When I walked into the Northern the young woman was standing before the office counter. She still held the knife in her right hand but it was partially in her jacket pocket, still visible and ready to use. Fortunately for me she was fixed on the staff behind the counter, who were standing well back. I walked up to her with out her noticing and grabbed her at the wrist, sending the knife skittering across the floor.
All's well that ends well, and this ended well, no one hurt and the young woman being confronted for her actions (which apparently is the best way of dealing with a personality disorder, who'd a thought). On the scale of danger it ended up at the lower end, but could have been worse had her attention been on me. I did after all go unarmed to a knife fight.
Calls to General stores often give me the heebie-jeebies. Mostly because there are rifles and ammuntion in them. An example of one that is markedly more dangerous happened to one of my Corporals when he was just out of training. At that time the Hudson's Bay Co store was right next to the street in La Ronge, with a set of stairs leading to the front door. T.O.'s and his partner responded to a complaint of a Break In at the store. When his partner ran up the stairs to the front door the guy that had broke in fired a rifle at him. The bullet, headed straight for his chest, struck the panic bar on the door and was deflected up past his face. I understand that he took that bar that saved his life and kept it on his mantle.
Knives can be very dangerous, especially in close quarters. One training film I remember stated that you needed 7 feet seperation in order to prevent a knife attack with an unholstered sidearm, and over 25 feet if your gun was in its holster. The story above was one of at least three knife incidents I had within about a years time.
The first was more innocuous. Again it involved someone with mental health issues and a knife threatening people. In this case it was a young man, paranoid schizophrenic, who was threatening his parents and siblings in their home. By the time we got there we found him seated in a chair, holding the knife and I proceeded to talk to him, calm him and convince him that it was in his best interests to hand me the knife and come with us. Never underestimate the power of patience and calm talk. The most powerful muscle in the human body is the tongue.
The other knife incident can wait, for there were also three standoffs (for lack of a better phrase) with rifles in the same time frame. One of which I've already written about, and really apart from being a target I didn't do anything of note. A short time later, we had another standoff, and though there were no shots being fired this one had as much potential to end badly.
Comments
3 responses
Kia ora Clare,
Your tales are always fascinating to read. I am glad you find the use of patience and persuasion ahead of all guns blazing, and I am sure looking back these people who need help probably do as well. Cheers Clare.
Ka kite ano,
Robb
Scary stuff. I did not know the rules for the gun and knife distances. You have very interesting stories to tell.
Thanks Robb.
The thing with the distances are not rules kat, but results of studies to see how much distance is needed to protect oneself. It is amazing to think that someone within 25 feet can close the distance and attack quicker than a trained person can unholster and shoot.