Under siege - The Options

[golok]

I have been told that if a person is surrounded by three or four guys who are in the process of robbing him, he has basically three options:

Option 1: Give them what they want.
Option 2: Run for your life.
Option 3: Weigh your chances and take down the leader as quickly as possible.

While Option 3 may be deemed a foolhardy thing to do, recently a news item related a true tale of a teenager who was robbed but decided shortly afterwards that he wanted his money back.

To cut the story short, the leader of the muggers went for him with a stick. Somehow during the meelee, the youngster grabbed the stick and gave the leader quite a beating and his two accomplices bolted.

The leader is now recovering in hospital with a busted head. The youngster received nothing but praise from local cops.

Now, the question is: What are a guy's chances of knocking down the leader of a bunch of undesirables (while in a state of rage)?

 

[Clayton]

thats cool and all, but you'll find if you attack 1 person you can expect the rest to come at you. it really depends on the group. you can really do some damage to the main agressor and the group might say damb i want none of that. or holy sh1t he's beating on joe, get him.
in a confrontation always take it to the head guy, in a fight pick where ya wanna be, if i move closer to bad guy A he has a bat. he'll attack first because of the distance. take bat, have batting practice with bad guys B & c. or leave quickly

 

[Bandit]

In aikido we always practiced with 3 or more people against you. All in all I would say that it depended on the situation. Guns, knives, clubs, or the size of the guys and what them and you are wearing. As I told one of my students the other day when he asked, "Why do you carry a gun and knife if you are so good at fighting?" My response was, "As much as I train and prepare, I am not always ready to fight, If I am sick, wearing a suit that I can barely move in, or just desperatley need to use the bathroom, I am not always ready to fight". All martial arts offers a person is an extra option, just a little bit of an edge. I have been very thankful for my training many times over the years, as well as being very glad that I had my gun on me at a particular moment.

In case it appears that I have come completely off topic, just pity me, as I cancelled practice today and am staying home from work, while throwing up occasionally.

 

[kh21106]

The leader does not really have to be the first target. Whoever is closest might be the best tactical move for you. I think the situation will dictate which target is best (first).

 

[raptor_prime]

Ideally you want to take out the leader, but as KH said, you take out whoever is the greatest threat to you. The leader might even back down before you touch him if you take out one or two of his cronies.

 

[DaJonesMan]

It would really depend on the situation. I probably wouldn't try to take three raging crackheads on by myself, but if they were just doing it as some sort of thrill or joke, I might go after the leader. A whole bunch of factors would probably influence my decision.

I would try not to run if I could help it though, because I'm not that fast, and it would really suck to get run down by three pissed off muggers.

 

[maury]

There's no way to sit here and "armchaire quaterback" this kind of situation. As a martial arts student of 16 years, the best I can advise is to be prepared to survive. If that means tossing the rolex on the ground and running for it, so be it. If on the othe hand, you have to fight, you want to hurt your opponent(s) before he(they) hurt you and hurt 'em worse. If there is a weapon at hand, be prepared to use it, and use it first.