Evening CalGunners... I had a fun experience last night and am curious what the CalGun LEO (and non-LEO) would do in the same situation.
My wife and I went out to dinner in San Francisco last night with two other couples (if you want a recommendation for a good French restaurant let me know, but back onto the story). Two glasses of wine with a big dinner.
We decide to go to a bar around the corner for some drinks (they also have a kitchen and serve food, but I think that's irrelevant). We were just finishing up our second game of pool, and about half way through our first round of drinks, when all hell broke loose. Here's how I remember it...
Standing by the pool table having a great conversation about CCW (always fun to speak loudly in San Francisco bars when talking about firearms). All of a sudden, some guy comes running from one end of the bar (the place is probably about 150 feet long, end-to-end) to the other end, where we are, and somebody is chasing him.
My first thought... two guys being idiots. Likely a bit drunk, even though it's only about 8:30 at night.
I quickly realize that the guy in front seems to be holding a pillow-case sized bag with unknown contents, and the guy chasing him appears to work at the bar. The crazy guy also seems to have a cordless phone in his hand, and now I'm thinking he took the phone and the bar employee is trying to get the phone back.
As the crazy guy starts to run around the pool table, towards me, my instinct is to grab the guy, but I'm hesitant because I don't know the whole situation. He changes course and runs away from me, so I guess it did t really matter. At that point, he starts swinging at the employee, and just generally in the air, screaming some nonsense. This is the point at which I realized he was crazy!
"Okay, so some **** might be going down with a guy who's nuts, maybe we should go."
That's when he grabbed a pool ball off the table (luckily we were done with our game
) and threw it across the room. No apparent target, just anger.
Okay, now my thought process changes... GET MY WIFE OUT OF HERE!
I keep watching the guy, but yell at my wife to leave out the back door, because to this point she thinks it's still just some drunk idiot whom she can yell obscenities at (glad she didn't). I glance her way, and she was making her way, with our other friends, out the back door. Good! I walk outside and have a brief (maybe 15-second) conversation, and then something in my head said I should go back inside because this guy could hurt other people.
I walk back in, and he now had another pool ball in his hand, threatening to throw it. He walks over to a pinball machine and starts banging the ball on the glass, but gets distracted by someone and charges. He stops to punch himself in the head a few times. Then he turns to the front door and I'm thinking "good, he's going to leave" but of course he didn't. He just took the pool ball and and smashed the front door (made of glass). Ok, not good.
Next on the agenda... break more stuff. He grabs something off the bar and throws it at the wall of liquor bottles. A few break. I see the girl behind the bar both pissed off and hiding in fear.
Next up, a full bottle. I'm not sure if it was water or vodka, but I think it was water in a 750 bottle. Definitely glass. He proceeds to pour the water (or maybe vodka) over his head, still screaming gibberish and waving his arm as if he has a knife.
This entire time, I keep trying to find a time to tackle the guy, but I have no training, never played football, and have nver really been an aggressive guy. Something inside me just said "he needs to be stopped." I don't know why.
Okay, back to the crazy guy... he's just cooling off, right. Good, yea? No. He walks over to the bar, smashes the bottle into the bar, shattering the bottle, and then it wasn't exactly clear what he was doing, but it looked like he was trying to slit his wrist with the broken bottle.
At this point, everyone is realizing this guy needs help, but nobody wants to let him continue to do whatever it is he is doing. Luckily, we got some help... at that moment, he slipped on the water he had poured everywhere and fell to the ground. I'm not sure why, but without hesitation I ran to the guy and jumped on top. Another guy did the same, as did my friend.
I layed on top of his back, holding his arm, while another guy was on his lower back and my friend held his other arm. We hung out there for maybe two or three minutes (well, it felt like that, but it might have been 15 seconds) keeping him immobile until the SFPD arrived. Two at first, then another, then about 8 more.
So... now I know what I would do in that situation. What about you?
My wife and I went out to dinner in San Francisco last night with two other couples (if you want a recommendation for a good French restaurant let me know, but back onto the story). Two glasses of wine with a big dinner.
We decide to go to a bar around the corner for some drinks (they also have a kitchen and serve food, but I think that's irrelevant). We were just finishing up our second game of pool, and about half way through our first round of drinks, when all hell broke loose. Here's how I remember it...
Standing by the pool table having a great conversation about CCW (always fun to speak loudly in San Francisco bars when talking about firearms). All of a sudden, some guy comes running from one end of the bar (the place is probably about 150 feet long, end-to-end) to the other end, where we are, and somebody is chasing him.
My first thought... two guys being idiots. Likely a bit drunk, even though it's only about 8:30 at night.
I quickly realize that the guy in front seems to be holding a pillow-case sized bag with unknown contents, and the guy chasing him appears to work at the bar. The crazy guy also seems to have a cordless phone in his hand, and now I'm thinking he took the phone and the bar employee is trying to get the phone back.
As the crazy guy starts to run around the pool table, towards me, my instinct is to grab the guy, but I'm hesitant because I don't know the whole situation. He changes course and runs away from me, so I guess it did t really matter. At that point, he starts swinging at the employee, and just generally in the air, screaming some nonsense. This is the point at which I realized he was crazy!
"Okay, so some **** might be going down with a guy who's nuts, maybe we should go."
That's when he grabbed a pool ball off the table (luckily we were done with our game

Okay, now my thought process changes... GET MY WIFE OUT OF HERE!
I keep watching the guy, but yell at my wife to leave out the back door, because to this point she thinks it's still just some drunk idiot whom she can yell obscenities at (glad she didn't). I glance her way, and she was making her way, with our other friends, out the back door. Good! I walk outside and have a brief (maybe 15-second) conversation, and then something in my head said I should go back inside because this guy could hurt other people.
I walk back in, and he now had another pool ball in his hand, threatening to throw it. He walks over to a pinball machine and starts banging the ball on the glass, but gets distracted by someone and charges. He stops to punch himself in the head a few times. Then he turns to the front door and I'm thinking "good, he's going to leave" but of course he didn't. He just took the pool ball and and smashed the front door (made of glass). Ok, not good.
Next on the agenda... break more stuff. He grabs something off the bar and throws it at the wall of liquor bottles. A few break. I see the girl behind the bar both pissed off and hiding in fear.
Next up, a full bottle. I'm not sure if it was water or vodka, but I think it was water in a 750 bottle. Definitely glass. He proceeds to pour the water (or maybe vodka) over his head, still screaming gibberish and waving his arm as if he has a knife.
This entire time, I keep trying to find a time to tackle the guy, but I have no training, never played football, and have nver really been an aggressive guy. Something inside me just said "he needs to be stopped." I don't know why.
Okay, back to the crazy guy... he's just cooling off, right. Good, yea? No. He walks over to the bar, smashes the bottle into the bar, shattering the bottle, and then it wasn't exactly clear what he was doing, but it looked like he was trying to slit his wrist with the broken bottle.
At this point, everyone is realizing this guy needs help, but nobody wants to let him continue to do whatever it is he is doing. Luckily, we got some help... at that moment, he slipped on the water he had poured everywhere and fell to the ground. I'm not sure why, but without hesitation I ran to the guy and jumped on top. Another guy did the same, as did my friend.
I layed on top of his back, holding his arm, while another guy was on his lower back and my friend held his other arm. We hung out there for maybe two or three minutes (well, it felt like that, but it might have been 15 seconds) keeping him immobile until the SFPD arrived. Two at first, then another, then about 8 more.
So... now I know what I would do in that situation. What about you?
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