Let me start by saying that I am the bigger man, not the type to be easily angered (thank you US Army for some self control!), and simply let it go and filed a police report.
I went to Walmart in Schererville yesterday evening with the girlfriend and drove her beater car, a 4th gen VW Beetle, which means I can park it wherever I wish, and not worry about people opening their doors or rolling carts into it. It is driven by a woman, so it has it's fair share of dings already. The parking lot is partially closed down, but I found a nice spot up front that had a newer Mercedes with big chrome wheels (read thug) taking up two spots. It was not blocking my usage of the spot in such a small car, so I parked next to it and we continued our business.
On the way out, we were one hundred feet or so behind a couple who walked to the Mercedes. The guy had a lapse of judgment and took something out of his trunk, and started running around her Beetle doing something to the windows and doors. I hit the alarm button on the keys, and he turned around and looked at me. He was about 5'2, 120lb, very ghetto, but obviously not going to start anything with me. I'm 5'10 and about 90lb heavier than him, and rather muscular. I might seem physically intimidating to the average Joe.
His wife started apologizing profusely, telling me that she would clean it up. I told him he needs to find something and clean off her car, but instead of grabbed his wife violently by the back of the neck, opened the rear door of his car, and pushed her in. He then jumped in his car and took off.
I called the police, told them about a man vandalizing my car, and an officer came out. The officer sympathized with me about how men shouldn't mess with other people's vehicles, and I told him that it was either I call them, or I get angry at the man. Honestly, the officer was nearly in tears laughing about the situation.
After the man hurriedly drove away, I checked the car, and he had taken a stick of deodorant to the windows and doors. Non-damaging, and didn't require more than a minute of wiping off with baby wipes.
My question to INGO:
Could I have rightfully detained (forcefully or not) someone who was vandalizing my vehicle? I obviously would not have held him at gun point, but it wouldn't have been much effort to toss him to the ground and keep him there.
I know that if I saw him using physical force to damage the vehicle or a spray painting it, I would have, no questions asked. All I saw was him running around it leaving a white substance near his hand.
I believe I did the best thing in my judgment at the time, but I am a crazy Vet and I wonder what would have happened if I lost my cool and held him there.
Teal deer cliffs:
1) Man wipes unknown substance on my vehicle, refuses to wipe it off and flees the scene
2) I call police
3) I ask if I can non-violently detain someone in a scenario like this
Thank you.
I went to Walmart in Schererville yesterday evening with the girlfriend and drove her beater car, a 4th gen VW Beetle, which means I can park it wherever I wish, and not worry about people opening their doors or rolling carts into it. It is driven by a woman, so it has it's fair share of dings already. The parking lot is partially closed down, but I found a nice spot up front that had a newer Mercedes with big chrome wheels (read thug) taking up two spots. It was not blocking my usage of the spot in such a small car, so I parked next to it and we continued our business.
On the way out, we were one hundred feet or so behind a couple who walked to the Mercedes. The guy had a lapse of judgment and took something out of his trunk, and started running around her Beetle doing something to the windows and doors. I hit the alarm button on the keys, and he turned around and looked at me. He was about 5'2, 120lb, very ghetto, but obviously not going to start anything with me. I'm 5'10 and about 90lb heavier than him, and rather muscular. I might seem physically intimidating to the average Joe.
His wife started apologizing profusely, telling me that she would clean it up. I told him he needs to find something and clean off her car, but instead of grabbed his wife violently by the back of the neck, opened the rear door of his car, and pushed her in. He then jumped in his car and took off.
I called the police, told them about a man vandalizing my car, and an officer came out. The officer sympathized with me about how men shouldn't mess with other people's vehicles, and I told him that it was either I call them, or I get angry at the man. Honestly, the officer was nearly in tears laughing about the situation.
After the man hurriedly drove away, I checked the car, and he had taken a stick of deodorant to the windows and doors. Non-damaging, and didn't require more than a minute of wiping off with baby wipes.
My question to INGO:
Could I have rightfully detained (forcefully or not) someone who was vandalizing my vehicle? I obviously would not have held him at gun point, but it wouldn't have been much effort to toss him to the ground and keep him there.
I know that if I saw him using physical force to damage the vehicle or a spray painting it, I would have, no questions asked. All I saw was him running around it leaving a white substance near his hand.
I believe I did the best thing in my judgment at the time, but I am a crazy Vet and I wonder what would have happened if I lost my cool and held him there.
Teal deer cliffs:
1) Man wipes unknown substance on my vehicle, refuses to wipe it off and flees the scene
2) I call police
3) I ask if I can non-violently detain someone in a scenario like this
Thank you.
on his Mercedes hood. After all, you were rolling through walmart anyways... Not like anyone would have thought a guy duecin' on a car hood would have been entirely out of the ordinary there.
like that and forced him to clean up his mess.
This guy was absolutely no physical threat to me.
In my opinion, you handled yourself well and I commend you for keeping your cool.
