Witnessed a possible assault; seeking critique of my actions

[stash]

You did it right. You called 911, you witnessed what happened, you waited for LEO and you did not get involved in trying to stop the ruckus.

[tarkus]

It sounds like both groups wanted to fight so you did the best thing by calling 911 and being a good witness.

[Excaliber]

As an officer, I would have really appreciated what you did if I were the one handling the call. You did more than most would have by just calling 911. The fact that you, at some risk to yourself, went back and looked to verify while you were on the phone, then hung around to show it to the officer who arrived, is well beyond what anyone could have reasonably expected of you. You did good.

+1

I think for the above, depending on the situation at the time, I have in advance made up my mind that for the close family members and a woman being assaulted and raped, I will intervene. For the rest, it really depends on the situation at the time.

The situation you described in your intial post is consistent with an agreed mutual combat situation (2 groups approaching each other deliberately with apparent intent to fight). The fact that everyone left the scene and apparently no one else was interested in pressing charges against someone else tends to confirm that. In such situations, it is virtually never a good idea to intervene directly. If a close family member is dumb enough to walk himself into one of those, letting the police walk him out is still the best course of action. If you have family members who may be predisposed to put themselves in similar situations, a little counseling beforehand can prevent a lot of heartache later.

"Woman being assaulted" situations are very likely to turn out to be something other than what they first appear to be. Some couples engage in violence at home, and they bring that relationship with them out in public. If you get into the middle of one of those, you're likely to be assaulted by both of them.

In the absence of a situation where apparent deadly force is being actively used against someone who can't defend herself, you're almost always better off just making the 911 call and letting the police handle it. A situation with active violence will receive a high priority and a quick response, and these situations are difficult even for the police to sort out in many cases. Without their authority, arrest powers, and access to lots of backup, a civilian who intervenes is very likely to make an ugly situation much worse more times than not, and by doing so he'll bring someone else's problems into his life unnecessarily and with no upside.

[t_kopecky]

Really not trying to hijack your thread, but on the comment of 'things not always being what they seem' with a man beating a woman. I stopped just such an encounter, and was rewarded by a night in jail and a charge of deadly conduct. The wife (once the husband stopped beating her) turned on me and told the police that I threatened to kill them both....nice...

[Oldgringo]

As usual, both Excaliber and srothstein's above comments are right on the mark. See t_kopecky's post for one example of confirmation.

SALUT!

Is the TexasCHLforum an educational wonderland or what?

[Y2bad4u]

You did right.

[stevie_d_64]

As usual, both Excaliber and srothstein's above comments are right on the mark. See t_kopecky's post for one example of confirmation.

SALUT!

Is the TexasCHLforum an educational wonderland or what?

I agree...Some of us certainly have WITNESSED incidents like this...

Wife Unit and I years ago WITNESSED one in progress, a man was chasing a woman on the far side of a parking lot...Yelling and screaming and eventually he caught her and started the physical portion of the assault...

Within that time frame,. I told the wife to go into the store and stay there, but watch everything that was going on, and see if anyone else would watch what happened with her...

I hit the earbud, speed dialed 911, got through to the "communications specialist" I knew in Webster, Texas...And within 60 seconds two units responded and were on scene within 2 minutes...I could not even cross the distance (in th eparking lot) before they were there and had the man in custody...I did walk up, and told them what I saw, and informed them I was the one that made the call...

What was funny, was the abuser heard I was the one, and told me he was going to kill me... The officer overheard that, and said to the guy, that would be the last mistake he ever did...The officer I knew very well from my days doing the VFD thing down there, and he knew about my CHL since we used to go to a local range every now and then...

To me its what you do, and more important, what you don't do, that matters more than who you know, and what you think you know in the long run...

And it is an important skill to learn and apply, as much as what you do when you practice with what you strap to your hip everyday...

Just my opinion...

[frazzled]

As usual, both Excaliber and srothstein's above comments are right on the mark. See t_kopecky's post for one example of confirmation.

SALUT!

Is the TexasCHLforum an educational wonderland or what?

I agree...Some of us certainly have WITNESSED incidents like this...

Wife Unit and I years ago WITNESSED one in progress, a man was chasing a woman on the far side of a parking lot...Yelling and screaming and eventually he caught her and started the physical portion of the assault...

Within that time frame,. I told the wife to go into the store and stay there, but watch everything that was going on, and see if anyone else would watch what happened with her...

I hit the earbud, speed dialed 911, got through to the "communications specialist" I knew in Webster, Texas...And within 60 seconds two units responded and were on scene within 2 minutes...I could not even cross the distance (in th eparking lot) before they were there and had the man in custody...I did walk up, and told them what I saw, and informed them I was the one that made the call...

What was funny, was the abuser heard I was the one, and told me he was going to kill me... The officer overheard that, and said to the guy, that would be the last mistake he ever did...The officer I knew very well from my days doing the VFD thing down there, and he knew about my CHL since we used to go to a local range every now and then...

To me its what you do, and more important, what you don't do, that matters more than who you know, and what you think you know in the long run...

And it is an important skill to learn and apply, as much as what you do when you practice with what you strap to your hip everyday...

Just my opinion...

I am glad this thread, and this comment have been posted. I now know what to do in these scenarios.
1. Call 911
2. Observe from safety for information to help police. I'd posit getting license #s if potentials bail is also a good idea.

Now I have to disagree on the close family member front. At this point ours consists of grandparent/kids, so its immediately easy to discern if there is a problem.