A Huge Lesson

[DrCreek]

Not really sure where else to put this thread. I have no interest in "slinging mud" so its not going in that section. Just going to tell all of you a story - an incident that occurred yesterday at Spanish Landing.

Richard, Chris and myself were fishing Spanish yesterday. It wasn't fishing as well as we had hoped, and I'm sure to some degree we were each a little bummed about that (Richard 18, Chris 4 and me 17). The session was coming to a close at around the 3 hr mark. Richard was still out dredging around the boat docks. Chris and I had crossed the channel to the beach side, maybe no more than a couple hundred feet or so east of the sand, paralleling the rocks westbound toward put-out.

So were talking - just BS'ing about articulated flies and huge Halibut, and how were gonna try and catch them during their spawn this year. While we were kicking around I kept noticing this dude walking around the rocks with no apparent direction - dressed in shorts, skateboard type tennis shoes and a dark hoodie, and he seemed to be kind of "parallelling" us as we moved along. Everything he did seemed aimless and pointless. Just weird, but that's not uncommon here in SD.

A short time later and Chris exits the water ahead of me by maybe just a few minutes. This random dude is now on the sand walking around, and getting fairly close to Chris. Chris is out and walking back toward our trucks. A few minutes later, Im beached. I get my fins off, stand up and turn around to shake the excess water off my boat. The dude is standing no more than 3 feet away from me, looking/staring right at me. I kinda just stood there. He then picks up some sand and walks away toward the parking lot, then drops the sand as he's walking. I really thought he was going to throw it at me, but he didn't.

I'm walking behind him now toward toward and into parking lot, and he's headed for Chris' truck. He stops in the middle of the cul-de-sac area seemingly for no reason, and I stop too, still twenty or so feet behind him. I just wait for him to move. He turns and looks at me. I just keep looking at him. Finally he starts walking again, and continues to walk right toward Chris, then veers away. I get to my truck which is parked by Chris' truck. We both were remarking how strange the whole thing had been so far. The dude stands there, kind of close to Chris, just looking at I'm not sure what. Chris says "Hi how you doing?" The dude stares blank at us, says nothing and walks away. But he hangs nearby and continues to walk aimlessly doing strange things - like kicking his shoe at the blue handicap logo painted on the asphalt.

Richard finally shows up on the beach and I go down to meet him there. We walk back together to his car which was more or less across from our trucks. The dude is now following us around the parking lot. I go back to my truck, finish putting my gear away, then tell Chris I gotta pee. I open my truck door and out of the center console I grab a little canister of pepper spray that I carry when I notice anything out of the ordinary. So I put it in my pocket, pee and come back. Then we see the dude walking Richards direction. Both Chris and I hustle doubletime over to Richard to kind of offer a sense of security in case he gets weird. And the dude walks away again. Poor Richard thought he was going to try and steal some of his/our gear.

So the three of us are standing and talking together, and this guy kind of circles us I think, comes back around on my left and somehow slides between Chris and myself. And the next thing I see is his arm and fist flying at Chris. Chris gets clocked in the jaw by this dude.

I'm in disbelief. I grabbed the guy from behind, wrapped my arm around his neck and got him on the ground so he couldn't move. Richard called the police and that's pretty much the end of it. Harbor PD shows up code 3, jumps out and handcuffs him for us.

Chris' jaw is totally jacked up and he's hurting. Chris doesn't complain about anything, but this one has the best of him and I know he hurts because he's pale. Fire and medics roll in to help, and Chris tells them he knows it's broken but he's going to self-transport to Kaiser. Okay, no problem (in my mind) since there was no LOC and he was AOx4. We each gave our statements to the police and that was it.

So that's our morning. It was the weirdest thing. Just another testimony as to why if you ever "feel" something's not right, it probably isn't. I've been doing my job long enough to know what feels right and what doesn't. My grabbing pepper spray isn't because I'm paranoid, it's because I want to be prepared for unfavorable potential events. I avoid people all the time when I think something's amiss - and sometimes I go so far as to write about it on here. Some of you may interpret that as me being antisocial. It's not that at all. I avoid people at times simply because we live in a completely different time/society now, and I'm not about to get caught on the short end of something that could have been avoided with common sense, foresight and preparation. It's too out of control anymore.

Horrible that Chris got nailed. We should have treated this much differently and should have been more leary of this guy simply because of his behavior, not to mention the blank stares he drove at us. But there's only so much you can do - until the bad guys makes the first move anyway.

This is sickening. So... jaw surgery for Chris this evening, and just some residual shoulder/clavicle soreness for me due to landing this dude on the asphalt at full tilt. What a nightmare.

So don't become complacent. I love the fact that fly fishermen are some of the nicest, shirt-off-their-backs guys on the planet.. but keep your common sense flowing, your eyes OPEN and scan. Unfortunately, not everyone in town is a good guy - even though some would like to believe they are. If you feel something strange about someone, keep your distance and know your "outs." I'd rather simply avoid someone that appeared "questionable" than risk an incident like today's.

[clee]

W.T.F? That's some BS. Too bad Wandering Blues wasn't around to put the ASP to the brain. Was the guy a tweeker? Or just some crazy *?

I hope Chris a speeding recovery. That really sucks. I 'd add to your comment about being prepared: its easy to be sucker punched and its often times almost impossible to defend but when you think things aint right, try and keep your distance and assume the "interview" pose (I think thats what they call it). Its essentially keeping your hands up by your chest touching the fingertips together forming a triangle with your hands. The reason is its nonthreatening but more importantly its keeps your hands up ready to defend any punch to the face. At least that is the theory.

This story really sucks and I'm sorry that this happened to you guys.

[Wildman]

Our new world. Very appropriate in the light of the tragic death of a 35 year veteran of two tours in Viet Nam and 30+ years active with San Bernardino County sheriff's Department yesterday. He took a single sucker punch to the head after a fender bender and died at the hospital. He was off duty in the area that he was used to working and had gotten in a minor fender bender when the guy went off. Turns out he was career criminal on parole released after our spate of new laws to empty our prisons.

You street smarts paid off and you were able to mitigate the circumstances. Your caution and situational awareness prevented an even more egregious assault. They (the chronic criminal and dope addict....mentally unstable and gangsters) walk among us now. I am hoping you gave the perp a few checks to see just how effective oxygen deprivation can be.

I would urge everyone who lives in a place that has access to CCW's to take the plunge and get one. Maybe not for everyone and requires a clear understanding of the ramifications if deadly force is used. San Bernardino County is very pro-CCW and urges every citizen to take advantage of their 2nd amendment rights. Second best, carry a stun gun or spray to incapacitate and disengage. There are courses that most law enforcement offers to foster situational awareness and positive steps you might take to get out of a real jam.

Thanks for sharing Mike. It could happen to any one of us and not just in big cities. Glad everyone survived.

[FIGHTONSC]

Our new world. Very appropriate in the light of the tragic death of a 35 year veteran of two tours in Viet Nam and 30+ years active with San Bernardino County sheriff's Department yesterday. He took a single sucker punch to the head after a fender bender and died at the hospital. He was off duty in the area that he was used to working and had gotten in a minor fender bender when the guy went off. Turns out he was career criminal on parole released after our spate of new laws to empty our prisons.

You street smarts paid off and you were able to mitigate the circumstances. Your caution and situational awareness prevented an even more egregious assault. They (the chronic criminal and dope addict....mentally unstable and gangsters) walk among us now. I am hoping you gave the perp a few checks to see just how effective oxygen deprivation can be.

I would urge everyone who lives in a place that has access to CCW's to take the plunge and get one. Maybe not for everyone and requires a clear understanding of the ramifications if deadly force is used. San Bernardino County is very pro-CCW and urges every citizen to take advantage of their 2nd amendment rights. Second best, carry a stun gun or spray to incapacitate and disengage. There are courses that most law enforcement offers to foster situational awareness and positive steps you might take to get out of a real jam.

Thanks for sharing Mike. It could happen to any one of us and not just in big cities. Glad everyone survived.

Wildman,

Ditto to everything you said! Unfortunately California's new gun laws make it nearly impossible to get a CCW permit.

Hopefully CCW permits will be passed at the federal level where any states CCW permit will be universally honored in all states.

Idaho has universal CCW for all of it's citizens and very little crime as a result of it. We also have certified CCW permits with FBI background checks and advanced training (which I have).

Regards,

Jeff

[DrCreek]

W.T.F? ...Was the guy a tweeker? Or just some crazy *?...

No idea. Doesn't matter. From the moment I first noticed him he never uttered a word. You just know when something's not right, and I knew it when I noticed him parallelling us. At first I just thought maybe he was interested in our boats or something. But when he didn't say anything after we had each said hello, I just kind of knew. I even went so far to ask him if he was okay. All I got in return was stared at.

So tweaking? I wouldn't be a bit surprised, but we have/had no way of knowing that. I assume the DA will tell us these things when we go for our interviews. Was he crazy? Ya, either that or just stupid. Just another reason why I carry a canister of pepper with me when I feel like something's "off." What's funny is (and this is not a slam on Chris), Chris saw me get the pepper out of my truck and had kind of laughed at me for feeling the need to have it along for a 100' trip to the head. I can only tell you that I'd rather hose down a bad guy with pepper than have to physically engage him - no matter how confident I am with my ability to subdue someone.

And ya, it would have been nice to have Curtis there. Dude would have been transported in the back of a medic box rather than a police Explorer, I'm sure.

[DrCreek]

I wouldn’t call it paranoia Dr. I would call it situational awareness..

Our Sheriff up here is CCW friendly, so I never leave home without it.

I hope your buddy recovers and that looser piece of $hit gets his.

We can pretty much forget about good citizens carrying in SD County. Our sheriff is totally against it. Only the criminals are allowed to carry concealed here. I suppose that's how the sheriff justifies hiring more deputies and obtaining more funding for his personnel and specialty units. Not happy with Feinstein and CA/SD County law. Whatever.

[rkfiske]

Seriously?!? I hope Chris has a speedy recovery, I'm kind of at a loss for words...

[WanderingBlues]

I wish I had been along. If nothing else he would’ve gotten a “move along, *...” My best to Chris. A nicer guy you’ll never meet.

[fly addict]

I prefer a German Shepard, they will deter most low lifes to not even f with you. These days bad guys don’t seem to be afraid of taking on cops anymore and all cops carry guns. But most don’t like the idea of getting bit by a big dog. Trust me I have seen it first hand more then once.

Last spring Kathi and I were camping at New Shady Rest CG in Mammoth and 4 drunk guys were making a lot of noise at 1 am. I walked over to their camp with my shepard and asked them nicely if they would quite down. Their response was NO, and they then started to approach me when Madison growled at them. They backed away immediately. I was also carrying my 357, but the look and sound of Madison growling was enough to cause 4 guys to not press their luck. The cops came and did end the party. Very rarely do I leave home without out my dog.

[1mocast]

OMG! I hope you have a speedy recovery Chris. I am glad you were both there to help out.

These type of things scare the jeepers out of me since it could be someone as innocent as your child or wife. Luckily the dude did not have a weapon...

The new Cali legal loco weed thing going maybe?

[flyster]

Just shakin' my head left to right saying to myself "not good, not good". Glad Chris was not alone at the time. Get well Chris.

[acorad]

Dude must have been on something. Dang Chris, I hope you heal fast.

Andy

[Bernard]

Heal fast Chris. So sorry to hear that you guys had this experience. Bums the * out of me.

[briansII]

Sucks to read this and wish your buddy a speedy recovery. Good thing you guys were close by.......hate to think what might have happened if Chris was alone.

briansII

[Gary C.]

Pretty scary stuff for sure. Glad there was three of you together.