Should You Act? - Get Involved Or Run Away?

[roberth]

I thought this was a pretty good write-up.

Every so often we get a thread at Warrior Talk asking about what a CCW person should do if he sees a crime, or some apparent victimization.The implied question of course is the quest for justification of the desire to jump in with both feet to save the day. That inherent desire, while noble, may also be quite foolish and self-destructive. But staying out of everything doesn't have to be the mantra either. Like many things - it depends.

http://blog.suarezinternational.com/...-get-away.html

[Great-Kazoo]

Be a good witness.

UNLESS one was witness to the entire scenario, you never know what actually happened, or the truth is. Which goes to my next reply.

NOW, if i hear a woman screaming for help and there's a clear view she is a victim. OR i see someone giving a beat down to a person in the parking lot. Or i hear my neighbor[s] screaming for help. Then yes i'm all in.

[TFOGGER]

Preserve life(your own and your family's, first and foremost), be a good witness, don't try to be a cop or a hero. There are few absolutes in life, one just tries to use the best judgement in the time available in any given situation.

[Rumline]

NOW, if i hear a woman screaming for help and there's a clear view she is a victim. OR i see someone giving a beat down to a person in the parking lot. Or i hear my neighbor[s] screaming for help. Then yes i'm all in.

Kids are another one for me. In this case I mean <10 years old. It is extremely unlikely that kids that young are the aggressors in a situation.

[gnihcraes]

I tried to be a good witness a while back. I never posted here about it.

While trying to follow the suspect and just witness him and where he was going - hopefully to let the PD know when they showed up. This guy makes multiple threats to myself and a couple of others that are with me doing the same thing - witness. Eventually one of the witnesses gets a smart mouth and says "you can't take all 5 of us" and then the fight was on - guy turns around on myself and another guy next to me. "oh yeah"

Well, it didn't last long, we had him down and under control. Nobody hurt. Thankfully we were able to flag Lakewood PD down and they were there in a matter of ~ 30 seconds code 3. We gave up contact information about what we saw and haven't been contacted yet. Not sure what ever became of the situation. (assault sbi)

Moral of the story, don't yell "you can't take us all". idiot. Everything was fine "observing" and witnessing until that was said.

It was fun to see the guy try to run with handcuffs on though, PD clothes lined him back to the ground. lol

[Ronin13]

I would echo what's already been said, better to be a good witness- dependent upon the situation you find yourself in witness to. Even for myself, if I'm off-duty (goes x2 if my family is with me), I'm not likely to act unless it's absolutely necessary or the situation looks to go bad and I need to act. I'm also asked, from time to time, what a CCW person should do if they encounter a lone LEO with one at gunpoint. I hesitate to say they should render aid, backup is more than likely en route, and an armed person who they don't know just showed up- are they really there to help, or are they another bad guy? I mostly would say do nothing. As for what I would do, that's a different story as I rarely, if ever, leave home without my badge, gun, and cuffs on my person.

[MrAK]

I imagine that if I arrived on a scene with an officer in distress then I would try to ask if the officer needed assistance before trying to render aid. Then again, as most people have said, it's all dependent on the situation.

I would echo what's already been said, better to be a good witness- dependent upon the situation you find yourself in witness to. Even for myself, if I'm off-duty (goes x2 if my family is with me), I'm not likely to act unless it's absolutely necessary or the situation looks to go bad and I need to act. I'm also asked, from time to time, what a CCW person should do if they encounter a lone LEO with one at gunpoint. I hesitate to say they should render aid, backup is more than likely en route, and an armed person who they don't know just showed up- are they really there to help, or are they another bad guy? I mostly would say do nothing. As for what I would do, that's a different story as I rarely, if ever, leave home without my badge, gun, and cuffs on my person.

[Blowby]

If my family and myself are not in line of fire or directly threatened then remove ourself from the situation. I have spent financial resourses and time, like many of us have, in being educated CCW holders. I hope many more out there as well and if they haven't then they've paid local taxes to have the police protection needed in these types of events. As many of us have decided to be our first line of defense I will not jeopardize my future to compensate for others who believe the right to carry or believing in the 2nd amendment is unnecessary.

[izzy]

There was a story recently in Denver where the guy tried to help and got beaten to death. I'll look for a link.

[izzy]

http://kdvr.com/2017/06/22/family-ta...denver-street/