What would you have done?

[rcflyer]

You own a apartment bldg that has 5 ground floor units. It has parking spaces right in front of the units.
A intoxicated older male is in one of those parking spaces throwing rocks and beer bottles at the apartments and breaks a window. He is yelling and cursing at you while you are inside your apartment. You come out to see whats going on. The drunk is still in the parking space and threatens you with a broken beer bottle in his hand. You have already called 911. He half-heartedly comes at you with the broken beer bottle in his hand. He is so drunk that all you have to due is move out of the way.
Would you shoot him or wait for the police?
I will tell you what happened after I get some replies to this real life scenario.

 

[Scutter01]

You own a apartment bldg that has 5 ground floor units. It has parking spaces right in front of the units.
A intoxicated older male is in one of those parking spaces throwing rocks and beer bottles at the apartments and breaks a window. He is yelling and cursing at you while you are inside your apartment. You come out to see whats going on. The drunk is still in the parking space and threatens you with a broken beer bottle in his hand. You have already called 911. He half-heartedly comes at you with the broken beer bottle in his hand. He is so drunk that all you have to due is move out of the way.
Would you shoot him or wait for the police?
I will tell you what happened after I get some replies to this real life scenario.

If you've already called 911, why would you exit your apartment to "see what's going on"? All you can do at this point is escalate an already bad situation. This decision makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

[USMC_0311]

No need to go outside to see what was going on. You already knew that and called police. I would not have gone outside, no need to.

 

[youngda9]

You stay inside, in the safety of your own home. You don't "come out to see what is going on"...BIG mistake. Dial 911 with one hand, and 1911 with the other.

If you already made the mistake of leaving your home, you should retreat back into your home. No sense killing someone over a drunken rage when you can avoid the shooting all together.


Exiting your house to confront, placing yourself in a dangerous situation while armed...can be seen as needlessly escalating the situation on your part...bad move.

 

[lovemachine]

You should not have gone outside. Stay in!

But since you did go out, to answer your question. You should NOT shoot. Just move aside, back away. And get back inside.

 

[kspa57]

I'll manupulate him aka if he's so drunk that he can really hurt me I just let him chase me around till the cops, or drop him on the ground with out me or him getting hurt. If I feel it can get out hand fire a warning shot, and so advance from there. I don't think that in this situation the drunk need to be shoot death, is there are clear ways around that. Basicly I don't see the need of a firearm in this situation, there are other ways to deal with the drunk. But it all depends on the person.

 

[Lance_M]

never confront something that can be avoided, and never shoot unless necessary. Cops are already on their way so there is no reason to put yourself in more danger.

 

[printcraft]

Ok, OP the consensus is in - give us the low down.

 

[Scutter01]

I'll manupulate him aka if he's so drunk that he can really hurt me I just let him chase me around till the cops, or drop him on the ground with out me or him getting hurt. If I feel it can get out hand fire a warning shot, and so advance from there. I don't think that in this situation the drunk need to be shoot death, is there are clear ways around that. Basicly I don't see the need of a firearm in this situation, there are other ways to deal with the drunk. But it all depends on the person.

Don't do that. Not only can you be (and SHOULD be) charged with criminal recklessness, you can injure innocent bystanders.

 

[dross]

Maybe he wasn't drunk. Maybe he was a zombie. And THAT changes this hypothetical quite a bit, I think.

 

[youngda9]

I'll manupulate him aka if he's so drunk that he can really hurt me I just let him chase me around till the cops, or drop him on the ground with out me or him getting hurt. If I feel it can get out hand fire a warning shot, and so advance from there. I don't think that in this situation the drunk need to be shoot death, is there are clear ways around that. Basicly I don't see the need of a firearm in this situation, there are other ways to deal with the drunk. But it all depends on the person.

I SERIOUSLY hope your post was meant to be sarcasm.

 

[Scutter01]

I SERIOUSLY hope your post was meant to be sarcasm.

I assumed it was meant to be a joke. I can't imagine anyone seriously suggesting calling 911 and then going outside to try to get the drunk guy to chase you in circles with a broken bottle until you can either get in a lucky punch or shoot the ground in front of him.

 

[concrete dog]

Well there is no need for gun play if all he has is a broken bottle and so drunk he can't figure out which one of the three of you he wants to hit or cut. Just go back inside and finish watching Texas Ranger! till the cops get there.

 

[printcraft]

Originally Posted by kspa57
I'll manupulate him aka if he's so drunk that he can really hurt me I just let him chase me around till the cops, or drop him on the ground with out me or him getting hurt.........

I SERIOUSLY hope your post was meant to be sarcasm.

Obviously a joke he used the word manupulate.

If we break that down man•up•u•late we can clearly see that it means...
Stand up to the heathen because the cops will take a while to get there and the guy needs to be distracted by you until they get there to take care of bidness.

 

[finity]

Ok, I'll play:

When did you call the cops, before or after you went out to investigate?

If you thought somebody was breaking into your vehicle you have a right under the law to try to stop them. If someone is damaging your property in any way you have the right to use reasonable force to make them stop.

If the other person escalates the situation when you are legally allowed to physically intervene then that is on THEM. You are then allowed under the law to use deadly force.

I'm not sure I would count on a drunk being "too drunk" to seriously injure me with a broken bottle. People are unpredictable. Drunks are especially unpredictable. Do you think a cop would be held legally accountable for shooting a drunk for lunging at him with a beer bottle? I think there was a story recently that involved some California cops shooting a drunk guy because they THOUGHT he had a gun & pointed it at them even though most likely the guy didn't even know they were there.

There is no way I would let a guy with a broken bottle get anywhere near me whether I thought I could "take him" or not. It's just too risky.

You are under no legal obligation to try to get away before you use reasonable deadly force.

If you really feel you need to shoot then shoot!

& like Scutter said - NO WARNING SHOT'S - too many liabilities & no REAL advantages.

That said...

It would be to your financial advantage to try to move away if doing so doesn't put you in any more danger.

 

[finity]

Well there is no need for gun play if all he has is a broken bottle

A broken bottle can be (& has been) just as deadly as a gun. Sometimes more so. I'm not letting somebody with a broken bottle cut me. If the only weapon I have to defend myself is a gun, well, the other guy shouldn't have brought a broken bottle to a gun fight.

and so drunk he can't figure out which one of the three of you he wants to hit or cut.

I don't know about you but I'm not going to count on the 33% odds of him guessing which one is the right one. The law doesn't require it either.

 

[target64]

I would have first gave him a Judo chop followed up by Ninja chop. These both are the very best in self defense techniques as taught by Diamond Dave
YouTube - Ninja Classes

 

[Scutter01]

I would have first gave him a Judo chop followed up by Ninja chop. These both are the very best in self defense techniques as taught by Diamond Dave
YouTube - Ninja Classes

NO! You don't go ninja-in' nobody what don't need ninja-in'!

 

[wolfts01]

...so drunk he can't figure out which one of the three of you he wants to hit or cut...

Is he a drunk alien? He must have at least three eyes to be seeing three of you.

 

[rockhopper46038]

Maybe he wasn't drunk. Maybe he was a zombie. And THAT changes this hypothetical quite a bit, I think.

Zombie gets the Mozambique...'cause everybody knows that double-tapping a zombie ain't gonna get the job done.