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Thought I’d share this as a reminder of how fast things go from 0-100 in the blink of an eye.

Set the scene
Been sitting around this week due to having some oral surgery on Monday. Earlier in the year I fell down the steps and broke my sinus and a few teeth when I landed on some stones. Mouth full of stitches means liquid diet and boredom. Everyday I take the dog for a walk and try to get some air.

This morning I took the dog for a walk along the river and see if any cool driftwood made it’s way ashore. Got home around lunchtime. I back my truck into the driveway but parked it closer to my privacy fence than normal (approximately 5’ bumper to the gate.)

I’m inside the house with the dog and starts barking like she normally does when she hears something in the driveway. I walk into the kitchen and catch movement in my driveway. There’s a guy opening the door on my truck cap and looking inside. I go out the back door and go to the gate. It’s a privacy fence so I can’t see him and he can’t see me. I open the gate and politely asked him what he was doing. At this point, I’m standing in the gate opening when he turns and looks at me. He had a face mask on like a typical covtard and sunglasses so it was hard to read any visual cues. I repeatedly ask him and he’s not answering. After probably 5-7 seconds I move towards him to get away from the gate so I’m in a better position if things get weirder. As soon as I step in his direction, he comes towards me. He grabbed my shirt and at that point I went into autopilot. I grabbed his collar and pulled in with my left hand and pushed his other shoulder with my right hand while moving counter clockwise. I did this to get his feet moving, try to interrupt his train of thought, and hopefully give myself an advantage. This part of the driveway had bunch of bark, dirt, stones and a few pieces of rotten firewood (that had been delivered earlier this week but not yet cleaned up). At a few seconds of “wrestling” I made the determination that having a fist fight in my condition isn’t the smartest thing to do. I push him back and draw my gun. Apparently he’s seen one before. His body language changed. He seemed a bit confused. I reverted back to my LE career and started asking questions both for information and to keep him talking. People have a much harder time making a plan if they’re talking. He was evasive, gave me multiple names and kept changing his story. After probably a minute, I had him back his way down my driveway towards the street. When I go him to the end of the driveway I made him get down on his knees.
So here you have a white guy, who has a black guy on his knees at gun point. I left my phone in the house (big mistake in retrospect) Literally a dozen cars drive by and not a single person looks at what’s going on. I was hoping someone would stop or call the police. After probably 7 minutes, a teenage kid that lives in an apartment across the street yells to me from his window. I told him to call the cops. I continue asking this guy questions and he’s just rambling. He was coherent but he was definitely “off”. About 5 minutes later the kid from across the street walks over. He has the dispatcher on the line. I’m not sure what conversation they had but she clearly didn’t get the message. He had her on speaker. She was shocked when I told her I had a guy at gunpoint in my driveway. I let her know I was retired LE so she could advise responding officers. After 3 attempts, she finally got my address correct. 2 mins later I heard the sirens. 2 mins after that the first officer responded. They cuffed the guy and put him in a car. Gave the officers a rundown on what happened. They retrieved his bags from the back of my truck. No dope or anything in the cursory search. They said they’ve had a few interactions with him recently. Seems to have taken a trip but never came back. He’s a military vet (non combat role many years ago). Hard to say what his intentions were and not even sure if he knows what he was doing. They’re hitting him with a trespass charge and we’re thankful I didn’t ventilate him because that’s a lot of paperwork.

I live in a town that’s 2 sq miles. It borders 3 other small towns. Ended up with 2 officers from my town and 3 officers from 3 neighboring towns. From the start of the incident until someone arrived it was probably 15+ mins. Looking back I think the only big mistake I made was not having my phone. Lesson learned.

Like they say, when seconds count, the cops are minutes away.

Glad it went as well as it did!

Like I preach all the time, they call it a mobile phone for a reason!!!


Mike

Glad it worked out,could've went south real fast by the sounds of it.

I always have my Jitterbug, with one touch of the big red button, in the blink of an eye I can be connected with a competent professional that can assess the situation, determine my location and send help.


Good job




*Gopher Gunner would’ve sent Cathy out there with her Shield.

Yeah that coulda gone south in a big hurry...glad it eventually panned out.

Training paid off. Nice job and glad you weren't hurt and perp wasn't shot.


To all those about to say he should have shot him or what an ass kicking you would have given the guy....just stay off the keyboard.

The fact that you were wearing your gun and were able to break contact to produce it is a good thing. I taught CCW to average folks and advised that distance was their friend and avoiding/reducing contact was a good thing. I also advised that detaining the bg put them at greater risk than ordering them to run for their life.

Different folks have different capabilities and should plan their actions around the best possible conclusion to the worst possible situation. Causing the bg to run away reduces the time that you are standing out in public w/ a gun in your hand, decreases the opportunity for the creep to make you shoot him and allows you to reholster prior to the arrival of LE.

The dispatcher will attempt to keep you on the line. Say only man w/ a gun and the address, leave the phone on but put it in your pocket to keep both hands free and do not get distracted from improving your position and observing your environment for new threats. Your LE experience influenced your TTPs but for many this would be a 1st time occurrence.

practice, train, practice some more. Good job, thanks for your post.


mike r

I'm laughing at the fact that 7 minutes of traffic passed by a white guy holding a gun on a kneeling jigaboo and just kept on driving😂 sounds like my neck of the woods👍

But all-in-all, you neutralized the threat with no injury too you or your property. Good job👍

Glad it worked out OK. That said a few observations:
1: You no longer are a LEO so you don't have the requirement to arrest.
2: Keep distance between you and the perp. If they run it's OK. Distance gives you time to react.
3: Even in your driveway lock your vehicle doors. Treat the snatch and grabs like a stray, don't want them around, don't feed them!
4: Always assume the perp is on drugs so dealing with a rational person ain't happening and jacked up on certain drugs give them super strength.

I probably could’ve added a little about me. I’m 47, still pretty fit, wrestled most of my life, spent 12 years assigned to SWAT, have just about every instructional cert for LE training. I’m probably not the average homeowner. I’d say the odds were heavily in my favor in this situation. That said.... I would never advise anyone to do what I did. For most people that’s the wrong course of action. I never thought about any of it. I just reacted.

I know people have tunnel vision but at least 12 cars drove by and didn’t look 10’ from the curb to see me holding some dude at gunpoint in my driveway. It really is kinda crazy.

Hopefully it warms up enough tomorrow that I can shovel the frozen wood and dirt up in the driveway so I have a clear place to fight

It was your lucky day all around.

You leave your truck unlocked, so I really don't think you learned the right lesson from this incident.

Reading is hard. He opened the truck cap door. It wasn’t locked because there was nothing in there to steal except a few pieces of driftwood that I picked up 15 mins before he showed up. My truck doors were locked, as always. He put a backpack and a computer bag in the truck bed and closed the cap door before I got out to him.

Lesson 1
I was reminded that I should keep my phone with me

Lesson 2
Share your experiences with others so they can learn from your mistakes...even if not all of them can read

I always try to carry when I'm outside my house. Never had to draw it, hope I never need to. Seems as though things always play out differently in life than what we have in our mind.

Glad it came out OK, and I’m sure your LEO experience made all the difference.

Would having the dog out there with you have made a difference?

I’m pretty sure when I left my front door open at 4am for a bit this past summer a stray dog I had adopted (Cleburne) prevented some big twenty something guy from just walking right in out of the dark.

Cleburne ain’t a biter but he bayed the guy to a standstill 10ft away from the doorway. Gave me time to put a hand on my nearby j-frame.

Said he was lost, had been left in the neighborhood by his buddies, wanted to know where he was. Maybe true, maybe not, but he did see the gun in my hand.

Very happy all is well.

Hindsight is 20/20 but I’d rather have a gun and no phone than a phone and no gun so there is that...

20lbs of pure terror She’s trained to stay in the yard until I let her out. She stood next to the gate until I came back in but I don’t think she would’ve been much help unless I needed to blood track him

Good job hunter! You are fine and the chump got hauled away. Kudos!

My SIL is a LEO and he tells me when they're high on drugs especially spice it's all three LEO's can do to get them in cuffs. Distance is indeed your friend, engaging them is definately to be avoided if at all possible.

Glad things worked out out in your favor, Things do indeed get real fast.