So "this" happened again.

[InvaderTim]

I had a situation where while on the bus home from work this massive drunk guy sits next to me regardless of the fact there are plenty of spare seats on the bus including the one he had been sat prior to this.

So he decides to get uncomfortably close, to the point where I'm pushing myself against the side of the bus to avoid contact with the crazy, and then proceeds to ask me in the most aggressive way possible if i'm getting off at stop A, I then tell him the bus isn't going to stop A, that's in the opposite direction and in fact the bus is only going to stop B.

Then, he said word for word "what the fuck did you say to me ****, I'll fucking smash you."
At which point I didn't know what to say so I looked away toward the window as he continued to spout the local gang terminology before finally decking me in the face. Now this put me in an odd situation, on the one hand I've just been assaulted and need to get the fuck away from this guy, on the other hand this guy is massive and sitting between myself and my freedom.

Luckily I dashed passed him and got him to follow me off the bus where after I was able to get back on for it to drive off with him still outside. The low income areas of New Zealand are pretty shameful.

 

[BitterLemon]

I live in Brazil, Campinas. I've got mugged in the street with a friend, I was briefly taken as hostage, with a kitchen knive tipping my stomach. In two different occasions my house was invaded when I was unlocking the entrance gates, with random cars pulling over with robbers pointing guns at me. I was forced to let them in, my parents and sisters inside the house. Three months ago, my car got stolen when I pulled over in front of my gf house. Another car stopped right by my side, pointing guns at me again. I had to get out and hand over all my belongings, my gf handed all her stuff too, purse, cell phone...

In all those situations, never crossed my mind to try to karate chop anyone... just handed over my stuff and collaborated with the muggers without thinking twice. I was shaken everytime, of course, there's no shame on it. When you are attacked cowardly like that, there's nothing to prove to anyone... who needs to be ashamed is the attacker. Reacting violently just could get you killed for a cell phone... and who gonna suffer the loss is your friends and family.

When they took my car, I was honestly relieved that they just wanted the car and my stuff and got away in seconds. Me and my gf could have been taken hostages, been forced to take money at the ATM, held for hours... don't even like to start thinking about rape. I got sad about it for two days, then I didn't give a fuck, never thought about revenge or anything, I was just happy to be alive and well.

OP, I hope you never have to be in a situation like that again, but if it happens, keep it cool. You'll get shaken, but the important thing is to get as much rational as you can get in the moment, not give reasons to the mugger get violent. It's dangerous to him too, he doesn't know what will happen, so don't do brisk moves, always announce what you're about to do ("Ok, i'll just reach my wallet"). Always have in mind that the person that is mugging you probably just want the thing to end as fast and faultless as possible, so he can run and hide without bigger consequences. Use this in your favor.

I guess the only time it's reasonable to resort to violence is when you sense a real life threat to you or friends, when you sense that the person is not using weapons to intimidate and is really about to use it for real. Someone wanting your phone or car is not a life threat, is not worth it.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I was once mugged right out in front of my apartment. In this case there was no need to gesture to a weapon as the young man was proudly presenting it to my face.

It was a surreal experience all told because
1) I was also armed but since my hands were full and I do not particularly think that even unburded I could get to my concealed weapon in less time than it would take him to pull a trigger
2) I do not ever carry cash

So, after a polite request to hand over my money, I gave the man my wallet and we both walked away. On my person was a firearm who's retail value exceeded $500, a new laptop, an iPhone (that I was actually making a phone call on at the time), and various other items. In my wallet? Just some identification and a some bank cards. Upon later inspection, it turns out I did have cash on my person - 31 cents to be precise.

The story has an even better ending - less than an hour later, after calling the police, giving a statement, and starting the process that would ensure he gained nothing but worthless plastic and a serviceable wallet, I was informed they had caught the guy. During his one night crime spree (all done on foot in an area less than a square mile), he mugged a high school student, me, and a middle aged woman. His reign of terror briefly earned him 18 dollars. Fast forward a few months and I was called with the results of his trial - thanks to a plea he'll spend the 5 - 10 years in prison.

 

[Nieroshai]

Situations like this are why I conceal carry a .45.

How does that actually work?
Not the piece, I mean how do you draw and aim before the mugger, who most likely already has shiv in hand, shanks you a few times, and jacks the .45 to mug more efficiently with?

What aiming needs to take place at shivving range? It's as simple and quick as punching in his general direction with the barrel and squeezing. Even so, is a mugger always so quick and crafty that you cannot gauge his intent before he has you by the lapels? Unless he Agent 47's you, you've got at least a chance to roll a good ol' Intimidate Check +10 to greet his nose with the barrel of your gun. Not many WON'T brown their shorts or at least immediately back down. A mugger will usually try to hold up the victim rather than shank, loot, and run. I can draw before he stabs me, most of the time, because in all likelihood he isn't even braced to stab until he sees you resisting. He is hoping to get away with your things without risking murder charges or else other unwanted attention. Also, not even trained, but a smart gun carrier will try to step back while drawing. My arm gets cut? So what? Protecting against gang violence is another thing entirely. They won't have qualms about killing you.

 

[Zeren]

Situations like this are why I conceal carry a .45.

I carry as well. Have since 2011. What state, if I may ask?
EDC Good sharp knife, wallet, phone, 1 or 2 firearms depending on weather, keys, flashlight.

I'm in Wyoming, but I'm moving to Arizona soon. Both states don't require a CCW license to conceal or open carry if you are a resident. My EDC is just about the same. I have a nice knife, my pistol, 1 spare mag, my phone, and my keys.

 

[SomethingWorse]

I live in a safe place, and I've never felt luckier to do so. I'm sorry this happened to you.

 

[Nieroshai]

Because saying you have the gun is implying you'll use it. It's what they think, and hopefully, it's what the mugger thinks, making them back down without you ACTUALLY needing to fire.

...something in that feels oddly circular.

Yeah. The mugger threatens you with violence to get you to do something, and you then threaten them with violence to get them to stop trying that shit, and the cycle continues until one of you backs down, or it escalates to violence.

Deterrence. Hate it as you will, and as horrible as nukes objectively are, how many nukes were actually fired at an enemy in the cold war? Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun; you won't try to kill me unless you're desperate, because you don't want to risk dying yourself.

 

[Mcupobob]

I've never been in a fight, mugged or declared war on. What has worked for me is having more bark than bite. Have a look of crazy in your eyes. Have your left hand out(or vice versa depending on your dominant hand) while reaching into your pocket with your right hand. Makes it look like your going for a weapon. Never break eye contact, and shout and yell bloody murder(whatever insult or scary thing you can think of make sure its laced with lots of profanity). Then pull out your right hand out of your pocket and start waving your arms around over your head and point the right hand at them a lot, if your a smoker you can palm a lighter in your hand or anything of a similar weight and shape makes your fist look bigger and you have something dangerous in your hand, also if it does come down to a fight having a lighter in your hand adds more pain to your punches.

Now if you can't handle this, no problem! Just take the safe approach, hand over the wallet and get out without as much confrontation as possible(especially if they are waving a gun around). Theres no shame in that, I believe in survival over glory.

 

[Wolfhowl the shadow lurker]

While out walking a group of lads younger then me but i was on my own walked near me on of the little ones walked really close to me and started to walk in a over the top way of how i was waking, i pushed him away when he got too close and then was hit in the back with a rock.
I walked much faster as rocks flew at me and was only able to get them to stop by asking a passing car for help. I never really told anyone about this before but i was not really hurt apart from a little mark on my back.

 

[TwiZtah]

Someone tried to mug me a couple of years ago. The exchange led to me being stabbed in the leg.

Kept my wallet though. Get on my level, muggers! ಠ_ಠ

The muggers cannot get on that level.

Idk when I was like your age I'd have just got the shit kicked out of me, but now I'm a lot bigger and stronger so I'm not an opportune target for that kind of crap.

You did the right thing though it's never wise to fight an armed man when you are not. Especially when firearms are involved. I'll take my chances with a knife, but a gun is a whole other thing.

In recent memory a guy was hitting on my friend (in the rapiest way I've ever seen) on an evening out, she was with her boyfriend, as her boyfriend (he's a frail little thing but a nice enough guy) was getting up to do something about it I'd grabbed the guys head and slammed his face into the bar.

The bartender didn't even seem to notice.

Actually, most safety experts and so on say that a knife is much more lethal and harder to evade than firearms. Hard as hell to disarm someone with a knife, they can change hand and you can cut yourself on the knife while trying to disarm. And think of how many times you can do a stabbing motion in five seconds, add adrenaline to that and you have some lethal wounds.

 

[DC1]

I started going to a mixed martial arts gym a few months back. I'd recommend everyone learn some form of fighting so you can defend yourself. I don't really have a personal experience because I'm 6'4 and 240 pounds. People never really wanted to fuck with me, I guess.

 

[DataSnake]

Somebody tried to mug me once while I was walking my pit bull. One growl from Captain Canine, and the mugger lost his nerve and ran.

 

[Little Woodsman]

So, today, me and two other friends agreed to go to a local park to play table tennis, after we were finished, we went to sit on a log in a "kid's zone"-type thing.

At that point, we all left, and were on our way back home.

So suffice to say, this has shaken me, for one: I had felt so helpless, and for two: I am angry at him for having the audacity to to do this, and at myself for just standing there, being afraid.

Tell me, fellow Escapists of experiences you had similar to this or things to do to a) prevent these sort of situations and/or b) ways to handle them better.

First of all my friend, you and your friends are safe, uninjured and got away with your valuables intact.
You won!
Don't let anyone tell you different.
In your age and circumstance the only thing that could have been much better is if you had a bit more self confidence and didn't show fear to the scum. The only thing I would add is that even though you were all unscathed, I would definitely report this to the police. Some police are good, some are bad but even the bad ones will investigate if they get enough calls, just to stop the calls. And if this scumbag is doing this to other kids, the police will be getting other calls.
As for myself, well I used to live in some pretty bad areas, and I've had waaaay too many nasty experiences to recount. However I will tell the one that seems most relevant.
This was a good, oh, 23 years ago. I was working graveyard shift at my job at the time, so I was up crazy late on most nights, whether I was working or not. One night when I wasn't working, I was up & wide awake at 1:30 AM and looking for something to do. I decided to go for a walk. (Yeah, crazy I know but when you work a graveyard shift things like that seem much more normal.) Anyway, as I stepped around the corner of my apartment building I noticed a guy standing under a light on the sidewalk. So this wasn't anything for me to be worried about at that time in my life & I continued forward. As soon as I had taken two more steps I heard a sound behind me. I half-turned and saw another guy (big guy, probably 6'4") step out from behind another building, so he was right behind me. From the way these two were looking at each other and communicating with eye contact it was clear they were working together. I turned sideways so I could keep both of them in view and reached in to the inside pocket of my jacket (where I had a very deadly pair of sunglasses). Keeping my hand in my jacket I asked "Can I *help* you fellas?". The guy under the light made eye contact with the other guy and shook his head slightly, then said to me "No, we're waiting for someone else." (Which I'm sure was true, they were waiting for someone who would be worth the risk and effort.) The big guy who had stepped out behind me stepped back around his corner & I proceeded cautiously on my way. I think they declined to attack/try to rob me more because I looked (and was) ultra poor and wouldn't have anything worth taking more than from being worried about what I might have pulled from under the jacket.

 

[Midnyte]

Spent a year in therapy after the first time i got robbed.

I've been out drinking, and decide to head home. Im tipsy, not really drunk, but like an idiot i decide to take the shortest route home. Which goes straight through the roughest part of the city. At 2 AM.

As i cut through an alley to get to the main road heading to my apartment, one guy walks up to me and asks me for a light. Naively, i stop and pull out my lighter, and before i know it two more guys grab me and push me up against the wall.

I can't for the life of me recall the faces of the other guys, all i can remember is the guy who stopped me.

He proceeds to pull out a knife and cuts me down the length of my forearm while the other guys hold me against the wall and search through my pockets.

After they took my phone, wallet and shoes, he stabbed me in the stomach and left me there. I have no idea why he felt it necessary to stab me, i was cooperating and not putting up a fight.

My best guess is some kind of initiation or something, i really don't know.

I have never felt worse than i did in that alley, both while it was happening, and while lying on the ground bleeding after.
12 years later, i still sometimes have problems going home at night, and take taxis even if its just a 5 min walk.

 

[nepheleim]

This is why the police are worthless you should of been able to smash that cunts face in and not stop stomping till he stopped breathing but hey free world right!??? Go go police man.....FK em and if you think being nice and playing by the rules gets you anywhere in this life you are wrong. Next time you and your friends should go baseball and have a nice time batting with that cock suckers head. I have a brother who is scum he should of been shot long ago but he gets free house and anything he wants just because he sucks crack pipes, and robs people all the time he also dosen't need to go to work for cash the tax payer does that for him the scum always floats on top.

I missed the part where the cops are responsible for the normal human reaction to potentially mortal danger. Or where they're responsible for crackheads being on welfare. Take that up with your state legislators. If your brother should be in jail and he's not, ask your District Attorney why not? Why no judge has signed any warrant for his arrest. Sorry you have to put up with that, but your blame game is pointed in the wrong direction.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I'm from the suburbs, but I've rambled around Montreal following late-night parties, back in my Bachelor's days. See, there's a thing most people don't know, and it's that muggers apparently have a sliding scale of opportunity.

White male, mid twenties, obviously well-endowed on the financial level and with the smartphone "du jour" in plain sight? Yeah, that's a prime target. Myself and two other guys from my promotion were accosted, and I was completely ignored.

I was in my later twenties, quite visibly getting closer to thirty, not so well-endowed financially as most bachelor-level Literature students are wont to be, and my cell phone was a crappy Nokia flip model with a first-generation LCD screen. Top-of-the-line back in 2003, definitely a budget-priced model by 2010. Add my visible limp to that and you have every definition of the one guy you'd have no reason to mug whatsoever.

I've been jostled, called names, jeered at and kicked at - but never outright mugged. I guess wearing your "starving artist-slash-university student" mantle on a permanent basis gets you some kind of protection, and being disabled compounds that.

All this does is corroborate the common big of wisdom saying that if you're wandering about, don't keep your valuable belongings in plain sight. I've upgraded to an iPhone 4 recently and I never carry it openly unless I'm in a public space.

Never, ever try and snag one of the public WiFi signals around the island while on the sidewalk. Just don't. First, turning on the spot with your phone raised up makes you look like a tool, and it tells virtually everyone that you have a snazzy piece of tech.

 

[Fidchell Attano]

This moment to my everlasting shame forever haunts me and enrages me.

I was at a local Gamestop in Newark. There were a lot of people there, a lot of players, a lot of wins and losses. A guy is playing and he loses. Now, I said in a fun-poking sort of way "OOOOOOOOOOh Morrigan got her ass beat!" He gets angry because I "talked shit" to him. Now, I tried to alleviate the situation by saying "Look man, I was just having fun, no shit talking intended." Before I could finish saying this he says: "no no, shut up." and to my everlasting RAGE and shame I did as he said and shut up. The prick said "Yo I need to get outta here, I need a cigarette." Now, he starts mumbling and bragging to himself about how he was going to beat me up and take my stuff. He said in a stupid tone meant to be a mockery of past victims "Oh mommy that guy took my stuff, please don't take my stuff~." I was going to get Batman Arkham City from that Gamestop, I didn't admit this to myself at the time, but I did not buy the game because of this guy. I wanted to play some MvC3, but I was off my game because I was afraid of this guy. I left the Gamestop frustrated, he followed me out and said "Lets go, come on." I told him "I'm not going anywhere with you." He got up in my face and said "Well next time you better not be talkin shit" I just glared at him as he walked away.....A few months later I remembered this and I told myself that if I ever met this guy again, I would talk shit to him to intentionally piss him off, lead him into an alley as he was trying to lead me....And then beat him within an inch of his life. What's changed since then? This isn't the first time something like this has happened, some douche using fear tactics on me. I took up working out and fancy a good fight now. I am stronger, faster and smarter than I have ever been. I am also much calmer, but I am so....much...angrier.....I'm able to control the rage but I am so angry about certain things. I patiently await the day I meet this guy again, I etch the excitement in my bones. Because on that day, I am going to make that filthy, disgusting, thug feel t same humiliation that he probably made a whole bunch of other people feel. I am going to beat him up, take his wallet, and burn every dollar in it, then I'll take a cigarette from his pocket, and light it, and burn him with it......Burn him until he begs me to stop, then I'll stomp him in his manhood and spit on him.

 

[redmoretrout]

Wow, I had no idea how many bad-asses use the escapist! We should set up an escapist boxing gym or something, since apparently half of the posters here make a habit of beating muggers. Snarky comments aside though, this guy has the right of it.

When you are attacked cowardly like that, there's nothing to prove to anyone... who needs to be ashamed is the attacker. Reacting violently just could get you killed for a cell phone... and who gonna suffer the loss is your friends and family.

Don't risk your life for the contents of your pockets.

 

[Dark Knifer]

I've never been mugged or anything like that but if I was I feel I would be pretty jumpy. I'd probably co-operate as I'm a pretty short dude but if I had to fight then I'm just going for the eyes. At that point I just want the danger gone for me and whoever is with me.

 

[Lonewolfm16]

I'm from the suburbs, but I've rambled around Montreal following late-night parties, back in my Bachelor's days. See, there's a thing most people don't know, and it's that muggers apparently have a sliding scale of opportunity.

White male, mid twenties, obviously well-endowed on the financial level and with the smartphone "du jour" in plain sight? Yeah, that's a prime target. Myself and two other guys from my promotion were accosted, and I was completely ignored.

I was in my later twenties, quite visibly getting closer to thirty, not so well-endowed financially as most bachelor-level Literature students are wont to be, and my cell phone was a crappy Nokia flip model with a first-generation LCD screen. Top-of-the-line back in 2003, definitely a budget-priced model by 2010. Add my visible limp to that and you have every definition of the one guy you'd have no reason to mug whatsoever.

I've been jostled, called names, jeered at and kicked at - but never outright mugged. I guess wearing your "starving artist-slash-university student" mantle on a permanent basis gets you some kind of protection, and being disabled compounds that.

All this does is corroborate the common big of wisdom saying that if you're wandering about, don't keep your valuable belongings in plain sight. I've upgraded to an iPhone 4 recently and I never carry it openly unless I'm in a public space.

Never, ever try and snag one of the public WiFi signals around the island while on the sidewalk. Just don't. First, turning on the spot with your phone raised up makes you look like a tool, and it tells virtually everyone that you have a snazzy piece of tech.

Wouldn't white females be better targets, because they are probably smaller and less muscled? Unless its a honor code thing which would be..odd. Then again I would expect disability to be a sign of exploitable weakness, so what do I know.