Robberies and Obligations

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by Coges, Mar 2, 2010.

  1. Coges

    Coges Valued Member

    I witnessed a robbery today, or to be more specific, I witnessed a robber making a relatively slow getaway with stolen goods.

    I had just entered a shopping complex when a man entered shortly behind me, shuffling and struggling to carry a 42” LCD TV still in its box. A woman then followed him in shouting for someone to stop him, that he had stolen the TV from her shop. At this stage he had just passed me and was probably four or five metres in front. She was closing fast and was making a faster path than he was. There was no shortage of people around and initially no one made a move to help. She reached the robber within seconds, slapped the box out of his hands and started berating him and telling him he had stolen the TV.

    The man was quite agitated and started off in his defence that he had bought the TV and it was his. They argued for a couple of seconds and then he (quite smartly I have to add) started walking away from the scene whilst still rambling and arguing, to no-one in particular about how the TV was his and he had bought it and how he wanted her to show him her shop. She was now calling for someone to step in and stop this agitated, would-be robber, who was making a slow get away. He argued his way out the door he had come in without anyone stepping in front of him. Myself included.

    In the 20 seconds it took for the whole thing to unfold I stood basically motionless contemplating what action might be appropriate. Of which none was forthcoming. Part of me (the part that watches way too many action films) wanted to step in front of him and offer some resistance in the hope he would attack me and I could take him down, wait for the police to arrive and accept my bravery medal. The other part of me (potentially the more intelligent half) saw that no one was hurt, no one had been attacked and that confronting the guy could lead to violence. He was certainly not in the right state of mind but I couldn’t be sure if he was on something or not.

    As I left the shopping centre afterwards I was reflecting on whether or not I did the right thing in staying out of it or should I have stepped up and tried to stop him from getting away. I would like to think that had he acted more aggressively or violently towards her I would have acted differently but as the situation proceeded I saw no need to get involved. Add to this the fact that I have been the victim of a violent assault before and this thought did cross my mind.

    What would you have done? Did you think I did the right thing? Have you had a similar experience?
     
  2. Griffin

    Griffin Valued Member

    Yeah, these days all we can do is whack out the mobile phone and attempt to photogragh the guy, thats if you dont mind being involved to that extent. Like youve got the next hour or so to spare when the cops get there etc.

    Unfortunately, if you did anything else things can and always will get out of hand. He would have tried to get away from you in the end, he may have a small knife there somewhere. If you hurt him bad he would prob try and sue saying it was too much aggression for the incident, or suddenly develop a severe back problem etc and claim you caused it and the resulting loss of mobility/earnings etc Sounds stupid hey, but it happens lol

    Ive only witnessed a man trying to scam the department store by falling over and pretending he had slipped on something causing it. The whole scene was pathetic, i just walked off lol, This is where the stores must have working cameras to get to the bottom of these things - both robbery and fraudulent claims etc
    The days of chivalry are unfortunately long gone friend, now the bad guys lawyer up and try to get the payday from us!!

    However i cannot stand by and watch someone being beaten to a pulp, and would intervene. Hope i never come across that situation..

    cheers :)
     
  3. tgace

    tgace Valued Member

    Just to be accurate you saw a theft. A "robbery" is theft by force. Many people make this error.

    A person grabbing a TV and walking out is a theft.

    A person displaying a weapon and saying "give me that TV" is a robbery.

    I know that you are not in the US, but most of our laws stem from Brit "common law".

    IMO the best thing to do in this situation is to observe and follow from a safe distance while talking to the police on a cell phone if you have one. At the least be able to get a good description and direction of travel or vehicle plate.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2010
  4. Kuma

    Kuma Lurking about

    Better to be a good witness than a dead interloper. Let the guys with the badges who get paid for doing that kind of thing take care of him. Did you actually tell the police any of this? If so, then you did all right.
     
  5. Coges

    Coges Valued Member

    I offered my side of the story to the cops. They weren't too interested as it was the same as the 10 others they had spoken to and they had a CCTV camera pointed clear at him coming and going.
     
  6. Knight_Errant

    Knight_Errant Banned Banned

    You did fine then. Now me, I'd have clobbered him, nicked the TV for myself and legged it. Hey, don't blame me, I'm just distributing karma. Seriously, dude, I'm just a tool of fate...
     
  7. ArthurKing

    ArthurKing Valued Member

    Slight detour here but the tv story reminded me of a guy i met staying in a YMCA in London, he was a young guy and had travelled down from the North of England to London, with no where to stay, in the hope of finding casual labouring work. He told me of the time him and his friend broke into the boot of a car and found a tv. Me, if i was that way inclined, i would have just nicked the tv. He, went back to his Mums and told her there was a guy selling tvs for £20, so she gave him the money and he went and fetched the telly, now he had £20 and a telly!
    As much as i didn't admire his honesty, i did admire his cheek!
    Good call on the tv thief Coges!
     
  8. Kwajman

    Kwajman Penguin in paradise....

    Get a description and a license plate number and turn it in to the police.....no reason to be a hero.....
     
  9. Chubby

    Chubby Valued Member

    My humble opinion is that you did exactly the right thing. You stayed and observed and you provided a statement to the police. No one was getting assaulted and you were just watching an altercation and by the sound of it sub-consciously making a risk assessment all of the time. It did not esculate so you did not have to intervene. It also appears that there was some uncertainty over whether or not he did steal the TV at first. So to steam in could have potentially been unjust and hasty.

    The guy could have had a concealed weapon. If you had interceded who knows what would have happened. You didn't intercede and we know that no one got hurt. Therefore you did exactly the right thing.

    I myself witnessed a theft and didn't act the hero. I was loading my car up for a trip and saw two shady looking characters walking into the garden of a house further down the road. One of the chaps saw me looking and waved as if he knew me. Good try but I knew that he didn't know me so it just raised my suspicions further. I immediately dialled 999 and walked down the road to see where they had gone as they had walked round the side of the house by then. My intention was to stare at them and let them know that I had clocked them and was calling the police so that they would run away. Unfortunately I was too slow as before I got to the house I heard a crash, the house alarm went off and I saw them both running out of the garden. The one who had waved at me had a laptop under his arm and was shouting at me "Follow me and I'll knock you out". I was through to the police switchboard at that time and just carried on reporting it and giving a description of what they looked like and the direction they were running.

    I felt like giving chase but for all I knew the little scrote could have had a knife or a car load of mates around the corner and I wasn't prepared to get a kick-in or be stabbed for some neighbours laptop.

    Sod civil duty and heroism! It is just common sense and valuing your safety over someone elses material possessions.

    I say good work and good self defence.
     

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