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AluminumOvercas

AluminumOvercas

Joined
Aug 30, 2001
Messages
546
I was circling around several blocks on Sunday looking for a parking spot when i finally spotted a guy with keys in hand approaching his car. Now, No one was behind him when I rolled my window down and asked if he was leaving. He said yes and so I backed up a little to give him space to pull out. Just as I was backing up, there was a minivan with what seemed to be a mother driving with her husband at the passenger seat and probably their teenaged kid in the back. He kept waving at me and I ignored him. Finally, the parked car pulls out and I pull into the spot "nose" first. I can hear cars behind the minivan honking at him to continue moving. I am in the spot now and he decides to ride slowly next to me and said some sort of broken english profanity. So I did the same. By now, the minivan is about 1.5 cars in front of me to my left. The Driver, sticks out a chicken boning knife and starts waving it at me but he never looked at me. I honked my horn and waved him to come back to me. No one moved but I can see the kid in the back doing some hand gestures. I had the AR on me and waved it in the same manner as he did but I didn't stick it out the window. There was a guy next to me in a car who had a freaked out look on his face because he didn't know what was going on. I was already upset because my ladyfriend and I just got into an arguement. I Didn't want to fan the flames further. He continued moving and disappeared at the right turn. Oh well. I thought he/they may have wanted to come back around the block and deflate the tireds but nothing ever happened. The rest of the day was peaceful.

This is the second time I almost got into an episode this week. I'm just a regular Chinese dude looking for parking so he can have dimsum at his favorite restaurant. I never pick fights either.

What would you have done? How would you react? I was just glad that ultimately, we both stayed in our cars and continued on with the day.

Shelby
 
In 1978, My wife and I were driving from NH to Long Island to see my folks. I worked to 4-mid shift and it was almost 0400 AM. I was driving a puke green volswagen beetle. We were on the cross-bronx approaching the split for the GW bridge or the Throggs neck. I was in the right lane and the sole vehicle. All of a sudden, out of nowhere comes to large American mades four door, occupied X4, all males. no matter what I did, they rode my bumper. Fibally they pulled along side and wer Brandishing a baseball bat and a larged fixed Blade. They were clearly trying to force me off the road. I had my wife take the wheel and open fire with a colt Python. I heard glass explode and they disappeared heading towards I-95, I made a Bee-line towrds theThroggs neck.

To this day, I have no clue if I connected. I do honestly believe if I did NOT have a firearm, my wife and I were going to be "victims" on this day.

Was I right or wrong? I say I did what I had to. To those I have told this story, some feel I should have just "brandished" ( dumb word) or fired at the tires. I say that with people, especially in NY, being so unpredictable, you do what you believe you REASONABLY feel you must to protect yourself...........wolf
 
I feel sorry for you dude. What a way to spoil your appetite for dimsum. Like you, I probably would have cursed the bastids & gave them the peace sign. I probably would not have pulled out my blade unless my life was threatened. The potential problems on waving the blade would not have been worth it. I don't know about Brooklyn, some of the gang bangers in LA carry guns. Order take out next time. Take care.
 
Sorry to hear you had to put up with crap like that.

I would keep the blade from view unless I needed to use it, though. You could get into some serious trouble for that if a LEO sees you doing it while pissed off or the other guy has a firearm...
 
IMO, the best modern wheelgun Colt ever made! I'm also partial to it's small, yet just as impressive, cousin - the Colt Diamondback! Wolf, do you still have it?

Shelby, I hope you feel comfort in knowing that by not instigating anything, you did the right thing. Now if the $hithead decides to get out of his car and start something, that's a different story...
 
I've trained with Mas Ayoob, Clint Smith and John Farnham, and the messsage all three stress is the need for civilians to use great care in the escalation of force. Ayoob addresses the issue of personal defense in his "In The Gravest Extreme". I suggest all of those who carry a weapon of any kind for self-defense to read this book.
Here in northern Nevada you need to very careful about 'brandishing' a knife or gun. The first reason is that you may get a bullet in return, the other is a citizen could call on his cell, and the responding LEO will pull your hard-earned concealed carry permit.
Before I moved to northern Nevada 25 years ago, I lived and worked in New York for six years (two years in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, FYI). There were many times I wished that I could carry the Gov't Model or OM I usually have on me these days. As a gun store owner said to me after I moved here: "Welcome to the American Zone".
Be careful out there.
Kevin
 
Altercations are very unpredictable. You never know what other weapons they have. The fact that they waved a knife at you should make you think that these people are a little out of whack especially over a parking spot.

Don't let anyone know what you've got. If your knife comes out, you use it or it should stay hidden. The last thing I would want you to do is engage knife on knife. Could get really messy, if you know what I mean...The more I study and train with knives, the more I realize that using it should be a course of last resort. Now, if they get out of their car and head over to you with a knife in hand, stay in your car and run 'em over!

S.
 
Shelby---
I have lived & worked in Crown Heights (across the street from
Al Davis),Brownsville and Downtown Brooklyn; and never had a
close encounter.Once, when a store i managed was being robbed by
4 armed men,i went to the rear and called 911.I tried to use my
best weapon-my brain.I remained calm and my employees and
customers were safe.Sure some merchandise was stolen,thats part
of the overhead.

Shelby-change your mindset.You could have been sliced up,shot
or jailed for brandishing a deadly weapon.Is it worth it?

Brooklyn has great people,take a walk on the Promenade,go to
Juniors for cheesecake or H&H Bagels,Nathans' for a hotdog &
enjoy!

Stay safe.
 
Sky,

I respect your input. My intention was not to fight or brandish to intimidate. I learned that from living here, my parents beating me good when I was young which is common practice with all most Chinese folks and intensly committing 15 years of my life to white crane martial arts (which includes knife and dagger fighting with two blades. But I ain't no Bruce Lee and I can't stop a bullet. Don't get me wrong. I love Brooklyn. I've had many chances to move out but chose to stay. I was born in Manhattan, raised in Brooklyn. Bensonhurst and Bayridge. I hardly even know Jersey. I guess I was in a really bad mood and couldn't contain myself. Sometimes, we all have a limit on how much we can take. At least in my opinion. I popped and it was bad and could have been worse. With the advice of you and others, my mind set is clearer however, changing it would mean to change who I am because I intended no harm in the first place. It was stupid of me to give a little show and tell of my own, but I never walked out of the car and never wanted to. Was I scared? You better believe it. As cool as I tried to stay composed, I was shaken by it. It's not gonna stop me from carrying my AR. Sure, he could have shot me through his window, through mine and nailed me, but in a more detailed sense, I felt he threatened my girlfriend and I. We were cornered in a parking spot and he had the advantage to do some damage and "get away" and I wasn't for that. Even if he got out of the car I wouldn't have followed him out. All in all, it was bad by my part to even bark back at mofos like he/she.
It's guys like that who should change their mindset. I could have been my older brother, who is a police officer in the midtown south precinct. And he likes dimsum as well and carries a glock.

Btw, The promenade is nice but I had an emotional break up with one of my ex's there and resulted in a slap across my face. I do photo shoots there once in a while. Probably one of the better views of the city besides the pier at Dumbo and the leg of the B'bridge. I grew up on Junior's cheesecake (the Strudel), Nathans' hotdogs and the Biali's at H&H. If I have anymore of those, I might have to take up a more serious diet. So far, I have converted to Eileen's cheesecakes, Grimaldi's pizza by the Brooklyn Bridge, Rocco's calimari on Ft. Hamilton, and Bailis' in Downtown for, well, their Bialis.

Bottom line: Next time something like this happens, my knife will stay unexposed until I have absolutely no choice but to use it. How does 4 inches of a boning knife in my thigh feel? heheh Sometimes you win, sometimes you dim. I chose to dim.

Thanks for the tips.
Shelby
 
Wolfman, Fire Horse, Db1, Squid, SideWinder, Cal223Rem, Sky,

Thanks for listening and stating your opinion openly.
 
Hey Shelby,
I completely understand what you are talking about. Even the most even-tempered of us have a breaking point. I don't see anything wrong with showing your teeth back at an aggressor sometimes. As for the flashing of the knife... It could have been a situation where you prematurely tipped your hand. But then it is all situationally dictated.

No one got hurt... Everyone got home. Some lessons were learned. All in all, a decent resolution to the day.
 
Howdy Shelby-
Which Dimsum place in Brooklyn? I used to work on the corner of Hudson & Canal in Manhattan & went to Chinatown 3-4x per week for lunch. I'm a dimsum fiend. There are a couple of good joints in Flushing as well. BTW- I had a *very* similar incident happen to me on Queens Boulevard. Glad it all worked out.
Regards,
Mike
 
Mike,

There are a couple of places in Brooklyn's Chinatown which starts at about 8th avenue and 62nd street to about 8th and 50th. There is one called Jade Palace which is the first restaurant on the corner of 8th and 62(?) Can't miss it. It is across the street from the huge "Hong Kong Supermarket". The roast pork buns are great. Also, you may want to try the one that I've been to on 6th avenue and 62nd street. I've been going there for the past 10 times or so. Reliable good dimsum.
I haven't tried any on Queens because I always get lost trying to find my way around.
Wow, 3-4X per week. You are a fiend. What's good about Chinese food in Chinatown is that it is cheap, and a lot better/different from the usual take-out joints. No comparison:)
If you like good wonton or congee (rice soup), there is a place called "Big Wong" on Mott Street by Canal.

Take Care,
Shelby
 
nee hao mah Shelby-
Man- I really do miss NYC sometimes! I'm in VA for now- moved a few months ago & am jonesing hard for some good dimsum. I was in NYC for the show in November & went down to Mott & had dinner w/ the "ex"- a place a couple of doors down from Wo Hop if memory serves.
I've been to the Hong Kong supermarket in Bkln a couple of times to pick up goodies- but it's been a while. In Queens- just hit Main St. in Flushing- more Korean than Chinese these days, but you can get a mean bulgoki (Korean BBQ) there if that's your thing.
Take care & Bon Appetit,
Mike
 
Hey Shelby,
This is Rich, remember me ? we met at Paragon and you came by my place on 40 st like a year ago...anyway, funny thing I had some lil hoodllam try and pull a gun on me. He went underneath his shirt to pull out and I lost my mind and "rushed" him (or tried to) them two of my friends and two of his friends got in between us just at that moment. Lucky for him too, he was really slow. Waving his hands..the whole 9 yards of gangsta gesticulation. We did'nt have much distance between us either so it would'nt have been too hard. Funny, I was having a disagreement with my lady friend as well. He was walking by the other side of the street and yells some nonsense at me and of course I then do the same. So he's like "yo what ?! you don't know me" etc, etc, blah, blah. If he really wanted to kill me I'd have been dead as there was alot of space between us at first. Just a little scared sh*t carrying around something alot bigger tan his penis to make him feel like a man, yet afraid to use it...he, he. Since then he never looks at me and stays away from my house, his friends say hello to me now too....what a sucker. Yo, gimme a shout when ya can...Take care, don't let fools who wave knives from cars get to ya, when he gets out of the car is when you then run him over...he,he.....RDT (Rich)
BTW, hello everyone this is my first post in the Strider forum, love Strider's... Great knives
 
Hey Shelby. Personally I don't know how I would have reacted in that situation but I'm glad that it worked out for you, and you too Rich.
Rich we met at the ECCKS last year, I was the guy with the Crawford KFF. I have never been messed with so I guess I'm lucky. I have seen some pretty weird stuff though. A few years back when I was still in high school I was on the B70 on 8th ave. On a red light I looked out a window and I see a spanish guy and a asian guy screaming at each other. The asian guy escalated the situation by shoving the other guy hard. The spanish dude then pulls out a very large claw hammer and starts beating the asian man pretty ruthlessly. At this point a crowd begins to accumulate, and for some reason the bus driver gets out and start beating the guy. Pretty soon 5 or 6 men join him and they start to hit the man with his own hammer. After a couple of minutes the spanish guy breaks aways and runs like a madman. The bus driver then gets back on the bus and continues on route like nothing had happened. I guess if you are going to fight someone, don't do it in his neighborhood.:rolleyes:

Frank Q.
 
Hey guys,
Yeah I remember you fq, wuz up ?!, that's a funny story. Ya know, one side of me hates when stuff like that happens as we all would like peace but man if it ain't funny when an armed man beating a guy who's unarmed gets beat up by a passing bus driver with his own weapon...LOL I'm probably wrong for laughing but...I can't help it. Hey Shelby, I'll give you a shout soon. I assume I'll see the both of you at the Knife show in March ?, hope so. Take care , let's all stay outta trouble (: .....RDT
 
Knife show? Where? When?


fq,

I hear ya man. I hope never to run into a problem like that. The last fight I got into was in the 4th grade.

Shelby
 
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