Knife to the back

[Shisio]

If your attacker isn't holding you why not just bolt? Or am I to assume that this situation is occuring in closed quarters?

[yenhoi]

dnc101 and others:

on "..A likely scenario is that, whatever his motive, he wants to remove you to a secluded spot to carry out his plan. Sooner or later he will have to let go of the grab to accomplish anything. At what point do you want to resist? Depending on how he grabed me/how much control he has, I might opt to risk the cut before he gets me isolated. Tough call.

If it is just a shoulder grab, I think I migt attack the grab while moving for position and either escaping or moving in to attack. That might be worth playing around with a little.

If his arm is around your neck and the knife at your back, you are in trouble. As you said, he has your ballance, as well as a deadly hold and a weapon. Unless you think he's going to kill you any way, it may be best to wait until he lets go or makes a mistake."


former castleva mentions reacting instantly, that is a skillful and good idea -- to the knife and the grab, either or could also be being used or present to gain reaction, to either the grab or the knife - also something we cant really fathom, because it depends on who is trying to grab you and threaten you with a knife...

dnc101 goes to the root, which more impacts this scenario since we are really speaking about on the street self-defense: the guy is grabbing you and threatening you with a knife from behind, he is not trying to kill you (yet?!?). This aspect alone could give you the time you need to take in the situation, figure out what to do, and then execute against your attacker. If you and him have to move - go somewhere, whatnot, then there is a whole new set of things for you to work with to forge your escape - once the move is on he most likely** must give you most of your balance, allowing that he maintains his hold (which is really what you must defeat) he can still monitior you, but you can still monitor him.

**it is very possible to move someone who has no balance. Pain compliance is one, pure strength is another, Im sure there are other just as obvious ways - however, moving someone without balance might not be so easy if you dont want other people around you noticing you doing this, or your knife....

So not only do you get some of your balance back, both yours and his are now moving, shifting, slopping around, and you have some new windows to defeat your mans hold (or use it against him - read: depending on the hold, throw), defeat your mans knife, and possible even defeat your man. This is something we can maybe play around with, dnc101, concerning your attacking the grab.

Someone has already introduced the absolute worst case - your attacked from behind, grabbed, your balance stolen, your senses somehow otherwise attacked (hand over eyes, slap to ears, blow kidneys...), head twisted, even possibly a choke applied, and worst of all, a very sharp knife pressed through your clothing far enough you can feel the cold (or warmth) of the blade on your skin, just about the right positioning to be shoved into your kidneys, lungs, or bladder...... If this man knows to do this much, and has the will to kill you if you resist, then you will die.

There is also the possibility that he doesnt want to move you somewhere, he only wants to keep you where you are for the time being, alive, seemingly.

[dnc101]

Shisio, see #15 in my original post.

Jointlock, like I said, you have a lot of options inside. The bad thing about being inside is you have to deal with his other hand. I don't worry too much about a punch since I'm taking his ballance. But if he grabs me he is working on my ballance and it gives him leverage to do something with the knife hand. If I screw it up and end up inside the technique still works. But I definately prefer outside.

Yenhoi, good points.

One of the guys I was working on this with is going to use it as one of his 5 self defense techniques for his black belt test.

[jointlock]

Originally posted by dnc101
Jointlock, like I said, you have a lot of options inside. The bad thing about being inside is you have to deal with his other hand.

Good point, I also prefer to operate on the outside for the same reason.

[Shisio]

I always liked the idea of attacking your knifer in mid sentence- "You can ha-" then spinning around, trapping the knife and hitting from the outside (if your lucky and don't mess up). Then pummeling the crap outgha him while disarming or controlling the blade.