, I have taught my kids and my wife that if the built in alarm in the back of your head tells you something is wrong then LISTEN TO IT! if what is happening makes you uncomfortable or just doesn't seem right then you lose nothing by getting out of there, and if you can't leave then put yourself so that you can defend yourself!


If you ain't paranoid you ain't paying attention!

[truckster]

Did you notify police with descriptions?

I didn't notify police. The main reason I didn't is because it never really seemed as though after I got going that I was actually being followed. Or at least they never were able to catch up.

Based on all the detail provided, I'm pretty sure the guy from the truck was up to no good. The one unusual thing is that he approached the passenger side. If he was going to ask for directions or try to rob or carjack you, the convention is approach from the driver's side. What may have been going on is the driver of the truck was also approaching on your driver's side but escaped your notice because you were watching the other guy.

As in most cases where situational awareness lets you successfully avoid an encounter, you'll never know for sure what they were up to. In this case I think that's a good thing.

Another good thing is that it gave you some personal insight into just how quickly things can go south any time, anywhere, and you're now applying that knowledge to your judgments of when and when not to carry. That may save your life someday.

It's possible, but as I was looking in my rear view once I got through the light I only saw the passenger outside the truck. It's possible the passenger was going to walk up to my passenger side to create a distraction the blindside me on the driver side...who knows. The crazy thing is it's not as if it was dark or there was noone else at the light. So again, may I am being paranoid but I'd rather be paranoid and alive than trusting and much worse off. And I don't want anyone to think I live my life in eternal level 10 recon mode either. I usually just take a general scan of my area and that's about it.

What if.....
driver asks passenger to get out, while light was red, to look at passenger side tire of their vehicle.
Heard a sound 'thumping' or something else from the tire or front bumper?

Not knowing anything, other than your side, I agree with your actions, but just putting another point of (their) view out there.

You're 100% correct. I'm still trying to process even though I know I'll never come to a conclusion that is any different than the one I already have...which is I just don't know

Check your brake/tail lights. I've never, nor would I ever, gotten out at a red light to tell someone they had a brake light out, but I have followed people to parking lots and told them from a non-threatening distance/while staying in my vehicle. It could have been someone just trying to give you a friendly heads up.

Agreed

My ex lives in The Colony and I am there a couple times a week to pick up my daughter. I know the intersection you are talking about.

I do hope you reported the incident to the police. Glad it had a positive outcome.

I use Paige Road to get home to avoid the construction and traffic on 423 any time I can. I actually live on the West side of 423 and N Colony, so I'm going out of my way a bit by going through that intersection but it still saves me time from the traffic and whatnot. Once I got through the first light I thought about turning into the neighborhood there on the right but I figured I may have cornered myself since I'm not familiar with the layout and I certainly wasn't going to bring a potential "chase" down through my neighborhood and right by my house.

[ELB]

...

Based on all the detail provided, I'm pretty sure the guy from the truck was up to no good. The one unusual thing is that he approached the passenger side. If he was going to ask for directions or try to rob or carjack you, the convention is approach from the driver's side. What may have been going on is the driver of the truck was also approaching on your driver's side but escaped your notice because you were watching the other guy.

As in most cases where situational awareness lets you successfully avoid an encounter, you'll never know for sure what they were up to. In this case I think that's a good thing.

Another good thing is that it gave you some personal insight into just how quickly things can go south any time, anywhere, and you're now applying that knowledge to your judgments of when and when not to carry. That may save your life someday.

^^^What he said.

[wheelgun1958]

I use Paige Road to get home to avoid the construction and traffic on 423 any time I can. I actually live on the West side of 423 and N Colony, so I'm going out of my way a bit by going through that intersection but it still saves me time from the traffic and whatnot.

You could try Standridge-Memorial-Blair Oaks-North Colony.

[Jusme]

I think the OP did the right thing, I always make sure that when I pull up to a light/stop sign, I leave enough room between myself and the car in front so that I can make an evasive move right or left depending on the circumstance. I realize this is difficult to do if in the middle of three lanes with traffic on each side, so I try to position myself in either the far left or far right lane. I know the intersection he described, and if not the front car, it can be very confining.

Car jackers take full advantage of the vulnerability of a person stopped at a light, and target those unable to maneuver or flee easily. they also watch for those who pull up and start looking at their cell phone or get otherwise distracted. My wife has been frightened by me a couple of times when I have run lights when things looked hinky (that's a technical term) people hanging out by stop lights, vehicles not moving when they should etc. I have always felt it was better to explain to an officer my reasons for committing a traffic violation, than to have to fight my way out of a life or death situation.