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Yesterday my wife and I were burning some time waiting to pick up our daughter from a friends house so we decided to walk around a close by mall. While we were walking in one of the common areas, we both heard a little ruckus and the pitter-patter of sandled feet coming toward us from the rear. We turned and saw 2 late teen/early college age preppy looking young men involved in what originally looked like horse play. We soon realized that they were serious as one was trying to tackle the other aggressively and the other was aggresively trying to get away. A few seconds later a young woman who looked like she might be a g.f. of one of the boys comes up yelling "Garret, Garret, it's fine.." We then noticed that she had a clipboard and lanyard with a name tag and realized she probably worked for one of the preppy stores we just passed. They were still scuffling when she started yelling "Stop! He stole a watch...He stole a watch." At that time, about 45 seconds to 1 minute into it, one boy broke away and ran out an exit. The other gave chase but gave up and turned around. A small crowd had gathered but it was over so fast no one had time to pull out a phone to call 911 or snap pics. Right as I realized it was serious and not tussling, I went to highest alert and looked to se if either had a weapon or other dangerous situations. They were'nt throwng punches, just kind of tussling. I pulled out my pepper spray but they ran off before I could even get that in hand. The guy who remained behind and the girl who followed walked back in the store and the crowd dispersed; us included.

My question is should we have intervened in any way? Would it have been appropriate to pepper-spray both young men not knowing which was in the wrong? BTW, my wife and I were both carrying our CCW'S and pepper-spray.

Thanks.

Nope. Call police, be a good witness and let them go as long as no one else is in danger.

Your job is to make sure your family is protected and gather info if is safe to do so. Call the police and let them do the job.

Keith B wrote:Nope. Call police, be a good witness and let them go as long as no one else is in danger.

Ditto!

No need to escalate the situation unless you perceive a threat to you, your wife, or (depending on whether you want to or not) innocent bystander. Even then, if you can get out of it by backing off/walking away, that is always the best option. Police are paid to do that stuff, we just get involved when it is absolutely crucial to ours or another's life.

Keith B wrote:Nope. Call police, be a good witness and let them go as long as no one else is in danger.

Yeah, looked like that fight was personal.

And please, no pepper spray inside a mall. Even if it stopped the wild youths, those sprays can do some severe damage to small children and babies. Pepper spray moves into a wide area quickly and you have no control over it, and inside an enclosed space like a mall, you could cause a stampede panic for the doors, exacerbating the collateral damage.

Pepper spray in an indoor mall: VERY bad idea. Even if you were in the right, you would not survive the civil suits from bystanders (for which you have no immunity, even if you legally defended yourself)

OldCannon wrote:

Keith B wrote:Nope. Call police, be a good witness and let them go as long as no one else is in danger.

Yeah, looked like that fight was personal.

And please, no pepper spray inside a mall. Even if it stopped the wild youths, those sprays can do some severe damage to small children and babies. Pepper spray moves into a wide area quickly and you have no control over it, and inside an enclosed space like a mall, you could cause a stampede panic for the doors, exacerbating the collateral damage.

Pepper spray in an indoor mall: VERY bad idea. Even if you were in the right, you would not survive the civil suits from bystanders (for which you have no immunity, even if you legally defended yourself)

Thanks everyone, especially you oldcannon. Hadn't thought about that.

All I can think of when I read something like this is the people who filmed the fake murder in the elevator. You never know what kind of stunt or gag some morons are trying to pull off.
90% of the time things happen in such a way that you simply do not have enough information to know exactly what is happening. Unless you are 100% positive you are observing a life or death situation I would not interfere. As others have said, ensure the safety of your family and be a good witness.

I learned a long time ago to stay out of anything that doesn't directly involve you. I've worked as a sound engineer for many many rock n roll shows etc. and have seen many a fist fight and occasionally have people get up in my face about their drunken opinion of whatever it is they think I'm responsible for. Security is always a radio call away and that is always my first response. I will ignore them completely unless they make it impossible to do so. I will only take any sort of action if I am directly about to be assaulted (have come close but hasn't happened) or the equipment is about to catastrophically get knocked over or get beer spilled on it.

Think of yourself as a Hockey ref dealing with a fight in a game. Stand back, watch and let the thing run its course.