Self-Defense in the News

Self-Defense Works

Self-defense is effective. U.S. Department of Justice statistics show that 67% of the time resistance to criminals is effective. In only less than 9% of the situations does resistance make the situation worse. COMMENT: If the perp wanted to work, the perp would've gotten a job.

News

In Pittsburgh Female Clerk Drives off Male Robber with Pepper Spray

28 Dec. '07: There was a scuffle; clerk and robber drew blood. She won. Get the whole story.

Police Experience Shows that Batons and Peppper Spray Aren't Always Enough

18 Dec. '07: In Australia a police officer stopped a speeding car. The driver gave him false ID. While in handcuffing him a woman who was high on meth and who was with the driver attacked the officer, took away his baton, kicked away his pepper spray. The driver and the woman beat the officer with his own baton, bit, punched, and gouged his eyes. The officer shot both of them with a single shot. There are a few lessons here:

• The officer's department needs to improve on procedures
• Batons and pepper spray are of limited use, especially against people high on meth
• The officer had apparently put his pepper spray on the ground while trying to cuff the driver. BAD MOVE

02 Feb. '08: A Whitehaven, U.K. officer pepper sprayed twice a man who had been drinking for 9 hours. This only incited the man further. The officer then hit him some 20 times with his baton, to little effect. The officer had to call for backup to subdue the man.

Man Uses Badminton Racket to Drive off Knife Welding Attacker

This took place in the early hours of July 1, 2007. This occurred in a camp ground in Falkenberg, Sweden. See whole story. This is an excellent example of the use what are called "occasional weapons."

Woman Stabs Burglar in Self-Defense

Early July 1, 2007 a woman returned home to find an entruder in here home. The intruder assaulted her. She used a long bladed knife to stab him. The intruder is in critical condition in the hospital. See whole story.

Martial Artist Takes Down Machete Wielding Man in a West Edmonton Canada Mall

March 28, 2007: A machete wielding man ran through the mall chased by police and security officers. He ran right at Michael Jerace who competes in MMA. Mike side stepped the man's charge and kicked him above the knee and sent him down. Officers then caught up with him and took him into custody.

TSA Counts on Us

In testimony before the U.S. Senate in Dec. 2005 [that's more than 4 years after 9/11] by Ms Patricia Friend of the Assoc. of Flight Attendants stated that "Neither flight attendants nor pilots have received what aviation self-defense experts would consider appropriate and effective self-defense training at even a basic level let alone any advanced levels that would train them in techniques that will allow them to defend themselves ... ". See all of the testimony..

Ms Friend's testimony is affirmed by the May 2006 incident in which a frail 80 year old man pushed aside a flight attendent and had to be subdued by passengers. Apparently the man had a panic attack and refused to buckle up 15 min before landing. Dr. Robert Rey, who plays Dr. 90210 and who was at the time preparing for his black belt tests in taekwondo and hapkido, was key in subduing the man with a head lock. See story.

In GAO report number GAO-07-623R entitled 'Aviation Security: TSA's Change to Its Prohibited Items List Has Not Resulted in Any Reported Security Incidents, but the Impact of the Change on Screening Operations Is Inconclusive' released April 25, 2007 is stated:

TSA considers the vigilance of able-bodied passengers to be an important layer of aviation security. Able-bodied passengers are those passengers who may engage in self-defense actions should an incident occur onboard commercial aircraft.

So, fellow citizens, the government and the airline industry have dropped the ball right into our laps. Perhaps they finally saw the light with the incident involving the frail 80 year old man.

9 Year Old Boy Fights off Kidnapper

In Tulsa a 9 year old boy fought off a man who demanded that he get in his van. The man sprayed the boy in the face with pepper spray, still the boy managed to fight his attacker off and escape. See full story. So if a small boy can escape an adult armed with pepper spray there is a resonable possibility that a person relying on pepper spray for self-defense will be disappointed in the results. So take this story as a word of warning on relying solely on pepper spray for self-defense.

59 Year Old Shop Owner Subdues 33 Year Old Armed Robber with Pepper Spray

The armed robber was on parole after having raped and murdered in the past. Box cutter in hand he confronted the storeowner, a short 59 year old woman, and demanded money. She sprayed him. And that was the end of that. The incident took place September 2006 in British Columbia, Canada. Three cheers for excellent use of pepper spray.

We wonder why such a person would be let out. The legal system blithely put the perp back on the street. If the province had been a religious institution there would have been a great out cry. But since the province is an arm of the Great Secular State it’s OK.

New Jersey (U.S.A.) Supreme Court Puts the Damper on Self-Defense Instruction for Children

Typically a martial arts school owner requires parents of minors attending the school to sign a waiver releasing the school for responsibility for injury of the child. In the case of Andrew Hojnowski, a minor, v. Vans Skate Park the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that such waivers were not valid, at least not in New Jersey. The court held that such waivers signed by parents signed away rights of children and that the parents had no such right. The Court further noted that parents could not be counted on to read the waiver in any case. The decision will likely reduce self-defense education in the state. New Jersey child molesters are no doubt happy.

The writer here wonders how far such a view will be extended. How about extension of the principle to hospital admissions when all the paper work has to be signed by parents during admission of their children?

The Court's assertion that operational illiteracy {i.e. presumeably can read but just doesn't} nullifies a signed contract may have implications on contracts in general. It does suggest that you might not want the laws of the State of New Jersey to be governing the contracts you enter into in the future.

W.Georgia Student Kills Gun Wielding Intruder Using a Knife

The Columbus, GA Ledger-Enquirer [Carrollton, GA, May 5, 2006] reported that man with a gun forced his way into an apartment and attacked three male students. The attacker pistol whipped two of them. One of the students killed him with a knife. No charges are pending against the students. This is one for the Darwin Awards.

Bear Spray Found to be More Effective than Fire Arms

A report in The Journal of Wildlife Management found that red pepper spray stopped bears' undesirable behavior. In 72 cases were bear spray was used only 3 (4%) cases resulted in injury. Injurys were mild and did not require hospitalization. People using fire arms are more frequently injured. Bears that have been shot often continue and accelereate their attacks.

Police Use Pepper Spray to Subdue Enraged Man with Shotgun

The Saginaw News of Jan. 6, 2006 reported that in a standoff between an enraged man with a shotgun and police that a policeman was able to subdue a man with pepper spray. Police officer Eisengruber said that he was glad to have been able to use non-lethal force to subdue the man.

Women Jogger Pepper Sprays Away Attacker

wwmt.com in Kalamzoo, MI reports that on Jun. 14, 2005 a 23-year-old woman successfully fought off her attacker using pepper spray. It happened as she was jogging. The attacker got away. Police say the victim was within the law when she used the spray in self-defense.

Woman Kills in Self-Defense with Steak Knife

The Trentonian [April 13, '05] reported that in Morrisville, PA a Susan Weber, aged 41, defended herself against three women aged 25, 21, & 17. The three women had beat, kicked, and dragged Ms Weber from her van. Weber grabbed a steak knife [where she had this steak knife was not explained in the story] and "swung wildly in self-defense". She killed one of her attackers with a cut to the femoral artery in the leg. The DA ruled it to be self-defense.

Mom Defends Herself with Pepper Spray Against Knife Welding Teen

The Bay City News [April 5, '05] reports that a Santa Rosa mom with her toddler used pepper spray to take down a knife welding 16 year old girl. The incident happened at a Sears store in a mall in Santa Rose, CA. The 16 year old attacker was later captured. The mom suffered superficial cuts. GO MOM!

Pepper Spray Can be Deadly Weapon?

The San Francisco Chronicle of Mar. 16, 2005 reports that a 36 year old man died as a result of being pepper sprayed by police after he attacked the police. So evidently pepper spray can be a deadly weapon, even when used on a person in the prime of life. We should treat it as such. It was subsequently reported by the San Mateo County Times that the suspect was high on cocaine. Cocaine has been implicated in heart attacks for some time.

Pepper Spray Used to Good Effect

The Milford Daily News of Mar. 11, 2005 reported that a Bellingham, WA women used pepper spray to subdue her boyfriend who had gone into a violent rage hitting her and another man. The argument had centered over his drinking. The girlfriend had called the police. The boyfriend was charged with two counts of domestic assault and battery.

U.K. Government Policy on Household Self-Defense

This was first brought to our attention by a Feb. 1, '05 news release from Bloomberg News. The Crown Prosecution Service in the U.K has issued a leaflet defining the self-defense rights of householders. In brief

• "Anyone can use reasonable force to protect themselves or others, or to carry out an arrest or to prevent crime."
• "If you have acted in reasonable self-defence, as described above, and the intruder dies you will still have acted lawfully."
• You can pursue, hit, or tackle a fleeing perpetrator to recover your stolen property and make a citizen's arrest

Still one should try to call the police first, only use reasonable force, and not set traps.  Read the complete statement on the U.K. government website. The leaflet can be downloaded from the website as well.

It's interesting how Bloomberg.com gave a negative spin to the story with the headline "Britons May Kill in Self-Defense, Law Enforcers Say." The spin is to be expected from the perp friendly NY metro area.

And in other news

Attempted murder and first-degree assault charges against a 15 year old boy were dropped. He had been charged in connection with fatally stabbing a 23 year old man during a gang fight. It later became clear that it was a matter of self-defense when seemed that the victim had or was going for a gun. The 23 year old latter died.
Jan. 4, 2005 Portland Oregonian

Case of a man who stepped beyond the bounds of self-defense He's expected to be charged with first-degree murder. channeloklahoma.com 2004/12/17

A man who bit off part of a reveller's ear during a fight in a pub has been jailed for nine months and ordered to compensate his victim £2,000. He sank his teeth into the top of the other’s ear as the pair wrestled on the dance floor in Chesterfield.
The attorney for the defense said there her client’s behaviour had been "inappropriate" and he had reacted "disproportionately" to the threat he faced.
Oct. 10, 2004 BBC

A pistol-packing woman accomplished with two bullets what Pittsburgh police had been attempting to do for days

Tips for real estate agents

Case of using a knife in self-defense against an unarmed assailant - This shows the point of law on self-defense.  But no one should be blade happy over this.

The case of the Geckle brothers shows that lawful self-defense can leave the one open to law suits from the survivors of the perp.  The Geckle case involved handguns.  Similar situations have involved martial artists who have successfully defended themselves and family and then are sued by the perps or their families.  Even winning the law suit still involves time and money.  This illustrates why one wants to use self-defense only as a last ditch measure.