Friend Had to Draw His Weapon Today

[DaveFromPA]

My friend had an encounter with someone today. I will not name him nor will I state any specifics. He had a man charge and take a swing at him in an alley today. He evaded the punch and shoved the man into a wall prior to putting him on the ground and drawing his firearm. He called the police and held the attacker until they arrived. No charges will be filed on my friend but the attacker is being charged with aggrivated assault.

This is why we all carry and I felt it necessary to share this.

[TaePo]

We are glad your friend is alright.

Even when we try our best to do everything right, bad things can happen. We can only lessen the odds against us.

Fortunately, though something bad started, your friend had the wherewithal to deal with it effectively. Perhaps the other person will think twice before attacking someone.

[iMoses14]

My friend had an encounter with someone today. I will not name him nor will I state any specifics. He had a man charge and take a swing at him in an alley today. He evaded the punch and shoved the man into a wall prior to putting him on the ground and drawing his firearm. He called the police and held the attacker until they arrived. No charges will be filed on my friend but the attacker is being charged with aggrivated assault.

This is why we all carry and I felt it necessary to share this.

He drew his firearm on a guy who swung at him and didn't connect on the punch and this "guy" didn't have a weapon? No offense, I don't think your friend made a smart move. Your friend could've pushed the guy to the ground and walked (ran) away. I wouldn't have drawn my firearm unless the bad guy had a weapon of his own. God forbid your friend got nervous and shot the bad guy on accident. No one even wants to think of the charges your friend would get if he shot an unarmed bad guy. Just my opinion.

[CenterTree]

He drew his firearm on a guy who swung at him and didn't connect on the punch and this "guy" didn't have a weapon? No offense, I don't think your friend made a smart move. Your friend could've pushed the guy to the ground and walked (ran) away. I wouldn't have drawn my firearm unless the bad guy had a weapon of his own. God forbid your friend got nervous and shot the bad guy on accident. No one even wants to think of the charges your friend would get if he shot an unarmed bad guy. Just my opinion.

There's not near enough info in this story to give much response, however, I think if someone is aggressive enough to "attack" and throw a punch, then WHAT IF he DID have a weapon still hidden and just didn't implement it yet?

The guy COULD have had a knife, gun etc in his pocket. Just because he didn't use it FIRST doesn't mean it wasn't there. I wouldn't feel completely comfortable walking away (with back turned) to a guy who just assaulted me.

But,still, I don't think I would have drawn at this point yet either....not sure though. It could go either way. What was the attacker's motive? What was his stature? What was his attitude after a return act of defense? etc.

Again, NOT enough info to get a real feel for this whole situation.

[fragmag]

Good to hear he's ok. Glad no one got shot. And best of all the cops didn't charge your friend.

[iMoses14]

There's not near enough info in this story to give much response, however, I think if someone is aggressive enough to "attack" and throw a punch, then WHAT IF he DID have a weapon still hidden and just didn't implement it yet?

The guy COULD have had a knife, gun etc in his pocket. Just because he didn't use it FIRST doesn't mean it wasn't there. I wouldn't feel completely comfortable walking away (with back turned) to a guy who just assaulted me.

But,still, I don't think I would have drawn at this point yet either....not sure though. It could go either way. What was the attacker's motive? What was his stature? What was his attitude after a return act of defense? etc.

Again, NOT enough info to get a real feel for this whole situation.

Agreed about not having my back turned to the bad guy. I would've backed-up / walked backwards to make sure the bad guy didn't follow. And, I would've been dialing 9-1-1 as I tried to flee. I still, personally, would not have drawn my weapon unless I had serious reason to believe this bad guy was gonna cause severe injury or death to me. Sounds gay, but, I ain't gonna take a chance on screwing my life up by accidently shooting the bad guy who just punched me and was unarmed. But, like you said, NOT enough info on this.

[rady8um]

With the info we have been given, I would have done the same thing. Unless we're going to assume the OP's friend could have left the alley without passing the BG, and the BG planned on staying on the ground, and the BG had no weapon, and the BG didn't have crack-head friends waiting at the end of the alley.

Also, I've heard the best way to avoid shooting someone by accident would be to not point the gun at them and keep your finger outside of the trigger guard. Of course that is second to keeping the gun holstered, which is the smartest thing to do, unless.......***see above***

[acosenza2]

With the info we have been given, I would have done the same thing. Unless we're going to assume the OP's friend could have left the alley without passing the BG, and the BG planned on staying on the ground, and the BG had no weapon, and the BG didn't have crack-head friends waiting at the end of the alley.

Also, I've heard the best way to avoid shooting someone by accident would be to not point the gun at them and keep your finger outside of the trigger guard. Of course that is second to keeping the gun holstered, which is the smartest thing to do, unless.......***see above***

I find myself agreeing with you more and more frequently....common sense has that effect.

The BG is lucky that the OP's friend did not immediately draw. However, if the OP's friend dodged the punch, I believe he was correct in drawing his firearm because who knows what else the BG could've done. Perhaps it went more like this:
The BG charged, the OP's friend dodged, knocking the BG to the ground. Not knowing whether or not the BG was going to jumop back up, draw a gun, draw a knife, call for help, pick up a brick, pick up a bottle, pick up another piece of alley trash (you get the idea) and thus the OP's friend drew just in case. I am sure this happened in a matter of seconds and not a drawn out scenario.

Obviously I have no idea what I would do as I have never been in that situation, but I can imagine my first instinct would be for my firearm.

[Yentl Marmelstein]

Did this occur within the borough of Pottstown?

[DaveFromPA]

Without getting into specifics, he has a job that people do not like what he does and for some reason they always get irrationally mad at him. This "alley" is about three feet wide between buildings.

To date, he has been attacked like this several times in the past two months but he just got his LTCF at my request so he has been carrying for about a month at work. Several attacks upon him and his crew have included fighting dogs, criminals, knives, and guns. He is very cautious and the police know him and his company and they know how people respond to what he does. Even if they did not know him, legally, he did the correct thing and apprehended the criminal until the police came.

No, this was not in the borough of Pottstown.