What would you have done?

Originally Posted by Spiderman

What he said.

Oh and btw, in my mind i wouldnt have thrown a can at him...simply spun a web using it to flun him at his fleeing mates, knocking them over and tied them all up in more webbing and handed them to the ...... to ratpturous applause from the bystanders and lots of ladies whispering "i love you Spiderman" to themselves as i swing off into the sunset.

Now why didn't I think of that!

I don't think anyone really knows what they'd do until they're in that situation, and every situation is different. I know everyone would like to save the day, but as has been mentioned, that can end in tragedy.

I used to be the worlds only (ok, perhaps not the worlds only) 5'5" bouncer and got away suprisingly lightly. In my head, that's because everyone thought I must be some Mr Miyagi trained fighting machine (I'm not, anyone can beat the living daylights out of me), in reality it might have also had something to do with George, who also worked most of my shifts, who was HUGE, with shaved head and rolls of muscle in his neck.... Only really misjudged one situation badly, and that ended up with me getting hospitalised by a bunch of 14 year olds (and they didn't even have knives back in them days!)

It's pretty scary in those situations! Everyone can say that they would jump in...

I think you did the right thing.. you weren't there from the start so you had no real idea on what happened.

Last thing you want is a situation where you could end up as a witness or something and the people who you went up against in the original altercation find out your name and address details through the courts.

..and yeah, that does happen. I was knocked off my aprilia 125rs by a taxi driver one fateful november evening. went to court about 4mnths later over it because he actually drove off and left me in the road and what do you think happened after the court appearance ?? silly bugger knocked my front door and asked whether we could just settle this outside of court as he didn't want to lose his license ! He was nice enough (ie: not agressive) but if he was any other type of person there could have been a few issues !

[Spanner Man]

Morning all.

It's a difficult one this, for if you didn't actually see what occurred one could end up bashing the wrong bloke, & these days that would get you in a heap of trouble.
I have seen several situations of this kind over the years, & have intervened on most occasions. I have also been on the receiving end too. I used to drive a van delivering payroll data which was contained in briefcase style boxes, which must have looked as if they contained something of value.
I was in Stockwell early one morning rather ironically delivering to a security company, who had their offices in one of the large 3 storey houses in the area, when I was set upon by 5 black lads. I managed to take out 2 of them with the briefcase, but the remaining 3 proceeded to kick & punch me up & down the pavement, before departing with the case, dragging their injured colleagues with them.
This happened right in front of a fair queue at a bus stop, & there were a lot of stationary vehicles at the traffic lights for it was early in the rush hour. Not one single person even bothered to shout at them, let alone actually help me.
Of course after the lads had scarpered people came over & said are you alright etc. Well with bruised ribs, loose teeth, split lips, 2 black eyes, & lots of pavement rash, the answer was most definitely no.
I felt more anger towards the onlookers than to the actual attackers, it's a horrible feeling knowing that all these people just stood & watched. Hence I try to intervene when I see a similar situation occur. Although these days I try talking rather than fisticuffs.

Cheers.

the fear of reprisals or being attacked yourself stops a lot of people helping.

i think i would help if i was in my biking gear, leathers armour etc as a punch from a kevlat armoured glove and a quick nut from a head in a helmet will pasify most people.

Helping out doesn't always mean you have to physically intervene. If you fear for your own safety then you could always take a photo of the assumed attacker with your phone before they 'leg it' so it can be shown to the police, offer a witness description or even just offering to help the bloke off the floor after they've gone is enough. Like has been said, its not worth getting into thick of it if you're going to come out of it on a stretcher or worse.

It's a tricky one, unless you see the start of it, you don't know what happened. I know if someone attacked me out of the blue, I gave them a shoeing and then someone who'd just walked round the corner attacked me (simply because I was "winning") I'd hit them too without a moments hesitation. I very nearly got attacked by a large number of people for this reason (people who'd not seen that I was the one who'd been attacked came running in at me). If you've seen it from the start though, or someone is clearly, "punishing" the other person (repeatedly kicking them whilst they're down) I'll usually drag them off the other person.

Would weigh up my options, had a bit of self defence training you see so might be able to disarm/disable weapons - but like i always said to my teacher, its takes a second to disarm someone but a milli second to pull a trigger!

Originally Posted by Warthog

You can't possibly have known who was at fault, so you couldn't really do anything.

+1

Originally Posted by carlos

Helping out doesn't always mean you have to physically intervene. If you fear for your own safety then you could always take a photo of the assumed attacker with your phone before they 'leg it' so it can be shown to the police, offer a witness description or even just offering to help the bloke off the floor after they've gone is enough. Like has been said, its not worth getting into thick of it if you're going to come out of it on a stretcher or worse.

The only non-violent response I've seen in this thread!!

Personally, in that situation, not knowing what had happened, I would step in. But I wouldn't go in with both feet. One guy is already on the phone to the police, so all you need to do is try to delay them leaving the scene. That can be done adequately by talking.

Assuming the guy on the floor was the victim, you'd be helping a potential attacker leaving the scene. If the guy standing up was the victim, you'd be helping him get free, by talking & perhaps trying to release the grip.

I've been in numerous situations pretty similar to this, most of which I didn't feel in a position to strike at any party involved, so didn't. Delaying tactics are what's needed, and get the police on the scene to sort it out.

Originally Posted by Lissa

I wouldn't risk my own safety for a stranger I'm afraid, but if it was someone I knew I'd be in like Flynn regardless of potential circumstances.

I'm good at kneecaps, me

Aye, you're just the right height.