ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Commencing operation . . .

Overview

Just over a week ago, a friend of mine was involved in an incident, the result of which he suffered from grievous bodily harm. In this article, I am going to outline the scenario and walk through the potential pitfalls, which could have been avoided to mitigate the consequences of what happened.

I have seen the CCTV footage from a jewellery shop and the dashcam on my friend’s dad’s car, as well as spoken with my mate and his dad about the incident itself. The scenario outlined below is my interpretation of the data mentioned above and may or may not truly represent the reality of the events which unfolded on that day. 

The Scenario

It was 3 pm on a dark cloudy day, perhaps foreshadowing the disaster that was soon to strike my unbeknownst friend and his family. They were on route to drop my friend back home after his morning shift. The poor sod had been up since 4 am and was exhausted, both physically and mentally from the demands of the day.

His father (the driver) notices the car behind him driving erratically, desperately trying to overtake on a single lane road with traffic on either side. The road eventually widens for a turning lane, and the hostile car tries to squeeze through but scrapes the side mirror of my friend’s dad’s car as he accelerates past.

There are traffic lights ahead with the options of either continuing straight or turning right. The hostile car attempts to turn right but misjudges the angle of the turn and has to stop, left he mount the pavement of the pedestrian crossing.

My friend’s dad could have driven straight on and stuck to the original task of dropping my friend off home, but given the damage to the vehicle, driving away would likely nullify any insurance claims that could have been made. So he switches to the turning lane and stops his car in front of the hostile vehicle to prevent them from driving off.

All hell breaks loose.

Two guys step out of the car on either side, as my friend’s father winds down his window in preparation to have a conversation about what happened. Unfortunately, the man who approached immediately started attacking my friend’s dad through the open window. It is highly likely that he was on some kind of intoxicant, but it is also possible that pure rage was the cause behind such behaviour.

My friend then gets out of the car to confront the guy who got out from the other side of the hostile vehicle. It’s one on one, and my friend is trained in the martial arts. They exchange a couple of blows, and things are looking decent for my friend, as the hostile staggers back.

Sadly though, the person who was attacking my friend’s dad then joins the other attacker to form a two versus one against my friend. After a brief exchange, my friend hits the tarmac, his dad is out of the car by this point and manages to drag one of them away.

Soon after, the hostiles make their getaway and successfully escape. For now. While the scenario was unfolding, the CCTV footage shows an older couple walking past the crime scene, but they turn a blind eye and walk on by.

I can understand not wanting to get involved, due to self-preservation, cowardice, or redundancy. But they didn’t even try to phone the police or anything. Sure there were plenty of eyewitnesses safe within their vehicles who may have called the authorities, but they may not have. The fact that they did nothing at all sickens me.

The bare minimum was to call for help, but they didn’t even do that. Didn’t want to get involved at all. Tried to pretend it wasn’t even happening. It’s disgusting what society seems to accept in the modern-day and age, and is one reason why these heinous crimes occur in the first place.

A cowardly society that thinks only of themselves is a breeding ground for villainous activity. 

The Aftermath

My friend was on the ground dazed, as his father helps him to his feet. His mother is also by his side. What a horrible thing for most any parent to have to witness. Their child, bleeding, battered and bruised. It’s a slightly different story if the combat is voluntarily undertaken, but this was a spontaneous street fight.  

The police are contacted afterwards, and they eventually arrive to take witness statements and survey the aftermath. My friend is taken to hospital and has various scans taken to ensure there is no head trauma or any other severe underlying condition. Fortunately, the worst of it seems to be bruising, which may take a month or so to heal fully, but no lasting damage was caused.

Retrospective Analysis

Re-read the scenario if you haven’t done so already and take a moment to think about what you would have done differently. Consider your responses from both the perspectives of my friend’s dad (the driver) and also of my friend himself.

I want to say that it can be easy to judge people on their actions retrospectively but in the heat of the moment, when emotions are running high and chaos reigns, rationality is thrown out the window, and it becomes challenging to resolve a situation in an idealistic way. Not to mention the driver is sixty years old, and my friend exhausted from his work shift.

Still, though, it is good to perform this kind of analysis purely for the sake of a learning experience as opposed to getting lost within ‘what if’ scenarios.

The Driver

I believe everything to the point of stopping in front of the car was reasonable by the driver. I think the error made was not surveying the rear-view mirror as the people got out. Body language can be a significant pre-emptive indicator of behaviour, and it is possible having had that split moment of forewarning, could have led to some kind of evasive action – be it accelerating to safety or putting the window back up.

Also, while it is likely not feasible for a sixty-year-old man, in a car situation like this, you want to be the first one out of the vehicle. You have barely any mobility while seated in a car, and you are generally vulnerable while entering or exiting a car. Being first out nullifies both of these drawbacks.

You either want to escape quickly via acceleration before the situation escalates into conflict or you want to be the first one out of the car so that you can react to the opposing party.

My Friend

All things considered, I do not think there was much else my friend could have done differently, given the surrounding circumstances. On one hand, he could have stayed seated in the car while his father was getting attacked in the hope that his father would have accelerated to safety. By stepping out of the car, this vindicates that option, as his dad isn’t going to drive off and leave his son to fend for himself. Getting out of the car was a potential mistake but not an absolute one, as there is no guarantee that his dad would have been able to hit the accelerator while getting attacked.

The rationale behind getting out of the vehicle was likely to cause a diversion and draw the attacker away from his father. Unfortunately, my friend didn’t realise there were already two aggressors. He had only seen the one attacking his father and had likely hoped to draw him away. Unfortunately what ended up happening was a one on one, which soon became a two on one.

On one hand, look before you leap, but on the other, everything was happening so fast, that quick, decisive action can be the difference-maker between life and death in the worst-case scenario.

The best-case scenario would have been to accelerate to safety. This would involve my friend staying put in his car and the driver being able to accelerate while getting attacked, or accelerate after making a judgment call through the rear-view mirror before the attack commenced.

There are far too many unknowns for getting involved in a conflict. The number of hostiles, weapons, and a myriad of other potential chaotic factors means that a flight rather than fight response is preferred in a street situation such as this. You should pretty much always be trying to make decisions to minimise uncertainty when faced with a potentially conflicting situation. Because while nine times out of ten, my friend may have escaped, maybe that tenth time he would not have been so lucky. Try not to roll the dice when facing a potentially life-threatening situation.

Conclusion

A miserable thing for my friend and his family to go through, but if it is any consolation, things could have been a lot worse. I only wish I had been in the car with my friend and his family at the time. I could have made a difference.

While the hostiles are still at large, I hope they will be brought to justice soon.

Mission complete – Overlord Drakow signing out.