Ok, a weird thing just happened to me... Here's the scenario:

I walked over to a local grocery store (Safeway) a few blocks from my house, had a late quick sandwich, and started to walk back home.

I'm about to leave the parking lot, and I hear a woman screaming. I look back, and see a man (maybe early 20s, thin, sweatshirt, African American) running towards me. I'd say he was about 10 seconds away from passing me. Behind him was a store worker who is yelling "stop him, stop him!" Behind her is an overweight female cop.

Now - I have about 10 seconds to make a decision.

* I don't know what this dude did
* I don't know if he's armed

I think about the pluses and minuses - should I tackle him? Should I try to impede his progress? The pluses: 1) feel good for stopping a potential criminal 2) get thanked by the store worker and the cop. The minuses: 1) get hurt (stabbed, shot, punched, etc.) 2) get hurt later (if I stopped him to get him in trouble, he'd remember me)

I let him run right by.

Thoughts?

- Jon

P.S. I caught up to the store owner, who was now getting into a cop car to look for the criminal. She told me that he stole a pair of hair clippers off the counter of the shop.

I probably would have decked him, no question.
But then I'm sometimes more brave/foolish than is good for the induhvidual.

Cheers

Difficult one that. I'd say that if I'd had something on me that I could've swung at him and done him some damage as he ran past then I would've given it a shot. Otherwise I would probably done the same as you. As you point out it's hardly the crime of the century.

But I too would worry about him bearing a grudge.

Sad to say but I suspect I would be less inclined to take action depending on how well I knew the victim. As you noted timing is also a factor. I'd need a moment for it to sink in.

Then there is the passivity from watching too much of that kind of thing on TV.

Rats. I thought for sure I knew the content of your post just by the title.

I don't know what I'd do. Probably my mind wouldn't process the scene fast enough to act until it'd passed me by.

Tripping him would probably be my tactic, not much punching experience.

-Zeke

I'd trip him and try my best to keep him from getting a good look at me. I don't think this would've been too difficult as he was probably really worked up and by that time the clerk and others would be around him.

I would probably done the same thing as you but then later regretted not decking him.

It's funny, if someone had described this scenario to me, I'd also say "oh, I'd totally take the guy out" - but when faced with it? When you actually have to tackle a dude that you don't know? It's really not easy!

In retrospect, I'm glad I did nothing. I'd be worried about going to my local grocery store if he had been arrested with my help.

I'm probably just an apathetic pussy...

- Jon

Let him run right on by and then find out that he carjacked my uncle's car and murdered my uncle. Then corner him in a warehouse and facilitate a fall to his death out of a window. Then sew up a pretty cool superhero suit. Then kiss Mary Jane upside down.

We've had a case here in Northern England where a rapist was followed by two teenagers, who had heard the screams and cornered him. The trial happened to be on the same day as the first website went up in this Country naming and showing five paedophiles, but relevantly telling you not to approach them.
I could see the difficulty the police spokesman had in both commending the boys' action, whilst sticking to the "don't approach" line.
I think that you did right, in this age you cannot take the risk of tackling/getting involved. Years ago, when the likelyhood of firearms was much less, I rugger tackled a shoplifter coming out of a DIY store, but:
a) I wouldn't do it now.
b) I knew that I had four burly friends standing by a nearby car.
c) It was worth it, both because the store Manager bought us a round in our pub nearby and I got some store vouchers.

The one thing that I don't think has surfaced on this thread was, that my main concern was that he would recognise me in the street, perhaps when I was on my own and he was with a bunch of thugs.

I know I'm a dork, and it's a pretty good movie regardless, but I always hated the way they changed these important events in the Spider-Man mythos.

Spider-Man didn't effectively kill the burglar. He captured the burglar after Uncle Ben was killed when the burglar broke into his home, after which the burglar served time in prison, then died of a heart attack after release when he tried to break back into the Parker home where he had stashed a large sum of stolen money.

Also, Peter didn't even know Mary Jane this early, and they co-opted a very important (later) story line where the Green Goblin threw Peter's girlfriend off of a bridge. In that story line, the girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, died, possibly because of a broken neck as a result of Spider-Man trying to catch her with a webline.

Hey, all I'm saying is with great power comes great responsibility. Jon could have run the guy down with his Segway.

An interesting dilemma. In a case like that, where it's clear what's happening (a dude is being chased by a fat rent-a-cop), I'd probably see if I could stop him. My logic goes that if he were truly armed and dangerous, he probably wouldn't be being chased by a clerk.

I've had some similar situations happen here in LA that show it could go either way on giving a hand.

For example, this past Sunday night, I was down in Santa Monica with my girlfriend. We'd just had dinner and were going off to the mall. It was a foggy night. As we were standing on the corner, waiting to cross the street, there were some squealing tires and honking horns. Running out of the fog was a black dude, carrying a shopping bag, being chased by two white dudes. In that area, that could have been multiple scenarios: a homeless guy stole someone's bag, and was being chased; a guy was being robbed by a couple punks; etc. Ultimately, the guy was caught in the middle of the intersection, and was like "here... take it." In that area, that could have been multiple scenarios: a homeless guy stole someone's bag, and was being chased; a guy was being robbed by a couple punks; etc. In the fog, it wasn't obvious what was going on. At that point, I just took hold of my girlfriend's arm, walked her off, and said "we're not getting involved in this." I sure was curious about it, but at that point, it wasn't just my own personal safety I was concerned about. Had I been on my own, I definitely would have stuck around to monitor the situation, and step in if necessary.

Of course, several years of training in mixed-martial arts may be giving me a false sense of bravado -- as a former instructor said at one point during my training, "you have enough knowledge to be a danger to yourself."

If confronted with this scene, I've always planned to beat a perp senseless with my Pelecan 1400 case; empeg inside. Fragle, pah. The empeg would survive, the perp wouldn't.

Seriously, though, I wouldn't have realized what was going on until 15 minutes later. Sad.

More seriously, though, I wish citizens could step up to the bad guys. So much fear of retaliation; justified at that. If the citizens were strong enough, the crooks might just fear them. Nice to dream.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

if I'd had something on me that I could've swung at him and done him some damage as he ran past then I would've given it a shot.

Yeah, and after he got out of jail (in the unlikely case that he actually ever got there) he wouldn't bother coming after you to do you bodily harm. Instead he'd get a lawyer and sue you for the damage caused by the injuries and the mental suffering you inflicted upon him.

And he'd probably collect. Even if he didn't win the suit, you'd be out thousands of dollars in attorney fees defending yourself.

It's analogous to the idiots who insist on driving right at the speed limit in the left [passing] lane thinking they are doing a public service in enforcing the speed limit. Law enforcement is not your responsibility. I tell the left-lane bandits that until they have a car with lights and siren and a nice shiny badge to go with it, they have no business playing policeman. Nor would you in the situation you described. Leave it to the people who get paid to do it.

You did exactly the right thing.

tanstaafl.

I think alot of what someone does is a product of several things...moral character, physical abilities, and conditioning.
about 15 years ago, I was at a strip mall type thing, walking to my car. I hear a woman scream "Help! Stop him!!" The guy running towards me had his hand in a 'hoodiie' type sweatshirt pocket. Fortunatly, my brain is kind of stupid, I was in the military for years, and my reactions worked faster than my brain. I closelined the guy, and when he went down, he hit the ground (asphault parking lot stuff) he went unconcious. The woman came running up to me and said he had mugged her for her billfold from her purse. I check his pocked got the billfold check confirmed that it was hers by her driver's license. I gave it to her as she was thanking me. Now is when my brain caught up to the situtation. I told her to call the cops right now, and I guess he just slipped and hit the ground hard. She looked puzzeled. I then went back into one of the shops in the strip mall and broswed for a while until the cops showed up, hauled the guy off, and left.
I was not brave, I was stupid, as the guy could of had a firearm and shot/killed me, or since he was bigger than I (I am a small person) he could have really kicked my ass if he had not 'become one with the ground'. And, since it today's culture, he would have probably sued me, I did not want to be identified or involved. Really a coward. But, call me old fashion, or politically incorrect, when I hear a woman scream or see a woman being attacked by some big ass, it just really pisses me off...
Ok...Flame on!

I think the saddest thing about all of this is that, for once, Billy is absolutely right and I agree with him 100%. Everyone who advocates doing nothing should be ashamed of themselves. Moreover, they should never again lament the state of a world they're helping to create.

No wonder we have so much crime in America.

Kudos to Ladmo, Mark, Visuvius, and Boxer for knowing the difference between right and wrong, and more importantly, between civic duty and cowardice. Being scared of retaliation doesn't excuse you from your responsibility to your fellow man.

Flame all you want, but this is pathetic.

While I agree with the sentiment... you can talk all the shit you want until you are in the situation and have to deal. I'd like to think I'd do something, I'd hope that I'd be able to do something, but when faced with a completely unpredictable situation like that, you can't say what you'd do unless you've been in it before or trained for it. Until you can show me the list of criminals you've tackled as they've surprised you running out of a store, you just come off like a big talker. There's a fine line between courage and stupidity.