I’m sitting in front of a store waiting for it to open. Some guy pulls up in a car and says “I’m sorry about leaving the car running, but I have my toddler in there and I wanna leave the car running.” I looked him in the eye and said, “If you walk away from the car, I’m calling 911.”
He went crazy. Called me every name in the book and started stomping around. I never stood up and said maybe 5 words. After about 5 minutes he charges me. Pounding his fist into his hand. My wife jumped in front of him and he backed up. I of course then stood up. I can’t have my wife getting pushed around.
I told him that I wanted one across the face, then I would call 911, then I would kick his ass. I wanted to makes sure 911 knew he threw the first punch so I could have him arrested for assault.
He drove away.
Was I wrong? Should I have just shut up? It was grater than 90 outside and I didn’t want that kid int he car. What if it stalled, it ran out of gas, or whatever.
You did nothing wrong, good of you to stand up to him
When I was a cop I used to tell people, “Never tell anyone you’re going to call the cops, just call us.” What I mean is, who know what this guy does to endanger his kids. It would of been nice to have someone call in his license plate number and that he left a young child alone in a running car. You could have had some nice cell phone pics while he did his shopping.
It was smart to watch out for the child. On to the second part though, I would assume that you never got into many fights as a kid. Telling someone to take the first punch is rather stupid. Most people find it hard to come to grips with what I am about to say, but you are either comfortable with violence or you aren’t. Sounds to me like you’re not. It’s no big deal; most people are the same way. That’s why people tell someone else to “throw the first punch”. They don’t want to fight b/c they are scared. I guess I have seen enough of it and dealt with enough of it to know that I am comfortable being violent when I need to be. Which for me means that I walk away from every situation where that possiblity presents itself. Getting in a street fight is not violence. My best advice to you is that if you are not going to engage in actual violence, do not offer someone the opportunity to throw the first punch.
I told him that I wanted one across the face, then I would call 911, then I would kick his ass. I wanted to makes sure 911 knew he threw the first punch so I could have him arrested for assault.
He drove away.
Was I wrong? Should I have just shut up? It was grater than 90 outside and I didn’t want that kid int he car. What if it stalled, it ran out of gas, or whatever.
CS
I agree with the last guy… You are lucky you didn’t get your ass kicked for saying dumb things.
Two/three weeks ago some guy on the south side of Chicago got shot for letting his dog pee on his neighbor’s award winning lawn. The owner of the lawn was some old guy, and the dog owner was some tough young guy who lived accross the street. Young guy talks violance… old man pulls out a gun… young guy tells him the next time he pulls out a gun to use it… so the old man used it right then and shot him dead. I’m thinking the young guy could have/should have lived by merely walking away, specially from a guy with a gun.
Motto is don’t dare someone to hurt you - no one is that tough.
the guy saying he’s going to leave his kid in the car out of sight so he won’t be inconvenienced by taking a few extra minutes to bring his flesh and blood along.
i would gladly take an ass beating any day to try and save a child in this world. and in this case this the is obviously in some inherent danger with a parent that acts as irresponsible and irrational as the father did.
good job. being a parent means sacrificing yourself for the good of your children. ALWAYS. even if it means it may take an extra 45s to sigh bring your kid with you.
I’m all about people standing up to jerks, but unless you’re a trained boxer, the whole “I’ll let you have a free shot” thing is just not super well-thought-out.
I got jumped once by about 8-10 people, a gang more or less. I took one of them through the window @ radio shack after he threw the first punch from the side, not even in front of me like a punk ass he was as I was trying to walk away (shaking in my boots, literally) and I didn’t even get hurt as the only punches that caught me were in the back of my head as I was tied up with the first guy, about 30 times. I was pissed after that because the phuckers ran and I wanted to keep going, holding on to two of the guys shirts for as long as I could as they were attempting to flee from me. My only real redemtion was that their shirts got ripped.
As soon as that first punch is thrown you won’t have time to be scared and you might be surprised at what you find you can do come that time, I can do some damage but usually just submit the person in a choke or body lock and scream at them to ***“PHUCK OFF, I DIDN’t WANT TO FIGHT AND I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU!!” ***Tons of times for me has that happened.
Anywho, I’m not one to judge anyone on their actions albeit your intentions were definately, good, I’m just not one hundred percent sure you went about it the right way. Since he told you what was going on it obviously wasn’t a sign of neglect on his part so why not offer to keep on eye through the window on the kid instead of coming off assinine?
…I told him that I wanted one across the face, then I would call 911, then I would kick his ass. I wanted to makes sure 911 knew he threw the first punch so I could have him arrested for assault.
Putting aside the wisdom of your actions in this episode, if you invite him to punch you in the face, then it’s not assault.
The moral here is that people lining up outside a liquor store waiting for it to open can be a bit jumpy…
You would think you would have learned after you told the other guy with 11 items trying to go through the 10 items or less line “You can use this lane after you break my arm, after which I’ll call 911.”
The rest of your post: Riiiiiight. Nice movie script.
To the OP: As a parent I’ve learned that kids need to have people stand up for them when they can’t stand up for themselves. I think you saw a situation that warranted you standing up for the good of the kid. It’s that simple. Just because someone can have a kid doesn’t mean they automatically forget how to be an idiot with poor judgement.
…I told him that I wanted one across the face, then I would call 911, then I would kick his ass. I wanted to makes sure 911 knew he threw the first punch so I could have him arrested for assault.
Putting aside the wisdom of your actions in this episode, if you invite him to punch you in the face, then it’s not assault.
Actually, it still is.
“Consent” might be a defence if it were a sexual act, or a game, but not a punch up. There’s generally no “consent” to the crime of assault.*
*Disclaimer: I’m a (recovering) lawyer, but not an American. US law is full of surprises.
As others have said, next time, keep your mouth shut and just call 911. It’s weird that he said that to you at all. Almost like he was asking your permission.
I’d have asked him how he knows I’m not a car thief, pedophile or psychopath, then offered to watch his child while he shopped. Might have made him reconsider his decision, rather than escalate the situation. As it happened, he’s no less likely to do it again, so your intervention probably lacked the desired effect.
I’m sitting in front of a store waiting for it to open. Some guy pulls up in a car and says “I’m sorry about leaving the car running, but I have my toddler in there and I wanna leave the car running.” I looked him in the eye and said, “If you walk away from the car, I’m calling 911.”
He went crazy. Called me every name in the book and started stomping around. I never stood up and said maybe 5 words. After about 5 minutes he charges me. Pounding his fist into his hand. My wife jumped in front of him and he backed up. I of course then stood up. I can’t have my wife getting pushed around.
I told him that I wanted one across the face, then I would call 911, then I would kick his ass. I wanted to makes sure 911 knew he threw the first punch so I could have him arrested for assault.
He drove away.
Was I wrong? Should I have just shut up? It was grater than 90 outside and I didn’t want that kid int he car. What if it stalled, it ran out of gas, or whatever.
CS
If I have to come down there, somebody’s ass’ll be whooped.
Let me make this perfectly clear… I was not going to let him actually hit me. I just wanted him to throw the first punch.
For all you I should have let it be, Bullshit. I live in S. Florida and we hear about kids dying in HOT cars all the time. Forget that, what if someone stole the car.
I sat in my chair and told him if he leaves the car I was calling 911. He yelled at me for 5 minutes while I sat in the chair. He could have taken that time to take the child.
I won’t have to defend my position about that. I would do it again and again. Asking him to throw the first punch, maybe not the smartest thing I have ever done. I should have just called 911 and left it, but I wanted him to know I would, and hoped he would make the right choice with the additional info.
I guess not.
BTW, we were sitting in front of a pet adoption store.
What if all he was going to do was walk into a door and put a letter into a mail box? Just trying to maybe see “his” side of the kid in the car - I do that with my dog all the time (for very short periods of time).
As for the threats…I would have beat him with the cast.
