The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Encounter In Wal-Mart parking lot

fastforty · November 26, 2008, 02:19 PM

Sounds like you did everything just about as I would have. I mean really, if you were lost at 11:30 at night would you pull into a WalMart and approach someone out in the parking lot to ask for directions? No, this guy was sizing you up. If he had gotten close enough & decided that you weren't a threat to him, something *would* have happened.

Some might say that you should have reported the incident, but I probably wouldn't have. When LEO showed up, he would have wanted an accurate description of the guy & his vehicle. I've been in a similar situation several times & about the only thing I could have identified in a lineup would be the guy's hands. This scenario would have been a waste of 20-60 minutes of everyone's time (depending on how long it took to get a LEO on the scene), although it might have made it easy for them to finger the guy trying to hold someone up at another location.

Another reason to report is that HE may have reported YOU. I would think that he didn't actually SEE your gun, but that wouldn't stop him from saying that you pulled one on him. In which case, you might have had several police cars surround you & run you into a curb while on your way home. It wouldn't have been until AFTER they got you & your wife out of the car & face down on the asphalt at gunpoint that you could have told your side of the story. In the latter scenario, it would have been a LONG night.

Depending on local attitude and even though you didn't "brandish" your weapon, just preparing to might have been frowned upon (if he had continued his approach, you would have had no choice but to draw & you had not identified that he was armed). I know, it gets sticky no matter what you do/did/would do.

Again, I think that you did what any reasonable person would have done.

November 26, 2008, 02:19 PM	#8
fastforty Senior Member Join Date: December 28, 1999 Location: In a kornfield in kalifornia Posts: 1,161	Sounds like you did everything just about as I would have. I mean really, if you were lost at 11:30 at night would you pull into a WalMart and approach someone out in the parking lot to ask for directions? No, this guy was sizing you up. If he had gotten close enough & decided that you weren't a threat to him, something would have happened. Some might say that you should have reported the incident, but I probably wouldn't have. When LEO showed up, he would have wanted an accurate description of the guy & his vehicle. I've been in a similar situation several times & about the only thing I could have identified in a lineup would be the guy's hands. This scenario would have been a waste of 20-60 minutes of everyone's time (depending on how long it took to get a LEO on the scene), although it might have made it easy for them to finger the guy trying to hold someone up at another location. Another reason to report is that HE may have reported YOU. I would think that he didn't actually SEE your gun, but that wouldn't stop him from saying that you pulled one on him. In which case, you might have had several police cars surround you & run you into a curb while on your way home. It wouldn't have been until AFTER they got you & your wife out of the car & face down on the asphalt at gunpoint that you could have told your side of the story. In the latter scenario, it would have been a LONG night. Depending on local attitude and even though you didn't "brandish" your weapon, just preparing to might have been frowned upon (if he had continued his approach, you would have had no choice but to draw & you had not identified that he was armed). I know, it gets sticky no matter what you do/did/would do. Again, I think that you did what any reasonable person would have done. __________________ When Banjos are outlawed, only Outlaws will have Banjos The Bible is my lawbook. I turn the other cheek when applicable, and spend the rest of my days resisting evil at every front, until I have breathed my last breath.