Recently a man was attacked in a bus in London. Parts of the attack were captured by camera. How would Mappers have dealt with the situation? http://www.lse.co.uk/News.asp?story=MK229614E&news_headline=terrifying_pictures_of_knife_attack
As bad as I would want to go over and destroy the idiot who was attacking, I think I would first make sure everyone else was safe (including myself). Not knowing anything about the attacker except that he has a knife and isn't afraid to use it, I would try my best to exclude myself from being another victim. This is a tough one, because all my instincts say to do is to tackle the punk and beat him into oblivion after snapping his knife-holding-arm like a twig.
I like Justins idea. He standing, your sitting, on a moving bus, he's not too stable. Knock him down, pound the crap out of him. Send whats left to the police or just throw him off the MOVING bus.
I would have joined the people swiftly exiting the bus, however I would have also called the police at the same time.
No you cant watch. Just read. Id be tempted to intervene too, but only if my wife and daughter were not on the bus. I wouldnt want it to go wrong and them see me die. If they were there, Id follow the attacker off the bus (at a safe distance) while on the phone to police and report where I was, and where we were going......
Then Id be putting my feet to good use, i.e. in his knee caps. And aiming to trap the knife hand, or throw punch after punch at his face to make him defensive rather than attacking, and hope to overwhelm him. Hard to put myself in those shoes.
If it was before being stabbed, I don’t think I would try and do anything, just be ready to react as it came, or if I had a very long time to react I would take my belt off and try and get either the eyes or the knife hand/fingers with the buckle, if he closed very quickly, I would drop the belt and revert to reacting. If I had already been stabbed, firstly I think I would start bleeding. Then, depending on how alive I felt, I would either revert to reacting, as viciously as I could, play dead, or die. But, I had a friend who got stabbed by an armed gang, 6 times in the chest and back, he said he could not feel anything and walked to a phone booth to call himself an ambulance, this sort of development may also be relevant to the reaction. This is all speculative though, never been attacked with a knife, nor stabbed. Thus, maybe I would just panic and jump out the window, or attack the guy, don't really know.
If I felt I could stop the attacker, especially if I were behind him, I'd do my best to do so as efficiently as possible. If I didn't think I could I'd run but call the police. If I were the one being attacked, well, that's what all those years of Silat are supposed to be for.
I'd assumed the knife had already come out. If it hadn't your approach is the prudent one. If he's already taken the phone and turned his back you may have left the world of self defense and entered into felonious assault if you put the choke on him when he's no longer an immediate threat.
The answer might be different in a number of places in the US. If he’s attacking someone else, close range from a low point double tap (handgun) to center mass. If he’s attacking me, kick low to create space then double tap. May be throw the phone at him to distract him and create distance also. I carried a pocketknife so if that were all I had it would end up in one of those very rare real knife fights. It all comes down to just doing the best you can and hope your training will carry you through.
We learn to fight multiple opponents, one with a knife, at the Kwoon I go to. So I would be able, and willing, to disarm him. However by making a move on the thug I might endanger the other passengers on the bus. I'd pray he got close to me so I could take him down, but I wouldn't move at him unless another passenger was fighting with him or something. Then I'd be compelled to disarm him before that passenger is harmed. I only saw the one small [and pathetic] picture at that link, though, and I didn't read the article.
Then he'd be focused on me, and I'd hope he had no hostage. I'd at least make him bleed. If he still wants to fight when I have the knife I'd knock him out, of course I'd most likely do that anyway because there's always the chance of him getting up before the police arrive.
I don't think that a lot of you understand the situation. You have an armed pyschopath, whose attacks are likely random and unrefined. To make the situation harder, it was in a confined space. The only advantage you would have is if you were sitting behind him with his back turned. Otherwise he is going to see you get up and he could grab a hostage or just stick you. So you want to attack him? That's natural basic instinct. See that single mother of three sitting 2 seats in front of him? See the son, sitting across from him, going home to his parents? What if he kills you in the process? Still think it's good to just attack head on? Also take into consideration that in a knife fight, YOU WILL GET CUT AND/OR STABBED. It just not as simple as "I'll do X, then break his X and pound the crap out of him."
