Hi-yo Silver...

 
Who was that masked man, anyway?

If you pay attention to the number of police officers killed in the line of duty ~ and if you don't, you can catch up here ~ you are aware that hostile gunfire is the number one cause of death for on-duty officers. And despite continuing assertions that the violent crime rate has dropped or is dropping, the truth is that those stats have to do with crimes reported to police ~ and many are not reported ~ not crimes committed against them.  In fact, there are few street cops who will tell you violent crime has gone down.

As if having an undetermined number of Butch Cavendish gangs roaming the prairie isn't enough to think about and prepare for, you can see here that the FBI says home-grown terrorists are becoming a bigger threat than they can handle, especially since there's no system in place to stop them.  But, since terrorists think it's fine and dandy to target innocent civilians, we who are not members of the military or the law enforcement community should see ourselves as combatants, since our enemy sees us that way. If we combat terrorism, then that makes us part of the system by which this evil death cult is confronted and attacked and eventually defeated. You can read here that al-Qaeda is more dangerous now than in the past, not to mention Hamas, HezbAllah and various hangers-on.

In a paper entitled Assessing The Terrorist Threat, Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman write: terrorist groups now see the US as more "gettable" because of the failed plots on Christmas Day 2009 and in Times Square in 2010. Smaller-bore plots and attacks by a wider range of jihadist groups are the likely pattern going forward, closer to the attacks that killed 52 commuters in London on July, 7, 2005, than anything on the scale of 9/11. [...] Now it is clear that terrorist groups see operational value in conducting more frequent and less sophisticated attacks that can place severe stress on finite intelligence and law enforcement resources.  [...]  It is reckless to leave the task of combating terrorism only to the professionals when the changing nature of the threat requires that ordinary Americans play a larger support role in detecting and preventing terroristic activities.

So, it's like I've been saying all along: you're either part of the problem or part of the solution.  An element of being part of the solution is to be willing and prepared to help police officers who may be in danger of losing a fight, which has and can lead to their murders.  Take a look here at an article written to cops by a cop on the subject of civilians helping out when they're in trouble. You'll see he wrote: "many may have an inability and a willingness..." I'm sure he meant to write ability, instead of inability. Anyway, jump.

 
Don't laugh. Peter Pan'll do you in a heart-beat.

Okay, back on task: it seems to me there are reasons why a cop might not know he or she is about to be in trouble. Unknowns that he cannot control may include: 

• Strength of a potential attacker
• Fighting skills of a potential attacker
• Weapons carried by a potential attacker
• Weapons skills of a potential attacker 
• Number of accomplices an attacker can quickly gather
• Officer is purposely being led into an ambush

 Take a look at this video to get an idea how bad it's becoming in Germany.

If I was aware that some person(s) about to be contacted by a police officer posed a particularly dangerous threat to that officer, I'd try to get close enough to the officer before he began his contact with the potentially very-bad-guy so that I could quickly and quietly tell him: The guy in the blue shirt hates cops and probably has a gun in his right front pants pocket. Careful.   In this circumstance, there's no way to do this without the bad-guy seeing you, so you're either going to say something or not. You live with what happens after that.

If I saw that an officer was already in contact with a person I knew to be particularly dangerous ~ or if I knew I absolutely knew I couldn't let the bad-guy see me talking to the cops  ~ I'd call 911 and say: There is one Omaha PD officer out of his car at the corner of Main Street and 9th Avenue. I'm here watching right now and I know for a fact that the man he is talking to in the blue shirt hates cops and probably has a pistol in his right front pocket. Please let the officer know to be careful.

In order that the 911 operator can get that information on the air ~ broadcast by radio to the police officer in danger and all others on the radio network ~ you need to be clear about what you see, that's why you don't just say; There's a cop over here who might be in trouble. If you don't know if it's a police officer or a deputy sheriff (and why wouldn't you know that?) then describe the color of the uniform he or she is wearing or look at the closest cop car and see which jurisdiction it's from. If other officers are approaching the scene on foot a/o in vehicles, let them know it's dangerous so they can be careful and so they can warn their fellow officer.

If I couldn't speak to the officer quickly and couldn't contact 911, I'd get in his field of view and let him know with a hand signals that I'm watching. If the officer is at the center of the clock and the direction he's facing is 12:00 o'clock, then my position is on a blue X, either one would do.

 
Once in position, I'd try to make eye contact with the officer and then do this: Point to myself and then give him a thumbs-up signal, which means I'm a friendly. Then I'd point two fingers at my eyes and then sweep those same fingers in a horizontal arc in front of me signifying: I'm watching the situation. Depending on the totality of circumstances I'm seeing, I might very slowly and subtly draw back my coat or shirt to show him I'm armed.  To add some clarity, the legal definition for brandishing is: bran·dish (brndsh) tr.v. bran·dished, bran·dish·ing, bran·dish·es 1. To wave or flourish (a weapon, for example) menacingly. 2. To display ostentatiously. n. A menacing or defiant wave or flourish.  The body of a crime requires intent.. mens rea. If I have no intent to ostentatiously threaten the officer, which can be substantiated once the situation is settled, then there is no crime.

Anyway, there are a number of somewhat controllable factors which might add to danger just around the corner. The officer might be: 

• Overweight
• Old
• Young
• Poorly trained
• Small
• Weak
• Scaaaaared shitless

So, let's discuss possible scenarios where any of the bullet points above might lead you to believe that the lone ranger in front of you is about to get his or her ass kicked and perhaps killed.

First thing you need to do when you see a cop begin to fight anyone is to call 911. The cop might not have had a chance to radio in his status before he was jumped or had to jump.  Quickly tell the 911 operator what you're seeing and that you are going to help... if that's what you decide. Say: This is Daniel Boone at Smith and Wesson Street in Mossberg. A police officer is fighting on the street here and I'm going to help him. I'm a white male wearing tan chinos and a Detroit Red Wings sweater. The main attacker is wearing black pajamas and using numchucks on the officer now. Or, if you can't remember anything else, just say Officer down outside the Aldo Theater... or wherever he or she happens to be down.

You don't have to ask for the operator to send help.  As soon as they hear an officer is down, they'll send out an emergency call.  If you've decided to help, then do it right away. Don't let the operator tell you what to do. They have absolutely no authority to order you around.

You might not be able to determine if the attacker has weapons. Wether he has weapons or not, you don't know what he will do with the cop's gun if/when he takes it from him. Since the worst case scenario is somebody getting that cop's gun and using it on him or her a/o bystanders, you want to get bad people away from/off him as quickly as possible.

How?

You're going to have to grab people and literally drag them off. Grabbing by a shirt/coat/pant leg/shoe can leave you with torn bad-guy garments a/o empty shoes while he continues to attack the officer. So, you have to get a good hold on something that is securely fastened around a/o into the attacker(s): hair a/o belts... trouser waists if that's all you can get.  Get a firm grasp of either or both and drag them off the cop. If you use a hair-hold, don't yank like you're a sissy on the playground; hold on tight and puuuuuull the head in the direction you want it to go. Quickly, but not so fast that speed makes you lose your grip.  The best thing to do once you've got someone by the hair is slam that head into something hard to stun her. Her? Sure. You think only guys try to kill cops?  Get used to the idea now. Anyway, not sure if you'll be able to slam that misbehaving head, but it's Plan A.  Don't drag any body too far from the fight because, once you do whatever you do with that first thug, you might have to hustle over and wade back into the pile.

Aaaaand, guess what!  These thugs are probably going to fight back so be prepared to be absolutely brutal to end the fight as quickly as you can. I've been in lots of fights and can tell you from experience; the longer you take to subdue your guy, the more danger you're in, and so is the cop you're helping. If you get someone off a cop and they continue to struggle and you see the cop is still in danger, you're going to have to end your little dance ASAP. If you're struggling hand-to-hand, the quickest way to stop the bad-guy is to punch him in the throat, his Adam's Apple ~ or, strike it with the edge of your hand. Hard. This is a deadly force situation. If you hit hard enough, it can crush the windpipe and the bad-guy will be busy trying to breathe. And he might die because of that punch. I guess he shouldn't have fucked up and attacked a cop, then, huh?

Don't try to pull on the bad-guy's arm to get it away from a holstered cop pistol. If he has a firm grip on the cop's weapon and you pull on his arm, you may actually be helping him pull it out of the holster. In that scenario, grab the bad-guy hand as it is on the pistol and get hold of the thumb. Pull back slowly on the thumb and half the grip he had will be gone. Try to break that thumb off his hand once you get a grip on it but use slow power, not a quick snap. Sweat and other body fluids might make hands and arms slick so you have to be sure you have good grips when you're grappling like this.

If you have a knife ~ and if you don't I'll want to know why ~ reach in and slit the tendons and arteries in the wrist. You're going to have to keep that baby sharp, eh?And press down hard when you're making the cut ~ pisiform is basically bone.  Assuming you do it effectively, the bad-guy probably will lose use of that hand, at least for a while, and loss of blood might convince him to leave the fight and seek medical help. Or he may die.  If you cut the Digital Flexor Tendons, he won't be able to close his hand. If you can get the Ulnar nerve and artery, you can cause loss of feeling and loss of blood.

 

Cut deeply when you do this one.

 

Cut deeply along the red line to sever thumb nerve and tendon. Also note: one cut across the Median Nerve can disable the entire hand.

If you can't get to a hand, you will need to attack the assailant's computer... his head. Pounding on his back a/o shoulders will be a waste of time because you don't know how muscular he is nor what drugs he might be on, which might be making him pretty much immune to the pain you think you're inflicting on him.  If you've got no weapons with which to strike, then do speed punches on the bad-guy's head, preferably at the temples.  Don't just whack him ~ or her ~ once or twice and then start wagging your finger at him. You have no duty to warn him that you're going to hit him nor any moral obligation to ask him one more time to please behave or you'll just have to... whatever. Hit him. Hard. Repeatedly. If it's a her, hit her just as hard as you would a man. Strike until he or she stops his or her attack on the officer. If there's only one attacker and you just beat his ass, take the cop's cuffs and put them on the bad-guy, hands behind the back, even if you think he's unconscious or dead. Then help the cop.

If you have a cane or an umbrella, that might be handy as a weapon. But, merely whacking someone with your stick probably isn't going to help much unless you really hit hard and continuously and in the right spot. You get to call the shots in this situation and by that I mean you choose which target to strike first. A strike to the neck has more potential to break the spinal cord and stop the attack than a strike to the head. But you might not be able to get a shot at the neck. And, as always, it's your choice if you even want to strike there. You can target the hands of attackers that you see trying to get to/unholster a cop's weapon.  Strike that bad-guy hand with as much force as you can and don't stop until that bad-guy stops trying to get the gun. Rather than rely on a wooden cane or cheap umbrella, I think those of you who are committed to action need to check out expandable batons, mine shown below.

 
Monadnock on top, ASP on bottom.

 
Monadnock and ASP extended.

You can order either type of baton here. Looks like the site won't ask you to prove you're with law enforcement or security. I order lots of stuff from LAPG and they're the best; quality stuff at a good price. A word about the ASP: once you get it extended, it's not just a simple tap that makes it collapse. You have to bang it pretty hard. Don't do it on counter-tops. Or trucks. Best thing to do is to put the handle on a steel or contrete surface and tap the business end until the sections collapse. 

 
This is a remote or collar mic, so-called because there's a clip on the other side which attaches to the collar or epaulet of a cop's shirt, like that chubby cop above who just popped Peter Pan.  If a cop's in trouble and can't get his hands on his radio and you can't get to the Emergency Alert Button ~ shown below ~ then push down the Talk button and yell: Officer down in front of Buckwheat Theater. Say it twice then let the button go.

 
This is the type of radio mic attached to a police or ambulance radio. If you have to, reach inside the police car and slide the mic up and out of the bracket. The radio will work even if the engine is not running.  Push the talk button down and loudly say: Officer down at 11th Street Starbucks. Officer down at 11th Street Starbucks. Yes, say it twice. Do not scream, the 911 operator will hear a distorted roar if you do so.

 

When the Emergency Alert Button is pushed down, a signal is sent to the 911 operator indicating that the EAB on that particular radio has been activated and the one who pushed it is declaring an emergency. Back-ups will automatically be sent to the last known location of that radio, which was, presumably, attached to a particular police officer. The Push-To-Talk Button is for use if there is no remote mic attached to the radio but the PTT button will work if the remote mic is attached.

If the situation devolves into one where you believe you'll need to shoot one or more of the bad-guys in order to save the cop, you can't just shoot into the pile of attackers. You have to find the one closest to the cop, the one who appears to be the greatest threat, and take him out. Presuming you're armed and that you decide that the best thing to do to save the police officer's life is to shoot one or more of his or her attackers, try not to shoot down into the pile because you might hit the cop, though a hit to his torso will probably be absorbed by his soft body armor, aka bullet-proof vest. To minimize the chance that you'll shoot the wrong dirtbag, find the bad-guy hand that is either on the cop's gun or closest to his gun or the ones belonging to the one doing the most damage to the officer and follow up from that hand to the wrist and arm to the shoulder of that bad-guy. From the shoulder your next stop is the upper chest.

 

Okay, this is the best illustration I could find to make this point. Pretend this innocent push-upper is actually atop a police officer and is clearly winning the battle. The cop is being beaten about the head or choked or seems to be losing consciousness and the totality of circumstances you observe persuade you, a reasonable person, that the police officer is about to be killed by the guy in gym shorts. In my view, you'd be wrong to stand there and see if the cop could win one for the Gipper. If you are carrying a pistol and decide to try to stop the attack by using deadly force you need to be careful where you put your rounds. The red line indicates a shot not to take, because in the real scenario there's a cop down there, remember?  The blue line shows the best shot you can take to stop the attacker atop the cop, passing through the shoulder perhaps, smashing into the collar-bone, pieces of which might sever the sub-clavian artery and cause quick death ~ or a shot that goes into the heart.  You should shoot until you see that the rounds you've fired have made the bad-guy stop the attack. If you can't get those shots, then you're going to have to go in through the top of the bad-guy head. Pretty brutal, I know.  But the bad-guy's the one who started it and he knew before he started that his action was illegal and could result in deadly force being used against him. So, because he knew that risk and by his actions accepted that risk, then he's got nothing to bitch about if a cop or a prepared citizen punches his ticket.

Another angle on my point, read about how King County Deputy Sheriff Richard Herzog was shot to death with his own gun by Ronald Matthews here. A couple things about this tragedy:

• KCSO said Herzog was trying to lead Matthews away from the crowd so he wouldn't shoot them. This is nothing but speculation since Herzog died at the scene and was never been able to tell anyone what he was thinking.  I'll give Herzog the BOTD and say that his motivation for running away from the shooter was indeed to draw his attention away from the bystanders but will still fault his thinking in this way: he had no idea if Matthews would follow him away from the bystanders. Matthews could have at any moment stopped pursuing Herzog and turned and headed for the crowd on the sidewalk to begin shooting at them. Herzog should have attacked Matthews as soon as Matthews got his hand on his gun.
• I remember hearing radio interviews of a couple people who were witnesses to the murder. Actually, they were, in my view, part of the event and played a role in the death of the deputy. A woman being interviewed said she and her husband were there watching the scenario unfold from about 60' away. Both of them were legally carrying concealed pistols. The woman said she and her husband couldn't get a "good shot" at Matthews because they weren't sure where a missed shot would end up. Well, we all know where those unfired shots did not end up, don't we. The armed civilians on-scene that day should have attacked Matthews, too. If they had a difficult shot, they should have quickly and with great resolve closed the distance between themselves and Matthews and created a better shot.

If cops are in a hostile situation and may take fire at any moment, you may want to do this: Get in their field of view. Don't walk up on them from behind unless there's no other approach. They need to be able to evaluate you as friendly or un ASAP.  It may be wise to call to them from behind cover" Hey, friendly over here. I'm coming in. Or: Friendly here, I'll cover your flank from here. Don't be pointing any weapon at them then or at any time. If you move toward them with a holstered handgun, keep it holstered and your empty hands in plain view but not necessarily up in surrender position unless they give that command. And that's what it is: a command. If you're carrying a long gun, is should be slung with muzzle down, chamber empty and open so they can see it's not ready to shoot. The only exception to that is if you have a chamber flag in your rifle or shotgun. The pictures below depict various types of chamber flags available on the Internet ~ web search chamber flags ~  but I must say I've had some trouble finding them in gun stores.

Chamber flag in an AR.

 
For a shotgun and a rifle 

If cops are taking fire and you can fire at the bad-guy(s) from the flanks or from above,  Call 911 and let the operator know:

• Who you are
• Where you are
• What you're wearing
• What weapon(s) you're carrying/shooting
• Where you intend to go
• If you intend to stay where you are
• What you see in terms of bad actors/action
• What you are going to do

The operator will try to tell you to stand down and let the police handle the situation. But you're the one on scene and you decide what to do.  If I had an open shot at a bad-guy or girl whom I, a reasonable man observing and assessing the totality of circumstances then and there, believed constituted a clear and present threat to the life a/o safety of the cops a/o civilians in the AO, I'd take the shot(s), being sure the cops had no thought whatsoever that I was aiming at them. This is a big, dangerous choice for you to make, if you choose to make it. But you can grease the skids by getting to know your local officers and deputies. Buy coffee where they buy coffee. If they're sitting in their car writing a report, drive up to the patrol car with both your hands visible to them on the steering wheel and just say you appreciate what they do. You can do the same thing on foot but be sure to approach them from the front. Do not come at them from behind. 

If in any of these shooting situations they tell you to get otu of Dodge, then maybe your only choice will be to do so.  Just know this: on the street every day they're facing more and more determined enemies in greater and greater number. Their hands are often tied by over-educated but stupid politically-appointed bossess and ass-kissing administrators.  You can't tell them Stay safe, because to do so would require they turn in the guns and badge and become librarians.

You wanna be this guy? You'd better have your shit in one bag.

In review: you, a reasonable person, are witnessing an altercation wherein an armed police officer is being defeated in battle. With an unobstructed view of the fight, you don't know if the about-to-be winner, a thug if there ever was one, will take the officer's gun once he is victorious. Further, you don't know what that thug will do if he or she gets that cop gun. You don't know.  Is there at least a 50~50 chance he will turn it on the downed cop and finish him off? Absolutely. So, based on the reasonable man standard and the totality of circumstances you're experiencing then and there, the use of deadly force against the thug would probably be reasonable. If you shoot him and he dies, it's his fault, not yours. He knows it's wrong to attack cops and that deadly force can be used against him if he makes that attempt. So, when he makes that attempt, he's sorta giving you permission to stop him. If he dies, he shouldn't have started it in the first place. 

Comments

[Misty]

@ old, overweight guy,

hey there, your not alone. I am a young mother of small children and I also worry.

Somehow i think our job maybe pre-emptive, but I don't know what that means yet...

[Daniel Martin]

I want to echo the comment of gre-o ...

I am 70 years old and 20 pounds overweight. I have often thought of what would I do - what COULD I do effectively - if I became co-victim in a hostage situation or other terrorist activity. After many years of reading about such accounts, I am convinced of the following:

(1) Inaction (submission) never has a good outcome.
(2) The best time to overcome terrorists, if ever, in is the first 30-60 seconds of the event.
(3) The sheer crush and weight of, say, ten potential victims is probably the best weapon against five terrorists (there are seldom more) IF done as a group.
(4) Some of the potential victims will die, if not all, as a result of (1) (2) and/or (3).
(5) Better to die - shot or blown away - fighting the emmeffers than to hear & feel them sawing off my cowardly head.

What I would like to hear from you, Undaunted, are suggestions for myself (and for others of similar age and mind) towards the most effective way(s) to:

(A) Quickly rally other victims to join the crush.
(B) Instill in others the rage necessary to employ the maximum deadly force, as much as each can muster, against the terrorists regardless of personal safety. The iconic "LET'S ROLL" of Flight 93 is one suggestion. What else?
(C) List again the 2-3 best one-blow moves a non martial arts person can use to kill or disable a terrorist.
(D) Anything else that a mean (but fat & weak) old dude like me can do before dying to save others.
NextVoiceUHear

[gre-o]

I have read this twice now...Wish that I wasn't an old, overweight guy...

[vigilon]

Nice safety pin!

[Tom Dunn]

Nice Cassaday illustration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cassaday). Great post, bookmarked for rereading.