A REAL "real street situation"

[anerlich]

Described by a student in our latest school newsletter:

On a Sunday Afternoon, a friend & I were walking into the back of Darling Harbour near the Powerhouse Museum, when we were approached by about 10-12 teenagers asking us for some spare change. I sensed that something wasn't right & replied to them with a "No, sorry mate, I haven't got any" and continued to walk away. Then the guy that all the other's were following yelled out "Don't F***ing lie to me & empty your pockets now!" I could see my mate starting to reach into his pockets so I grabbed him & kept walking. Then they came after us & started pushing and grabbing us while we still tried to walk away. One of the guys demanded my watch and when I refused again he came running at me throwing punches then another guy started to hit me too ( he was the one giving orders to the others). I stepped back & started to use the defensive style "fence/guard" that Sifu teaches us to use in street style combat. By that stage I had more guys trying to attack me & around 4 grabbed my friend and began hitting into him.
At first I threw a bad punch & then took hold of the situation & continued to fight with Wing Chun style blocks and more boxing style punches that I have been taught. I continued fighting & I was punched, kicked & jump kicked to the back of the head while still trying to defend myself. I eventually found who I thought was the leader of the group & started hitting into him for a while until he was on the ground holding his head, then I continued fighting off the others.

My mate had already made his way to the middle of the road bleeding from the mouth & nose and other marks from the beating he took.

All the time this was happening people across the road were watching or continued to walk away including the security guard's at the museum & not one of them tried to help us or do anything. We asked a couple of adults if it was alright if we walked with them for a bit as we thought that walking with adults would prevent anything else happening, however they refused. We finally went over to the Security guards at the Museum & they were laughing & congratulated us on beating them & how the others walked away worse off & didn't take any off our belongings. When I turned back to see if the group had gone I saw some of them limping off holding their head & arms.

I had no idea that put in the situation of a group attack how I would defend myself but I am pleased to say that everything I have been learning at Wing Chun worked in a street combat situation, leaving me unharmed and in possession of belongings.

How would you have dealt with this situation? Any sensible comments?

[yuanfen]

I am glad the student made effective use of what he had learned.
Shameful that the security guards did nothing.
This kind of thing can happen in some places in the US specially some select urban areas-but somehow I thought Australia was a more gentle place.
Things change, I know.

[TkdWarrior]

hmm australia is sure safest place in the world at this moment(read that in newspaper, NZ is third safest)
anyways getting back to post...
first thing it's good that the person used his style to save himself..
in those kind of situation there r some things which can be done...
1. never stay put
2. hit, hit hard, hit fast and make sure it connects
3. demobilise ur oppnt.(this can be no 2 if u r **** good)
3a. u can even get hold one of attacker and throw on another to save time for urself..
4. follow 1 - 3 untill u r done...

or 1a. Run

then remember the consequences... they might come up again to take revenge and this time they'll be much prepared...well that doesn't mean that u hav to always be fearful of that...but u can't ignore it...

-TkdWarrior-

[couch]

Phone the security guard company to thank the rent-a-cops for all their help.

[anerlich]

I had the enormous misfortune to do some IT work for a couple of security companies. They both went into administration owing my boss and me a couple hundred grand. Many are run by crooks and morons and employ their own kind. I know a couple of guys who are highly professional (one is my si-hing), but they are far from the norm.

That said, a security guard is not a cop. He's paid to protect or control access to a particular venue, not to intervene in fights on public property. Most of them get paid peanuts (due to the general low standard of employee) and risking a trip to hospital or an assault/GBH rap for award wage is arguably stupid.

That said, I think it's pretty poor that neither they nor anybody else tried to help these guys or break up the fight. I'd be calling their employer to complain as well, though their employer is unlikely to give a stuff as long as their bills get paid.

Australia is pretty safe. But we've had our share of recent outback abduction/murder (Peter Falconio), a teenage gang sentenced for long periods (up to 50(?) years) for a series of apparently racially motivated pack rapes, serial killers (Snowtown), a woman who stabbed her defacto in traffic on an expressway and drive-by shootings. While we don't have the American gun culture and shooting statistics and the same sort of problems with crack cocaine, large cities in Oz have the same problems as in any other country.

BTW, don't jump to the conclusion I'm anti-gun from the above. But it is a lot harder to legally own, let alone carry, a gun for self defense here than it is in a lot of other places.

[burnsypoo]

yea,with those haircuts I'd be tempted to throw a punch or two at them myself.

[S.Teebas]

Hey Red,

This guy isnt WT, and i believe the story becasue i got jumped around that same area a few years back by a group of 10 or so teenagers...wouldnt be surprised if its the same group!

[tparkerkfo]

Whoa, this was an interesting post until the last couple. red5angel, that comment seemed a little odd. Knowing Andrew a little, it aint WT. But it don't matter. I hope to see red5angel when and if he makes it out to SF to meet Ken.

Andrew,

You asked how I would deal with this situation. Well, let me relay a little bit of recent news here in the states. A couple days ago a guy was walking down the street, not sure which city, and had an egg thrown at him. So the guy went back and accosted the kids. The kids ranged in age with the youngest around 10. Not sure the oldest, but I think it was around 16 or so, no one too old. The man was about 25-30 or so. The kids got mad and ended up getting several more friends. Now this is were it gets a bit creepy. They chased the guy down the road while collecting weapons such as bats, tree limbs, rakes, a milk crate, etc. The guy runs upto a house banging on the door asking for help. He enters the house. The kids break into the house by knocking the door open and crawling through windows. They dragged the guy outside and beat him. He died. Luckily most of the kids were caught and many will be tried as adults. True Story that happend this week.

I would now take a gang of kids much more serious than before. Cant really answer what I would do, but I would imagine I would do something similar. Were the guys accosted grown adults or young adults?
________
BLOWJOB SEX

[anerlich]

red5angel,

No, we are not WT. As TWC, we are not exactly Emin fans.

This was two average guys who got set upon by a mob. They didn't claim to lay waste to the entire group, They just managed to survive without *serious* injury, which should be seen as a plus. I didn't put it up as an example of the invincibility of my system or as proof that it was better than Carl's or anyone else's. It was an event that actually occured that I thought we might get a serious discussion going on.


Tom, welcome aboard.

[anerlich]

Tom, the guy who wrote the story is in his early 20's.

I find it incredible that anyone seeing this post can construe it as me promoting my system, let alone trying to turn into a count of streetfights won.

I think the story shows that nobody "wins" a street encounter. Winning can hurt nearly as bad as losing. The guy fellt his training gave him some edge and tools to survive. I would hope most people would take that as some sort of solace that what they are doing is worthwhile, whoever their teacher and whatever their lineage.

I'ts interesting and somewhat disappointing to see who did a "me too!" on r5a's brainf*rt.

Unfortunately young males do hunt in packs. A group of young guys terrorised young girls in Western Sydney recently, enticing them into cars or grabbing them off the street and then driving away to pack rape them repeatedly. They got pretty heavy sentences, between 10 and 50 years.

[Cashier Graham]

anerlichs friend obviously got a good beating but as I read somewhere today it's wrong to fight but to lose a fight over principles you deem honourable is worse and anerlichs friend didn't lose he stuck it out everyone walked away worse for wear but walking.
One incident that happened to one of my sisters friends(not a MA) as he was walking trough a park with his girlfriend two lads and lassies came up causing trouble. The girls started purshing his girlfriend around and he was trying to break it up when he got hit by one of the lads he turned to retaliate when one of the girls cracked him over the head with a bottle. He got up after a bit trying to get to his girlfriend who continued to take abuse he managed to grab her a pull her underneath him where he stayed taking his and her beating until they left. Not a nice story but what impressed me is he didn't try to fight he had one goal to protect his girlfriend no matter what and I consider that a big victory in a small defeat.
It's always weird to hear of stories where people are in distress but nobody helps when they come across the scene, but this is apparently normal human behavour people notice that no-one else is helping so they follow suit, I guess as a MA we're told to use our skills to help the weak so if we were to come across a situation of that nature we'd would have to force ourselves to rise above our instincts and jump in there and take a few bruises for a total stranger.

[kj]

Cashier, you make some good points. You remind me that winning a battle and winning a war are not always one and the same.

Regards,
- Kathy Jo

[reneritchie]

Anerlich - glad your classmate survived, that's always the important thing.

red5angle - stop trolling

RR

[glenn richards]

i am very much a lurker but having read red5's comment about a legitimate and frightening encounter ( i live in the area and can vouch for the problems there) it never ceases to amaze me how truly stupid people some people can be.
regards
ghr

[Sandman2[Wing Chun]]

Personally, I consider myself pretty lucky. The few "real life" encounters I've had were never with more than two individuals at once. Even with the skills I have, the idea of having to deal with a larger group of opponents is frightening, and I would certainly flee if at all possible.

As such, and since you brought this up to us, how does your school train to deal with such encounters, Anerlich? Everyone else? Any specific scenarios/drills/etc.. that you use?