Ft. Worth Incident

[57 Texan]

I want to post details of an incident in Ft. Worth that I was recently involved in order to hear your comments, critical review, and ideas concerning involvement in possible future incidents of this nature.

I had just departed one of the large home improvement centers and was in a line of vehicles waiting to turn onto a street when I noticed a lot of movement in the minivan directly behind me. Watching through my rear view mirror, it was apparent that a violent physical altercation was taking place inside the vehicle. Within seconds, the front passenger door flew open and an adult male emerged, who immediately opened the sliding door on the minivan, and began throwing various contents onto the pavement. I continued watching as he then reentered the front door and dragged an adult female kicking and screaming from the driver seat, and threw her to the pavement. I was out of my vehicle within a second, and observed him kicking her while she was on the ground. She got up and he continued to flail away on her.

At that point, I drew my sidearm from a position of cover at the driver side of my truck bed, trained the firearm on the male and ordered the man to freeze. He stopped beating on the female, looked at me and said something unintelligible. I ordered him to the ground, and he did not comply. The woman, who was bloodied and beat to a pulp, told me the problem was between them. The man walked to the rear of the van, then toward the driver door, which he opened. I repositioned myself to the front of my truck for cover in the event he emerged with a weapon. Instead, he got into the driver seat and the woman reentered on the passenger side. I holstered my firearm and got back into my truck. I then turned onto the street and was followed by the minivan. I turned back into the parking lot at another driveway, and again the van followed, but stopped almost immediately thereafter. After distancing my vehicle from the van at a location in the parking lot, I called 911 and reported the full incident, including the fact that I drew my weapon and pointed it at the assailant. Due to the large amount of traffic in the immediate area where this occurred, I envisioned the 911 center being flooded with panicked callers reporting an MWAG with my description, truck description and tag. But I was told by responding officers that mine was the only call.

The van had vanished during the 18-20 minute response time. Unfortunately, I did not get the tag number. I remained on scene and spoke with officers, who were extremely respectful and professional and not the least bit antogonistic towards me. I was never asked for identification. No report was made.

I'm very glad this thing didn't escalate further. My sense is that challenging the assailant at gunpoint stopped the assault, at least for the moment. It was apparent that he had been working on her pretty good before it spilled into the parking lot. God only knows what she went through later.

I invite and welcome your input, including anything critical about how I approached and handled the situation. We live in a crazy and dangerous world, and any of us can find ourselves in a variety of situations at any place and at any time.

[suthdj]

As soon as she made that comment I would have said sorry and told man to carry on. Maybe it was foreplay.

[Beiruty]

Next time, call 911 and be a good witness. Worst is to get involved in Domestic Violence and the
"Victim" would be a witness against you in court of law. Let 911 and responding officers deal with it.

[Target1911]

I will start with saying I NEVER want to shoot anyone....and I have been in the process of pulling the trigger while a guy was trying to attack me...but that's a different story.

My heart and gut tell me that had you shot him you would have been doing that family a HUGE justice. I would have given you props for it as well.

You did great for the most part however. ...that van would have never left my sight. I would have followed then till LEO caught up.

Now wait for the nay sayers and jokesters. I have seen many people on here get flamed bad for doing the right thing

[joe817]

Texas 57, first of all let me welcome you to the forum! Glad to have you with us. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

You were in in a position that all of us dread. You witnessed an event that could potentially turn deadly, and your sense of morality dictated that you intervene to save the woman's life. I applaud you for that.

And as she made the comment that the argument was between them, I would have left the area immediately AFTER getting the license plate number of the other vehicle, full description of it, and called 911.

You were caught in the middle of a domestic violence incident. THAT is something only police should handle, IMO.

I'm glad you didn't do any thing more than you did. I'm glad you are safe. And it sounded like your encounter with F.W.P.D. was a good encounter. Kudos to them and you.

IMO, you did the right thing. I only hope the woman who was being beaten comes to her senses, and leaves that woman beater, before she winds up in the hospital with injuries or worse.

[Abraham]

57 Texan,

What an awful position to find yourself in.

You had no way to know it was a domestic dispute until the woman told you.

For all you knew she'd been kidnapped or who knows what other awful might have befallen her and you being a decent guy, stepped up to help her.

That it turned out the way it did was not your fault.

[n5wd]

As others have mentioned -welcome to the forum. You're joining a whole bunch of good folks, here -lots of acquired wisdom, if you take the opportunity to soak it in.

As to your incident, I try not to play Monday morning quarterback, so the bottom line: you stopped (albeit temporarily) a violent assault in the middle of a public thorofare, and everyone got away without any new 9mm holes in them, so that is a win, in my book!

I will point out that, had the other person been callin 9-1-1 before, or at the same time you were, there would probably been units dispatched to your location on a MAWG call, and it might have been a different interaction between you and the responding officers. Think about calling 9-1-1 while you are initially deploying your weapon, especially since it sounds like you had good cover, so the tape contains not only what you have said to the operator, but also what you have said to the participants. It's easier to be looking at the other car and read off the front license plate, then chastizing yourself, later, for forgetting to, or not being able to, remember what it was.

I'm curious as to what part of town you were in, being a long time Foat Wuth resident who's only recently moved north a county.

Again, welcome!

[Jim Beaux]

Thanks for being a good citizen who will step up & help someone in need.

I think you pulled your weapon way too soon & youre lucky.

First thing is legally cover yourself. Call 911. My next action would have been dependent on how badly he is beating the gal - but pulling my weapon would have been the last option. If I ever pull my gun it will be because Ive decided to squeeze the trigger.

Welcome to the board.

[57 Texan]

Thanks to all for the welcome and your thoughtful and well reasoned responses. I learned a great deal from the incident and your posts.

I'm not new to violent encounters or firearms. I'm an ex-cop from a vastly different era--the 80's and early 90's, and have been shooting firearms regularly for 48 years. I feel very badly that I didn't follow the van or get the tag. I pray the woman will be ok.

For the gentleman interested in the area of town, this was in east Ft. Worth just off of I-30.

I hope to God I never find myself in the midst of a violent domestic again.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

[jmra]

A bad situation.

I would not have drawn my weapon at that time.

I would have stepped from the car, phone in hand, and let the guy know that I was calling 911. Then I would take some pictures/video. If, at that time I was charged by the man, I would have drawn and shot without hesitation.

Monday morning quarterback is fun.

Not questioning the actions of the OP, but I think at most I would have drawn my weapon and kept it low by my side out of sight or at least had my hand on my weapon ready to draw. But, alls well that ends well.

[kragluver]

As others have already pointed out, there is no way he could have known before-hand that this was a domestic violence dispute. For all he knew, it could have been a car-jacking,etc.

I chuckled at the one response about saying something like "you may continue" after the woman said it was between her and the guy beating on her.

[SA_Steve]

I don't get the distinction:
man beating woman - bad
domestic trouble - no problem

[baldeagle]

Hindsight is always 20-20, but let me start by saying you did the right thing. The only "improvements" I can see is to call 911 immediately, before even exiting the car and stay on the phone with them during the encounter. And give the license plate to 911 while you are on the phone. You took appropriate cover, took command of the situation and you stopped the assault. I don't see how you could have done any better with the exception of the two things I noted. In the heat of the situation, I'm not certain I would have remembered either of those things.

The woman is obviously used to being beaten. Sadly, too often, this is the case with battered women, and they will not press charges or testify against their batterer.

[SA_Steve]

If a cop sees the beating or strong evidence thereof, then her testimony is not needed.