One tactical
topic that keeps raising its head is the question of intervention, or extending
your mantle of self-protection to a stranger.
It must be
the John Wayne gene in many of us. We
want to help society. We want to be the
hero. We want people to look up to us
and say, “He’s the guy I want on my side when the chips are down.”
Let’s look at
what Evan Marshall has to say about it.
Evan is a 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police department and the
author of three books on handgun stopping power based on actual performance. He has kindly given me permission to condense and
paraphrase his article, THE DANGERS
OF INTERVENTION, from his website WWW.stoppingpower.net.
Let me be perfectly frank.
Those who think that intervention will bring fame, honors, glory, etc
are delusional. If the rescued individual
doesn’t make life miserable for you in the courts, they just might kill you.
Evan goes on, I’m aware of four instances where officers responding
to a domestic violence situation and when the wife realized the breadwinner was
going to jail, she assaulted and killed her would-be rescuers.
There’s a couple things Evan wants you to realize. The first is: things are never what they seem.
(That sound like excellent tactical
advice to me)
The other important item applicable to all of us is the law is
what the local prosecutor says it is. So
do you really want to spend 7 years in jail waiting for an appeal to be heard and
your conviction overturned?
Twenty years as an LEO in Detroit would give anyone scary
stories and some of them are applicable to us.
Evan once got sued for more than 100 thousand dollars for legally
handcuffing a suspect. Fortunately it
was job related and the Detroit footed the bill and settled out of court. But listen to what he has to say. “Had I been acting as a private citizen I
would have subjected my family to DECADES of poverty in order to pay the judgment
and attorney fees.”
Are you counting on the media coming to your aid and
championing you as the white hat good guy?
Citing another example Evan explains he and his partner were accused of
being blood thirsty, trigger-happy and racist.
The media conveniently forgot they had intervened in the severe beating
and robbery of an elderly woman.
So would you?
Would you jeopardize everything you own, your family’s
security for a total stranger?
Would you let everything, your home, your car, your
retirement be taken away to play Knight of the Round Table?
So if you decide to extend the mantle of your protection to
a stranger, do it on your terms.
Evaluate, carefully and with your eyes wide open to the consequences,
the totality of the circumstances. And
if you decide to respond you should do so at the lowest level of necessary
force. Options include command voice,
cell call to the professionals (the police), OC spray and lastly, the
firearm. If you think that the mere
display of a weapon will stop hostilities you are extremely naïve and in great
error.
What more
could I add to Mr. Marshal’s comments?
Maybe a little.
If you think
that because you’re not a LEO and not backed by deep city pockets you’re okay
from predatory law suits? Think
again. You may not have much but it’s better
than having nothing. The police at least
have a support group. The armed citizen
has nothing.
If that isn’t
enough, remember, when the police do arrive, they don’t know you from the bad
guy. Your Simon Templar halo will not be
visible to them.
I know a
lawyer in the Youngstown
For more on
my perspective : http://tactical-talk.blogspot.com/search?q=save
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