When I was 16 or 17, I was home whilst someone attempted to break in.
The experience ended well for me (not so much for the perp), but I figured it would be interesting to discuss, since enough years have passed and I can look back on the situation critically. Before I get into the meat of this story, I would like to preemptively point out that I had little to no tactical training back when it happened, and frankly didn’t really think about home security very much.
My Story
Prior to breaking down my reaction to the threat, let’s discuss the parameters.
My home at the time was my grandmother’s home here in the UK, which is basically a 2 bedroom flat that consists of a top floor of a house (downstairs was one flat, upstairs was another). To get to me you have to open a creaky gate, break down my front door, and climb a long set of stairs. The gate isn’t locked; it faces onto a main street and the front door is plain wood with a very basic Yale lock (not the most secure) and a privacy chain. There’s no secondary door, nothing else to get through once you get through the front door.
Now onto the story. It’s around 4 in the afternoon, I am typing away at my desk much like I am now, and I hear scratching by the door. I ignore it for 1 minute, assuming it’s the postman (in hindsight, I should have remembered the postman already came in the morning), but the scratching becomes more aggressive, and so I decide to take a peek from the top of the stairs. I can see through the privacy glass on the top of the door; it’s this huge bloke. We are talking 6 foot 3+ and all muscle. At this point I figure out he was attempting to lock pick his way in. I sort of freeze.
The strange thing is, I don’t panic or run, but rather just stand there observing him. I’m so unprepared for this event that my mind doesn’t really know how to react – so I sorta just stand there. Staring.
After 10 seconds of standing still and doing nothing, I feel a wave of panic wash over me and retreat to my bedroom. I breath in and out a few times and look around for a weapon. Now some of you reading this are probably thinking… “Bro…Why didn’t you call the cops yet?”
Well, I don’t know. Honestly the thought didn’t even cross my mind.
So here I am in my bedroom frantically trying to come up with a plan. I decide to confront this person because I am 17 and invincible (or so 17 year olds tend to think – I for one did), but first I want to be “ready.”
This is the UK so firearms and ranged weapons are not an option, and even in my quasi-panicked state I realized that if this invader made his way into the house, it wouldn’t end well for me. The idea of standing on the top of the stairs with a bowie staring down this moron menacingly just didn’t feel viable, so in my head, the only option I had was to dissuade him from entering the property. Bare in mind that as I am thinking about this, this guy is still picking away at my door; you can imagine my mental state.
Oddly enough, even though I have been a knife nut since I was a kid, I didn’t grab a knife. Instead, the first thing I grabbed (instinctively) was my tomahawk.
I think to this day I would still grab a hawk for home defence if all I had were edged tools. If I got to choose, either the SOG F06P-N FastHawk or the CRKT Chogan T-Hawk. Can’t decide which.
Anyway, I grab the hawk, slip it in my belt loop, put on a pair of Doc Martens, and stomp my way out of my bedroom. Once I reach the top of the stairs, I still see the top of this bloke’s head through the privacy glass and decide to head over to the living room to get a better look at him from the front windows.
Big bloke.
Meathead.
Looks like an asshole.
Alone.
Right, Meathead is alone.
I go back to the top of the stairs, shout out, “OI, What the f– do you think you’re doing mate?!” (yes, yes, how very Brit of me).
The meathead obviously heard me, though instead of running away like I expected, he instead… I shit you not… tries to ram the door down.
Olight ST25-XML2 LED Tactical Flashlight – Amazon
Think about this: house is facing a main road, he has been picking away at the lock for a solid 3 minutes by now and he hears a guy confront him from behind the door…. so he tries to ram it down? Most important lesson I learned that day is that criminals are generally complete idiots.
Back to the story. Meathead is really going at the door, slamming his shoulder in and I can see the frame flexing, so I stomp down the stairs and brace the door.
Here is where it all gets very interesting for me and quite anti-climactic for you, dear reader. At some point, as I am bracing the door and feel this parasite slam his shoulder into it, something inside me just snapped. I felt a sense of fury wash over me to the point that I did something so incredibly stupid that I am surprised I am still here typing this to you today.
I swung the door wide open.
Yep.
I was so f—-ing pissed that I thought, this guy is gonna get a tomahawk to the face and what did this genius criminal mastermind do when he saw me?
Took one look at me and ran away down the street.
That’s the end of that story folks.
3-6 months later (I don’t recall precisely) the Crown Prosecution Service sent me a letter saying the idiot had been prosecuted. I called 20 minutes after the incident ended – needed some time to calm down. Turns out he robbed quite a few places in the area, but they of course eventually caught him, and he went straight to the slammer (prison).
What I Learned
Looking back, things that surprised me about the situation & the way I reacted:
- I am a giant knife nerd and have been for decades and yet, when push came to shove, I grabbed, and still would grab, a hawk. Like I said, this mindset hasn’t changed, and I might write an article on the matter if any of you are interested (let me know in the comments).
- At no point did calling the police, or anyone else for that matter, cross my mind. To this day I am still more of a do it yourself kinda guy, but honestly – that was pretty dumb of me.
- The amount of rage I felt when I saw someone try to break into my home can’t be quantified. The idiot criminal outweighed me by 3 of me (easily) and I just didn’t care – I just saw red and went for it with zero tactical foresight. The medieval ages made sense to me for the first time in my life.
- That a criminal would try to pick a lock in broad daylight and when that failed, ram it down. Brazen is an understatement.
In hindsight, I should have called the police first, shouted out that I knew what he was doing and that the police were on their way, then braced the door.
I would have been fine with little to no risk.
We can anticipate how we will react to stressful events; I’d like to think that I learned from this experience and I would be more cautious if this happened again, but I know myself well enough to know that if someone was trying to break into my home, my gut reaction wouldn’t be to hide out and wait for backup.
When it comes to my family and my home – frankly if you are breaking in: expect war.
At some point, despite pragmatic rationalism, we have to be honest with each other and accept that deep down we are still animals with very basic and very violent core instincts. When you feel like your home is under attack and your family could be in danger it’s very difficult to walk away and be calm. I wager that most people, especially in this day and age of tolerance to the point of stupidity, would argue that in such a situation they would be calm and rational, but straight up – I wouldn’t count on it.
I have learned from this experience. I have 2 front doors now and have both a hawk and a tactical flashlight next to my bed. I 100% would call the cops first and report a robbery in progress, or rather, get Elise to do so, but with the way our current home is laid out, I can open one door and close it behind me whilst forcing a confrontation with the potential assailant without putting my family in danger.
I think when it comes to advice, the best I can do is to say; “Know thyself.” Cheesy I know, but true. Going through life disregarding your own personality when it comes to conflict is frankly silly. I would say that it’s much better to understand how you will react to a stressful, combative situation and plan accordingly for the safety of both yourself and your family.
Thoughts About Home Robberies?
How about you? Please chime in with your own experiences and thoughts on the matter – what would you have done differently?
Nice article, you did what you could with the tools your government didn’t take away from you (now I think the Crown is taking your knives too). You are lucky you didn’t get shot though as crminals won’t exactly obey all those gun laws. Stay safe, as best you can; and free, where you can.
Thankfully I no longer live in the UK. ;) Thanks for dropping by Keith!
I also experienced that paralyzing-fear-followed-by-insane rage that you mention in an ugly confrontation I had with my neighbour from hell. He was pissed drunk and yelling threats at me and my family at the top of his lungs. Fear lasted for about 10 minutes, but I become so frustrated with the situation I was ready and willing to jump the fence and giving him a thorough beating. I’m a non-confrontational type of person, so this kind of instinctual reaction surprised me very much.
It really is shocking how primal our responses can be when confronted with a threat. Now you know yourself a smidgen better. ;)
My door was broken down when I was 13. In the US these are termed Home Invasions, and its not uncommon they know you are home, but come in anyway, much like your incident.
We were a bit unusual perhaps, because he called and told us first. That is, he called his ex girlfriend, my mother. He told her he had a gun, and he was going to shoot her. This is before cell phones.
We called 911, and they said two cops were on the way. This is rural America. The police station is 45 miles away, while Mr. Ex lived 5 miles away.
When he arrived, he began battering down the door. It took only moments. Our house had a garage made into a livable space, so it had two exterior doors. The next opened outward and was half glass. He beat at it for a bit, the frame helped. Eventually the glass shattered and slashed his face and arms, but he ripped it from the hinges. He wasnt tall, but he was nearly 200 lbs of muscle.
My mother had my brother and I hide in our rooms (nice thought I suppose, but ultimately worthless) but mother waited for him in the living room. I heard her screaming and he was shouting, wanting to know where us kids were. She refused to say, but he dragged her by the hair to our bedroom and told us to come out, or he would shoot mom.
We came out of the wardrobe and he shortly had us on our knees in the living room, ranting and screaming. Bleeding, and smelling of booze. I distinctly remember how cavernous the opening in the barrel of his black 357 magnum was when it was aimed at me. In reality, having handled several since I know its not that big, but it seemed truly huge then.
He went on, threatening and pleading for about 10 minutes and then simply left.
40 minutes later the police arrived. Yes, about an hour after we called. They were on the far side of their area from us, and tied up on something they couldn’t leave from right away. They eventually got him, but he only got 6 months in prison, and 5 years probation.
Mom didnt own a gun, so we had no means to protect ourselves. Even ignoring firearms, if the man had been carrying a machete (I know he owned a few, Id handled them), no knife would have kept us safe. The size disparity was huge. She does own one now, though she is pretty old.
Final note, interesting you chose a hawk, and I enjoyed your choice. I have a CRKT Chogan, I use it as a hatchet.
One hour response time? What in the hell…what a horrifying experience mate. Really glad you are ok.
I accidentally found your blog while looking for something else and I’m glad I did. I like your writing style. Thanks for the info and your candor.
My situation of a home invasion was when I was about 22. My boyfriend at the time who I was trying to get away from broke in in the middle of the night.
It escalated quickly when he saw that I was packing.
For three hours he raged and talked about how he was going to kill us both so we could be together forever.
I was finally able to convinced him that someone was going to be coming by and he would have to deal with more than just me so I was able to get him to leave.
I got out of that with very little physical harm but a lot of emotional harm.
I decided that as far as being woken up with someone in my house that was never going to happen to me again if I could help it.
People think I’m ridiculous but I create a “safe room” at night by keeping my bedroom doors locked.
I live alone with my pets at this point in my life and they sleep in the bedroom with me and my gun. (I don’t advocate anyone having a gun without training and practice. I’ve been shooting since I was 8 years old).
I have no children so there is nothing in the rest of the house I care enough about to kill for.
So if somebody comes into the rest of the house I can stay in my bedroom and call the cops.
If someone tries to get in the bedroom I’ll be woken up by my German Shepherd barking.
I’ve been asked if I could kill someone. If I yell “I’ve got a gun in here” and they keep coming, the answer is yes.
Nothing ridiculous about doing what you can so that you can sleep peacefully. Fuck people who judge you and your experiences, I can’t imagine how stressful it must have been for you- 3 hours for some idiot threatening to kill you? Jesus. I wish you all the best Meg, thanks for dropping by.
Meg: EWXCELLENT !! I sleep the same way. Kids are all gone. Wife and I set our security alarm, go into our bedroom with our three dogs and LOCK THE BEDROOM DOOR ! I sleep with my 16 rd 9mm automatic, LOADED and COCKED in my nightstand. I have my charged CELL PHONE and READING GLASSES, and FLASHLIGHT on the nite stand. If my home alarm goes off, there is nothing out there worth dying for. My wife calls 911, we both roll over to the away-from-the-door side of the bed and I ready myself for anyone kicking in the bedroom door – which will be the last thing he does. I will tell 911 that we are barricaded in our locked bedroom and will NOT come out until I see their flashing lights from their patrol car in my driveway/street, and the 911 dispatcher tells me they are at my front door.
One thing: You do NOT want to wake up with someone standing over you while in your bed. LOCKING your BEDROOM DOOR will keep that from happening. If you live alone or both sleep in one room – LOCK YOUR DOOR. At least you will have 3-10 seconds to wake up and be ready for whoever tries to get in the bedroom door. Don’t be surprised !
I realize this is resurrecting an old post, but have you considered getting a few cheap/strong door stops? Does’t have to be anything crazy, but solid and grippy on both sides. You can leave these at all doors since they’re actually useful in normal life, and it means you can add some level of security to any non lockable door that opens inwards.
https://www.amazon.ca/Shepherd-Hardware-9333-Designer-Woodgrain/dp/B002YLTB4Y/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1545248466&sr=8-5&keywords=door+stop
This happened before I got into security, these days I have a more “proactive” mindset. Definitely a good option though, especially for doors you don’t use often or when you are travelling- I have a friend who has a doorstop gadget for hotels for extra safety.
Never had the experience.
1. driveway and side walk have two locks on each 6 foot high red wood gates;
2. Dog and camera signs in windows facing street
3. deadbolts on three bedroom doors
4. steel mesh screen door with two deadbolt locks on the front door
5.steel mesh screen door on side door to garage with two deadbolt locks
6. garage permanently locked down
7. 3 game cameras in the backyard
8.appropriate defensive tools/flashlights in each room
9. a territorial Chihuahua
10. multiple solar and battery powered motion detectors outside and inside.
Although I live on a dead-end street off a limited access street, my short block has had multiple home burglaries/car break-ins this year.
P.S. Having a $100 ring monitoring device on the front door is useless in keeping people out. The police will not even come up and pick up tapes from the neighbors. You have to keep people out in the first instance. People watch too much television and think that there is an arrest and imprisonment for every home burglary – absolutely wrong.
Keep an eye on the posts in a couple of months, you will see our security set up- its damn nice if I do say so myself.
Interesting that you keep your garage on lockdown as well! I drilled a hole through the steel slide against the door and fit a padlock through it. I always found easily accessible garages to be a terrible idea. Didn’t think about having game camera’s but man, thats a damn good idea. I will 100% do it.
As always, thanks for dropping by BDC- I always appreciate it.
I don’t have time to read this stuff, not even a little time on my hands. Why’d you have to do this to me man? I certainly didn’t have the time to read several of
Your blog posts!
My wife is going to pop-a-vein when she realizes that I’m still playing catch-up on many tasks, but what a great place to end up bud, seriously.
I love your sense of humor, this type of content has always been interesting to me.
I had a similar experience, but I was on the road. I was in traffic and the guy cut off. He pulled up next to me, and gives me the evil eye. He gets behind me and slams on the brakes. I switch lanes, just barley avoiding an accident. I’ve got my infant son in his car seat, and my ex-wife crying hysterically. He pulls behind me again, starts riding my bumber. I try getting out of his way to let him pass, but no he’s determined to be an ass. He pulls up next to my drivers side window, rolls his window down and shows me a very shiney fixed blade knife. He pulls it out of the sheath and smiles and points at me. The light turned green thank god, on a long stretch of 4 road, 4 lanes & no turn offs.
Luckily, I’d gone shooting with some coworkers earlier and I’d left my pistol case in the back of my car. I drove while I had my wife spider monkey over the seats & and hand me my bag. I slid the pistol under my thigh, kept on trying to find a way off the road. We kept looking for a cop, we got nothing, period.
We pulled up to a streetlight. he pulled up to the intersection in the left most lane, and I was in the right most lane. He got out of his car with his knife wiggling his wrist, smiling, and sets a mall walker’s pace towards me. I rolled my window down & racked the slide below window line (out of sight). I used my “Daddy’s not happy voice” and said “Stop! Right there!” He did. I let him know that only an idiot brings a knife to a gun fight. He had his knife in one hand and a traffic 5 fingers spread wide in the other like he’s ready to catch the speeding bullet in the other hand. He said ok, my bad. I said drop it again, but he bolted back to his car and took off thank god.
I left the gun in my car because I’d planned to clean it at the office. It was my business, but since not all of my guys where progun I did bring any mags or ammo with me lol.
We found a cop down the road and told him about it, and he essentially pulled the Jedi mind trick on me.
Go home, live your life, these are not the droids you are looking for!
Wow.
Thats one hell of an experience, I am really unsure what I would do in that situation- the idea of some nutjob putting a kid and my girl in danger? Eugh.
I was incredibly relieved when I got to the end of your story- would you do anything different now that you have had time to think about it?
For a young man of 17 you did pretty good. I know how I am over my family. I am very protective. And I live my life knowing things can happen. I pay attention to my surroundings and to detail. I have a front door and a side door my room is between both. I have 3 dogs that are going to raise hell if someone tries to get in, not saying they will keep the intruder from getting in but it will give me time to call the police and get what I need to defend my home. When it comes to my family I can be ruthless. That’s the only time I can have a temper.
I still feel I could have reacted better, no idea why calling the cops never crossed my mind. Thanks for the comment Lori!
Great read! My motto has always been “Prevention is better than the cure”. When ever I am out and about with my family I am constantly assessing the situation, scoping out any weird people/behaviour and my wife is exactly like yours! I will say to her in the car something like “Man wasn’t he a crazy fella” and she’ll look at me blankly and say “who was” it boggles my mind how unaware of the things around them most people are! I also keep my doors locked at home even during the day, I’m constantly having to look them after my wife who doesn’t even lock them at night!! She wonders why I do it but as you said, you never want them to get the jump on you and something as simple as locking the door can be the difference between coming out on top or not. I also lock the doors while in the car, I’ve seen too many stories about people breaking into a car while the kids are in the back and it’s also very hard to fight back at someone reaching in at you while your seated in a car! Trust me I’ve had to do it once and I didn’t win but I did learn a lesson. Cheers.
Glad I am not the only one who takes security with a “pro-active” mindset. Thanks for sharing Zac!
Great article!
Great prompt for families to do scenario training! Our daughter-in-law had a similar experience. Home alone. The perps cased the house then came through the garage and into the house. She kept the barking dog with her in the bedroom, closed the the door and locked it, grabbed the shotgun we had trained with, crouched behind the bed with the shotgun pointed at the door, called 911 and reported the break-in. Luckily, the perps were frightened by the noise of the dog barking or heard her 911 call and left. Good job!
Lessons: Deadbolt locks or chain locks on bedroom doors are a good thing. Practicing in our minds and by actually going through the motions helps us go into “muscle memory” when the adrenaline is flowing. Train, train, train!
Sounds like your Daughter-in-law handled herself well, completely agree with additional locks within internal doors- if nothing else it will buy you time for the cops to arrive as well as allow you to take a deep breath and re-access the situation.
Tom, in the training for the Krav Maga, you will learn that anything, ANYTHING that may be lying on the ground or floor can be used as a defensive weapon if in the hands of a person trained in this type of close combat. And the training doesn’t start with using the “weapon” or getting the attacker on the ground, it starts with YOU. Your mind and your body must be tuned to the focus at hand and you must practice and practice and, when you think you can’t take another punch or kick, you practice some more. I have witnessed a practitioner of Krav Maga go up against 9 full grown and trained men in full contact (within the bounds of areas like the throat, neck, kidneys and groin, or back of the head, being the only limits for obvious reasons) and the single “victim” not only dropped all 8 of his attackers but 4 of them had to be revived and helped up after the match. Not one of those “attackers” was hurt badly and every one of them could have been rendered permanently crippled or dead at the discretion of the “victim” who had shown me the unbelieveable control he had on his strikes as he swung or kicked full force and stopped within a whisper of a touch to my body!
If I were a resident of the UK, I would make a point of checking into such close combat training and pursue it with religious tenacity for both you and your wife. I was a student of t’ai-chi ch’uan and its close counterpart, Qigong, 50 years or so ago and I still practice the movements for my own personal health and and physical well being.
These Oriental arts are not for everyone but, used in the proper frame of mind, they can help to relieve stress, condition balance and general physical and emotional well being, and they will bring the student to the next step in the process which is applying the moves in both art forms to defending yourself in the event of an attack on your person.
I am referring to the practice of t’ai-chi in its various forms and Qigong, the Krav Maga is an entirely different form of self defense closely resembling a “street fight” in its moves and striking processes and practiced in many of the Middle Eastern countries.
Good advise mate, i’ll look into Krav Maga courses in the UK but in my situation (at the time) I wasn’t particularly concerned with my combative skillset (I do just fine in a controlled enviroment), my issue was “freezing” because I just didn’t expect this to happen and I didn’t really respond to the scenario calmly or clearly.
I imagine that if it happened now I would be far more pro-active.
Very interesting story. Hawks are intimidating, to say the least.
However, when that dude knocks on my door, I ain’t gonna grab a hawk. I’m going for this:
https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Steel-97DRMS-CUTLASS-MACHETE/dp/B006YBY91K
Two foot blade. Steel reinforced handguard. Very heavy. Razor sharp.
He is going to run or be dead :-)
Machetes are badass but in my current location I just don’t have the range of movement to wield a 2 foot blade. I reckon its a bit different for Americans since you’ve got more space (typically).
Thats true. Yeah, in the house we live in there is plenty of room to swing on of these. Cutlass’s were designed, after all, for the close quarters fighting and small spaces on board ship.
I’m a huge knife nut myself. Always had a knife or 3 on me.(still do)Thought I knew exactly how I would act in any given situation,truth is I was stabbed 7 times at a Waffle House in Nashville. I never drew a knife,just beat him to the floor and started kicking him in the face. You just never know how you’ll react. I do know having made to 50,when shit happens it happens fast! Great blog though and look forward to the next article.
Aye, how you think you will react and what you actually end up doing are often 2 very different things. I am glad my situation resolved itself without bloodshed but I do wish I had taken a more pro-active approach (call the authorities and confront the idiot calmly).
Lesson learned.
There’s a saying down South (USA South), “Never piss off the ‘gator, if he’s close enough for you to kick him, he’s close enough to get in the 1st bite and he will ALWAYS win that encounter.”
Another one that I like to follow with care, “Never bring a knife to a gunfight”. I have a concealed carry permit for a reason and not to impress anybody. If my life is on the line and there isn’t a logical means of escape from the encounter, I will attempt to take the perp’s life before he takes mine.
I already know that deep inside, he is NOT really a nice guy who will only try to wound me …………
Sadly, CCW permit is not an option here in the UK. I have always admired American “stand my ground” legislation, if a criminal goes to attack you or your property- as far as I am concerned, he already made the choice to reject society and its laws and consequently I shouldn’t have to cater to his whims.
Thanks for dropping by mate!
We have had two roving alarm systems for years now, (we love our (
German Shepherd Dogs), in addition, we had an alarm system in the house, and; at the time, I was still a law enforcement officer. The good weather in SoCal attracts good people and loads of thugs. I was sitting upstairs, actually cleaning two handguns, when my dogs started growling in earnest. I finally got off my rear and looked downstairs at the front door. Two sets of hands around two sets of eyes, peering through the windows. In Spanish. One knucklehead told the other to go around to the back kitchen door, partial glass, and break in. To make a long story short, I did arm myself, while calling 911 and telling the, an officer has multiple burglary suspects breaking into his home, “in progress” it is called. I heard the guy trying to climb over the first wrought iron fence, and could tell he was having “trouble” doing so.(he was rather portly) As the dispatcher told me the first unit was arriving, I engaged the first suspect at the front, turns out there were three suspects in total. The third tried running down the dead end street where he was captured immediately. The other two were taken at gunpoint by myself. and two uniformed deputies. Yes, I never “thought”, we would get hit, since we had made ourselves as unattractive a target as possible, but these numbskulles were STUPID. Turns out they were fathers of ESL students at the elementary school across the street, and had been hitting homes all around the school, for a quick grab and run style home burglary. One of the GSD’s bit one of the thugs, and the fat guy trying to make it over the fence, wet himself as the other GSD came to “greet” him. We were lucky, our neighbors had all been hit by these schlubs, I was taking some well deserved time off. Otherwise, it would have been a lot different.
I’m not into “edged weapons”, as I don’t like “working in the close!”
We are all capable of being “chosen” to be victims, it is OUR choice, as to whether or not we agree to be a victim.
Sounds like you acted/responded in a textbook fashion. I wish I had called the police and reacted as calmly as you did, I guess that comes with experience!
“We are all capable of being “chosen” to be victims, it is OUR choice, as to whether or not we agree to be a victim.”
Agree 100%, I never liked this idea that citizens should have a duty to “run away” as is suggested in the UK. My home is my castle and I should not have limits with regards to how I defend it.
Sometimes it feels like criminals have more rights here than the home owners!
Never a home break in but I did get robbed at knife point while sitting in my car in the Philippines. My wife and I were in the front of a Tamaraw truck stuck in 4 lanes stand still traffic and no where to move. I too am a former Marine like the guy earlier and once 1 guy put a big bolo knife to my throat I thought, “Who is this guy?” “Do I know him, is this a prank?” And then bang, training kicked in, “We’re being robbed!” 2 other guys on my wife side of the truck took her cell phone out of her hands. Ultimately that is all they took. Windows were down, no A/C in this truck. In rush hour, stand still traffic, my wife is screaming bloody murder and no one in any other cars around us did anything.
I grabbed the guys free arm and kept pulling him in front of the knife that he kept jabbing at me by this point hoping he’d slice himself. Then I thought, “He might hit one of my side organs” so I put by leg up on the seat to help block. I then took my other arm and reached for the door latch and kicked the door open onto this guy and just like that, he and the other 2 guys took off out of sight. It was freaky. Thanks for your site BTW!
Eek, glad it ended with both you & your wife safe. These criminals really are opportunistic scumbags. I am sure your reaction gave them a lot to think about. ;)
Thanks for sharing John, the comments is what makes me love blogging.
No se como seran las leyes en reino unido, pero hay 2 escenarios posibles,
Uno, el ladron es fuerte y preparado y te mata.
Dos, le matas tu, en ese momento, ingresas tu en prision muchos años con los amigos del fallecido, sea como sea, es tu perdición.
Pretty much, I can defend myself using lethal force *IF* the attacker uses lethal force. But in practice, you better make sure you have a good lawyer.
Perdona mi espanol, pero no es mi idioma nativo. Aqui donde vivio si matas a un ladron dentro de tu hogar, se aplican una ley que se llaman Ley del castillo, y no hay ninguna prision para tu.
Igualmento si es en la calles, y te atacan y ponen en peligroso tu vida, tu tienes el derecho de matarlo, y tampoco tienes prision por ello. Ademas puedes cargar tu pistola (de cualquier calibre) en tu persona sin ninguna problema. Casi no tenemos asesinatos, o robos en casas ni a personas en la calles aqui donde vivo. Yo estoy en Amarillo, Texas, U.S.A. Bendiciones.
You’re absolutely correct in saying, “you don’t really know how you’d react” to ANY given situation when your adrenaline is pumping until afterwards.
I was well trained (I thought) in the Marine Corps, but the very first time the SHTF for me, I distinctly remember wondering, “Why are they shooting at me? I never did anything to them!” I kid you not. That was my first thought. My second thought? “Oh sh**! Get down or die!” The whole process took over a second before “my training” kicked into gear. Truth is, people die in those first seconds. It happens all the time.
As a seasoned, senior citizen, I’m keenly aware of circumstances and my surroundings. I avoid hairy situations and stay home nights. I’ve run through a few scenarios in my head, so I know what I’m likely to do…but you just never know…does that sudden “sense of danger” trigger your training to kick in immediately? Not likely. Any human mind ALWAYS tries to “make sense” of what is currently happening based upon their prior experiences. Tom, as you relayed in your story, lots of thoughts, and some inaction elapsed before you made your decisions. Older and wiser now, you’d certainly react differently. Lots of experiences makes for faster reaction time. Cops know this and train accordingly. Civilians…not so much.
Age and experience ALWAYS trumps youth and inexperience. However, faced with a strange perp, you cannot know the perp’s level of expertise and experiences…that “unknown” can be your downfall as well.
Stay safe.
Aye, it was shocking how “frozen” I was. I real wake up call. I am now both wiser and quite paranoid but I imagine if the situation happened today it would end very quickly.
Experience is the best teacher. Thanks for sharing your story- brings home the fact that it can happen to anyone, anywhere.
I was so hoping you put the hawk in his skull, but that’s just me. I’m sure you would have immediately stopped his reign of terror and set an example in your area of the world…
Well, if I had put a hawk through his skull- I would no doubt have been arrested and potentially served some time.
Sadly, castle doctrine isn’t particularly respected in the UK. :(
Many years ago my husband and I lived in a little house. There was a door separating the kitchen/ dining and the living room.My Irish Setter kept barking. He was a good watch dog, and after I’d hush him he’d wait a minute, then start barking. Finally, my husband went into the living room. Blue stopped barking, looked at the kitchen door and resumed barking. Husband hushed him and opened the door. Odd. He opened the front door and someone ran away form the dining room window (front of the house a few feet from the front door.
Now, Blue was a big dog, 80 pounds of lean grace with a big bark. His bark alone was enough to scare people away. But, a serious burglar knows if the dog is shut in a different room. In this case, the burglar knew he could break in through this window and not that window. It’s the same with keeping your big scary dog in the basement/cellar. Someone breaking in can tell the where the dog is and where he is not.
Husband was a big hood whose presence could also scare people, but with the house dark it was obvious we were asleep at 2 in the morning.
If the dog did not stop an intruder, the next line of defense was a hunting rifle at close range. Or possibly a fist through your face.
Dogs really are a great deterrent, I am glad it worked out well for you. Good tip about the downsides of keeping your dog in one location, would you suggest just letting him/her roam freely in your house then?
Interesting article, I hope if I am ever in the situation I remember this (and remember to ring the cops first).
If you’re going to keep a guard dog I think it’s better for him to be a burglar’s first contact. We have a Border Collie who lets anyone who walks past know this is his territory. We have never known him to bite but we never tell people that, We’d rather them think it’s safer not to enter our yard. At night he is in the house with us and he can roam anywhere he wants.
I like the idea of the two front doors, something to keep in mind when we build our house.
Many years ago my husband and I lived in a little house. There was a door separating the kitchen/ dining and the living room.My Irish Setter kept barking. He was a good watch dog, and after I’d hush him he’d wait a minute, then start barking. Finally, my husband went into the living room. Blue stopped barking, looked at the kitchen door and resumed barking. Husband hushed him and opened the door. Odd. He opened the front door and someone ran away form the dining room window (front of the house a few feet from the front door.
Now, Blue was a big dog, 80 pounds of lean grace with a big bark. His bark alone was enough to scare people away. But, a serious burglar knows if the dog is shut in a different room. In this case, the burglar knew he could break in through this window and not that window. It’s the same with keeping your big scary dog in the basement/cellar. Someone breaking in can tell the where the dog is and where he is not.
Husband was a big hood whose presence could also scare people, but with the house dark it was obvious we were asleep at 2 in the morning.
There are a number of home robberies. However, I will address the most common. They are committed by friends of your children or truant males. 1. you routinely remind your children not to discuss your possessions with their friends. They are not to tell friends about collections, weapons, money, jewelry, or the family business. 2. you keep telling your kids the same. 3. most burglaries are by a kid in the neighborhood for a thrill or whatever. So you make sure that you have situational awareness when you leave the house. Me? Once, a friend of my son burglarized -found one item sitting in the living room of his parents. Another time, my own friend burglarized my car.
Good tips BDC, its hard to think about but you are right, most crimes are crimes of opportunity by someone we know or have a social link to.
A lot of people don’t want to think about that but it bares mentioning and re-repeating.
How did you deal with your friend burglarising your car? I am not sure if I could ever forgive a friend if that happened to me.