New CC Encounter - "You Picked The Wrong Truck"

[Too-Tall]

So tonight i was making some deliveries in and around Pittsburgh. I rolled off the 10th street bridge shortly after the steelers game let out; trust me there isn't a cuss word yet that could fully grasp the amount of anger i was feeling at that point. i sat at the 10th street/carson st light for 20 minutes because everyone kept gridlocking carson i was unable to make my turn. so now extremely behind schedule. moving at half the speed of smell.

i find my way down to my delivery point. do my thing. get back in, fight my way back onto carson and head toward station square so i can make my next delivery downtown and such. as im sitting in traffic, i realize my gun has shifted ever so slightly and is sort of digging into me a bit, so i reach down, uncover it; keep in mind im in a big rig, noone outside the vehicle can see my waist and see my weapon; no lets not go down the "waving it around" road again; and grasp the grip (almost as if i was going to draw it) and turn my holster a bit. just as i get it right, i suddenly hear my passenger side door open.

well needless to say at this point i pulled my weapon partially from the holster, enough that i could fully draw if i had to, but not a full draw. my hand firmly on the grip, weapon exposed right before trigger and trigger gaurd, which at this point are still covered by the kydex layer of the holster, which is just at the waist line. i am not ready to go full draw as i need to assess the situation and identify the subject as friend or foe before proceeding to anything else. my finger is straight down/out in the "Safe" postion, even though the trigger wasnt exposed i still choose the "Safty" postion for my finger. i see a young girl, mid 20s, looking at me. at this time in my mind ive classified her as a moderate threat, rather than the high threat level i had classified the subject as before the door was fully opened; no need to fully draw my weapon as a show of force, however keeping my posture as a precaution; in the event there may be more unseen parties to this event. (ie: an accomplice?) i see no obvious weapon in her hands at this point, however i am slightly fearful as i am unable to leave this potentially dangerous situation (unknown person trying to enter my vehicle) and i dont know whats going to happen next.

Me: *hand on weapon, glaring at the passenger side*
Girl: *door in her hand looks up at me*
Me: *stern tone* why are you opening my door??
Girl: *looks confused; yet angry/snippy* what?!
Me: *stern tone* Why. Are you opening. My Door??
Girl: *looks at me, studies my posture, notices my weapon, slams door, runs away into some diner on the corner*
Me: *fully holsters weapon again; fixes it so its comfortable once more, pulls shirt back down* well alrighty then.

after this i found the nearest LEO, waved him over, explained to him, that in the event they get a call, the situation that had transpired. i explained that someone had opened my passenger side door, i exposed my weapon, she ran off. that was that. the LEO looked at me, nodded and said "well, you do what you gotta do" which to be honest im not entirely sure what that was suppose to mean. i know some of you will tell me i wasnt required to tell him, but i figured the crazy nutjob would call the police, and since my companys name is on the damn door, tell them that some crazy driver had a gun and whatnot. so to keep the police from chasing thier tails since the night was hectic enough with 10 calls a minute coming in for violence and insanity from the drunken sports fans, they didnt need to be wasting thier time with a non-issue.

i made my last 4 deliveries un-bothered. police were awfully busy tonight. lights and sirens almost all night. thank GOD i do not live in that insane asylum they call Pittsburgh anymore.

now before i get the FAQ's i will answer them for you

Q) Why was the passenger side door unlocked?

A) because i often need to retrieve gear from that side of the truck from street level; and because one one of our trucks that lock is broken, so im not used to messing with it even if i wanted to


Q) why not lock it and use the key when you get out?

A) because in order for the interior lights of the trailer to work, the key must remain in the ignition and in the "on" postion. dont ask me what moron came up with that design, but thats how it works.


so yeah stuck in traffic for almost an hour, and having someone try to truck-jack me or whatever her nutjob intentions were made my night ever so interesting.


i would like to make a few things VERY clear:
1) the ONLY person that saw my weapon was the person attempting to enter my vehicle.

2) my weapon was NEVER fully drawn or pointed/aimed at anyone. she didnt have a weapon i could see, i did not feel the need to go pointing my gun to show i ment business. showing was enough of a deterrent.

3) a potentially dangerous situation was defused within a matter of seconds without anyone being hurt, and was done so safely, peacefully, and within the law.

dispite my outward rambo-esqe attitude on life, you may find this hard to beleive but hurting other people is NEVER my goal. it always is, and always will be my absolute last resort is to harm another person; and ending them is an even more absolute last last last resort. i am only trigger happy with a box of FMJs and a paper target. otherwise i hope my weapon is never discharged in the line of sight of another living person.

that being said i hope this post goes over somewhat better than my last.

[sandcast69]

I don't see any problem with the way you handled things at all.
I've been known to adjust my holster while in the truck, and if someone
ever tried to enter my vehicle without being invited they would have a similar view from the passenger side.
personally I think telling the cop was a good idea, with the company name on the truck and all. You know the rule, the first to call is always looked at as the victim.

Others opinions may vary.

sandcast69

[Asmodeus6]

It never occured to you that maybe the diner was giving away free blow jobs that night? They probably saw you parked there for a while so they sent her out.


On a serious note, I leave it to others to find fault or nitpick. I just think your spidey sense must have been going off to already be fiddling with your gun when some nut job opened your door. What a lucky break. Had that been serious... you were already ahead of the game, almost nullifying any surprise. That basically never happens. She could have just been a scout for multiple armed assailants... it could have been bad. In the end I find myself never truly surprised anymore. People are nuts.

Glad it turned out ok.

[GunLawyer001]

Sounds like one scared hooker.

As for telling the cop, I wouldn't have. She might have made some allegation against someone in a truck like that, but by talking to the cop, you confirmed that something happened, and the cop knows it's you. He may have your name, he may have the tag, but he certainly saw you and you confessed to an incident, even if you didn't think of it as a confession.

It really isn't true that the first to the cops is penciled in as the victim. There are plenty of prison inmates who called the cops; everyone thinks that calling the cops is a way to throw off suspicion, and the cops know they think that. Cops welcome the call, they'll gladly write down your info, because it saves half the search for the parties involved. When the other person calls them, they have both actors right there, and they get to pick the defendant.

It's much like the theory that if you agree to let them search your vehicle, they'll assume that you have nothing to hide and they won't search. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. They will search. They catch a lot of people with drugs in their vehicles that way, and I mean THOUSANDS of people who thought that allowing the search would convince the cops of their innocence.

[Adam-12]

On the whole, well handled.

I'm also betting she was a hooker.

As always, take GL's advice seriously.

[sandcast69]

Thanks GL for your insight, I hadn't thought about it from that point of view. I stand enlightened.

[TaePo]

Actually, I would have probably pointed at the door in this encounter.

I mean, only an idiot or criminal would climb up to a truck door and open it without knocking and then sticking their head up the window for positive ID and waiting permission to enter.

Don't forget that the female can also be sent ahead not only as a scout but a diversion for someone trying the back door or the driver side.

Thankfully it worked for you and you happened to be ahead of the game at the time.

Of course, there is a very slim chance she is trying to escape from someone's clutches so we need to keep an open mind...

Good job.

[Grumpa72]

Imo, you handled this well. You were prepared but not into full "zombies on the attack" mode. I doubt that I would have done anything differently. Maybe (and a BIG maybe) is that in a rig your size, I might have drawn and set it in my lap, with my hand on it. But, again, that is a huge maybe on my part. And, yes, I would have told the LEO too.

Well done.

Grumpa

[Paradigm]

Good report. Most likely a hooker, as mentioned before.

[indianjack]

Wonder what good telling the leo might provide? If he doesn't call it in so the whole force knows you might still have a problem.