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Witnessed an attempted robbery at Walmart


Mom in High Heels
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So, I witnessed an attempted robbery in the Walmart parking lot tonight. I was putting my cart in the corral (novel, I know), when a guy tried to grab the phone out of a woman's hand (she was headed toward me). She spun around and clocked him with her purse, and managed to trip him (sheer luck, I think). He went face first onto the pavement and she SAT on him, calling him some very colorful names, until the security guards got him. They asked me and the other 3 people who had seen it to wait to give statements to the police. They guy (a young kid, really) was screaming about how he bumped into her on accident (somehow managing to grab her phone) and that she had broken his nose. He was bleeding rather profusely, and she was a rather...rotund woman, so that's entirely possible. I gave my statement and left, but not before grabbing a KitKat bar on my way out the door.  

 

On a related note, I discovered that a KitKat is the perfect thing to eat while listening to Rachmaninoff.  If you feel like conducting (and who doesn't?), you have a little baton of deliciousness in your hand.

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I think being sat on is only fair after giving someone a scare like that.  Good for her. 

 

Yep.  I was just such a bazaar thing to see someone just sit down on another person.  He was kicking and screaming.  It has been raining here like mad for 3 days, so every thing is just drenched, and when the guards got her and the guy up, they were both soaked.  It had stopped raining just as I walked out of the store to head to my car, so it was really wet, and with all the rain we've had, there were just puddles everywhere.  The manager brought blankets to wrap them both in.  

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Yep. I was just such a bazaar thing to see someone just sit down on another person. He was kicking and screaming. It has been raining here like mad for 3 days, so every thing is just drenched, and when the guards got her and the guy up, they were both soaked. It had stopped raining just as I walked out of the store to head to my car, so it was really wet, and with all the rain we've had, there were just puddles everywhere. The manager brought blankets to wrap them both in.

This is such a great story. I just love the visual of her sitting on him.
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She sat on him, while waiting for the police! :hurray: I think that is so cool!

 

(BTW, I'm glad you are okay. When I saw the thread title, I imagined an armed robbery...because, well, you are in America now...and guns scare me. Anyway, glad that this wasn't scary, but funny instead.)

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I think being sat on is only fair after giving someone a scare like that.  Good for her. 

 

I agree.  Yay to the lady who thought fast.  I'd probably be too stunned to think of what to do. 

 

Once someone attempted to steal my dad's VW bug (back when you could hot wire and jump a manual car).    My dad went from a dead sleep, to putting on his pants and running after them (the car was already rolling down the hill), hopped into the front seat, and sat on the "driver" while my mom called the cops.  My dad is 6'7" and barely fit into the bug as it was so they must have looked like quite the pair when the cops arrived.  

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Oh my!  So, did the cops buy his story?

 

I'm pretty sure they didn't with 4 eye witnesses, plus the woman.  It's kind of difficult to swallow that he accidentally grabbed her phone and tried to pull it out of her hand by bumping into her.  I didn't stick around to see if it was on a security camera though (they have those in the parking lot, don't they?).

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I think being sat on is only fair after giving someone a scare like that.  Good for her.

 

Absolutely!!!

 

And I think it's great that if anyone ended up being scared, it was probably the little weasel who tried to rob the woman. I'm sure he wasn't expecting her to hit him, knock him down, and sit on him.

 

Good for her!!! :hurray:

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The idea of the robber saying it was an accident reminds me of the time I accidentally stole a strangers car.  When I realized it I was sweating bullets expecting to be caught at any moment.

 

I was 17 or 18. I drove my nephew to skiing lessons and got his stuff out of the car and walked him up to the place. Then I went back to my car hopped in and drove away. I then noticed someone stole the fancy floor mats my brother had given me. Then I looked in the back seat of my little car and noticed someone had cleaned it up.   :huh:

 

Then I realized I was in the wrong car. It was a different small grey Chevy Sprint. I was 10 minutes away from the ski slope in a stranger's car.

 

I drove back, parked the car and then quickly dashed back to my car and drove away. 

 

Yes, my key worked just well in both cars. 

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The idea of the robber saying it was an accident reminds me of the time I accidentally stole a strangers car.  When I realized it I was sweating bullets expecting to be caught at any moment.

 

I was 17 or 18. I drove my nephew to skiing lessons and got his stuff out of the car and walked him up to the place. Then I went back to my car hopped in and drove away. I then noticed someone stole the fancy floor mats my brother had given me. Then I looked in the back seat of my little car and noticed someone had cleaned it up.   :huh:

 

Then I realized I was in the wrong car. It was a different small grey Chevy Sprint. I was 10 minutes away from the ski slope in a stranger's car.

 

I drove back, parked the car and then quickly dashed back to my car and drove away. 

 

Yes, my key worked just well in both cars. 

This happened to my mom when she owned a Saturn! It was one of those 90's teal Saturn sedans, and we were at the mall, at night, and we unlocked and climbed into a car that we thought was ours, noticed immediately the smell of tobacco (nobody in my family smokes), and realized we were in the wrong car! We were parked just one aisle over.

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So how long did it take the security guards to come?  Were they watching the cameras so they zipped right out?  Or was there a lag?  

 

I don't think it took long, but it was so surreal I don't know that I had a concept of time.  One of the other witnesses, who was closer to the store, ran inside and yelled for the guards.  There's always been one near the front of the store from my experience, so it didn't take that long.  I know a second came out just after the first.  Two of the witnesses were guys, and they tried to get the woman up and take hold of the kid until the guards came, but she refused and said she was going to sit there, until the police showed up.  The guards, convinced her that they could handle him once they got there, so she relented and got up.  

 

I hope you bought her a KitKat too! Good for her!

 

I should have!

 

One of the many reasons that, unless I'm making a phone call or an urgent text, I don't like to have my cell out in public

 

This!  I also keeps me from being situationally aware, so I don't use it in parking lots, parking garages, or unfamiliar areas.  I have used it at the mall and grocery store, which I probably shouldn't.

 

 

Julie Smith, that is hilarious!  I would have freaked out too!  I wouldn't mind though if someone cleaned my car out.

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Julie Smith, that is hilarious!  I would have freaked out too!  I wouldn't mind though if someone cleaned my car out.

 

 

It did freak me out. I was half expecting angry people waiting to yell at me and secutiry and cops when I drove back into the parking lot. 

 

That's actually pretty typical to have a key work in several cars of the same model.   But it's still a pretty hilarious story about driving off in the wrong car!

 

I know that now. :) But still I could find it hard to believe - I didn't mean to get into that car and drive away. It was an accident - Really!

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This story is priceless! Coupled with "little baton of deliciousness," this post is A+.

 

In other news, Good Morning America reported today that the official list of best candy bars ever was out and topping the list...Kit Kat! The reason it's #1... It was the first candy bar ever to "promote sharing."

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Ok, I just can't resist jumping into the discussion here. That lady is my hero and we should buy her a CASE of kit kats! Maybe a lifetime supply. If that young man escaped with just a bloody or even broken nose, he should consider himself blessed.

 

I am a self-defense instructor with advanced experience in multiple disciplines. I primarily train in and teach Krav Maga. There is no time for delay in any attack situation. You need to respond immediately. Any delay - even seconds - might mean your life.

 

This woman's quickness to react is likely WHY this situation didn't escalate. She (or anyone else) had no way of knowing if that guy had a gun or knife on him. If I had taken him down and had him under control, there is not a chance I would've moved until the police had him in cuffs. So she also did the right thing by not getting up and letting the guys hold him. This story is indeed funny to visualize...but it could have been deadly for this woman if she had not acted so quickly and he pulled a knife on her.

 

I am so passionate about the need to be situationally aware. If you are busy talking on the phone or texting while walking through parking lots, please be aware that you are basically holding up a sign in front of you that says "please attack me!" The phone thing is just one of so many examples I see every day of people not paying attention. Attacks happen everywhere, even in the "safest" of neighborhoods. You don't have to be paranoid; but you do have to be cautious and careful. And, of course, you better know what to do if you get attacked.

 

I wish there was some way I could conduct a live workshop for all you wonderful WTM people out there. I guess the best I can do is say train yourself to defend yourself. And please don't fool yourself by thinking that carrying a concealed weapon in public is a substitute for knowing how to defend yourself with your own hands and body. I train with law enforcement officers and folks who train SWAT teams and Special Ops forces. They will tell you (and can show you!) that unless you are extremely and highly trained, and you practice almost daily, you will not have time to pull that weapon to defend yourself. I have seen live stress exercises with these highly skilled people participating...and sometimes even they can't get it out in time to use it with one or more attackers coming at them.

 

Please be alert, aware and get home safe.

 

Stepping down from my soapbox now. :001_smile:

 

 

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I am a self-defense instructor with advanced experience in multiple disciplines. I primarily train in and teach Krav Maga. There is no time for delay in any attack situation. You need to respond immediately. Any delay - even seconds - might mean your life.

 

Thanks for the tip!  Would you say KM is a good method for women's self-defense?  I googled it and turns out there are locations in our area doing this who are doing women's self-defense classes.  I've told my dd I want her to take a self-defense course before I ever put her on a college campus.  One place offers a free 1 hour monthly class.  Is that actually going to accomplish anything, or is it going to be a promo to sign up for regular classes?

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