One night in the Bronx
Almost two decades ago, I was having fun at my newfound freedom from a very difficult relationship I had endured for a long time. I was celebrating by going out, and staying out late. One night I went to a party I had been invited to at my friend’s house in the South Bronx; there were several other people there that I knew. So I didn’t think much of it.
We ran out of drinks and snacks, so my friend and I decided to go out and get more. I think we were the only ones who were sober, and taking the car was safer.
I drove up, across the street from an open grocery store, and my friend went in; I stayed in the car. Suddenly three guys walked up to the car window and started talking to me. They thought I was driving a cab or something, and I said that I wasn’t. I looked around me (and the car), and across the street, and saw that the group was larger; over a dozen of these people…hoodlum types. After all, it was around 2:30am.
I saw one of them running up to my friend and doing what it seemed to be threatening him with a gun. The other three tried to get into the car. One of them started punching the rear passenger window. I lowered it, so he wouldn’t break it. During an incident like this, one starts thinking in a fuzzy logic kind of way. I figured, “let me roll down the window so he doesn’t break it”; not thinking that he would, as he did, jump in through it.
Immediately, he hit the button an unlocked all the doors. 3 doors flew open, including mine. One guy tried to choke me from the back seat, another jumped onto the front passenger seat, and the other tried to pull me out of the car.
The guy who was trying to pull me out, pulled a gun and pointed it at me; This is when it hit me: I don’t want to give up my car—I must be crazy.
OK, sanity check: my friend is across the street. He has a gun pointed at his head. Is that a police precinct across the street? Well, yes it is. Why haven’t they done anything? Oh look, there are 2 police officers looking out the window…
I screamed at them for help. They did nothing.
Ok, my little 5 second vacation is over, back to reality: I did a front kick at the guy’s hand and his gun went flying. I grabbed him, and smashed his head on the hood of my car. Next, the guy in my passenger seat;
I jumped in the driver’s seat and punched the guy next to me in the face…here comes the guy in the back, trying to choke me again…dammit. I grabbed the guy next to me by his ear, and mustered the most strength I could into one good punch. It landed, but I couldn’t get my hand back. Oh no, too gross! Half of my hand is still stuck inside his face! Oh no, this is not good. I pulled back, and slammed his head against the front headrest.
I got my hand back, but now he is screaming; at least he is not grabbing me.
Oh no, the guy with the gun is back again; trying to pull me out of the car. I slammed the door shut, and locked all the doors. Cool, but now I got his friend still screaming behind me, and his buddy pulling at me, next to me; and they are locked in the car with me. Oh well. I leaned over and head locked the guy next to me. The guy at the window was wearing a music player of some kind around his neck, so I grabbed it, pulled his head through the open window, and kicked him with my left leg.
Back to this guy on my right; he had been reaching for something, and it was a knife. Now with that, I managed to pull it out of his hand, but it fell into the back seat…great. Now screaming guy took it and tried to poke me with it. I’m really squeamish with things like that, especially because it was all gory and it even looked rusty. Here comes the guy at my window again. I pulled the same move, pulling his head through the window, and palm upside his nose. I leaned to my left, and punched the guy in the back seat, in what now was a pool of blood on the right side of his face. I kicked the guy in the front passenger seat in the face. I didn’t think he could recover from this.
Finally, I step out of the car, under my own accord. I open the back seat and shoved the guy out of my car, and kick him one more time in the face to remind him of his pain. Now his friend comes back, and his wants to fight me. All the while, they have a cheering squad on the sidewalk, and the fear sinks in. If I defeat this guy, there are replacements on the sidelines. So I square off with him, but I start moving to the right side of the car where the other guy is stunned in the front seat. I open the door, shove the other guy out, and lock the door. Ok, no one in my car.
I make a run for it, turned on the car, drive off, then I think… my friend.
I turned around.
I don’t see my friend. The crowd runs when I point the car at them and speed up. I stop to look for my friend.
The first guy is back with his damned gun. Here we go again. I step out the car, and obviously the guy has short term memory problems; he keeps falling for the same thing. I kick his gun so hard my shoes got lost, along with his gun. I wailed on him until a police officer pulled me off him.
The officer sits me down and apologizes to me. He said they only had 2 people in the station house at the time, and they couldn’t abandon the station. I thought that I had been fighting for hours. It had only been minutes. I catch my breath. I assess my damage. I cracked my head on the car’s doorframe, and my left hand is broken in several parts. The damage is permanent. Oh yes, my friend; he was in on this. He had tried to buy the car from me, but I loved that car, and did not want to get rid of it. I put 2 years of work into it. So he decided to get a few guys and get it stolen from me. I don’t have a criminal record nor am I a criminal. I just did not realize these people were criminals, as they used to hang around with people of good character.
The police grabbed the 3 guys who assaulted me, the rest got away. I had to appear in court and answer to a grand jury inquiry. The 3 accused had stated that I tried to scam them, by passing off as an illegal cab driver. I was questioned on my ability to fight off 3 males, obviously stronger, taller and visually more capable (I am 5’4 and was 130#), as well as why I had used excessive force. Although I could’ve handed them the car, I did not. I had gotten away, but I came back. The 2 officers served as my witness. They stated that although It was obvious I had fought for my life, I was in complete control of the situation, and was responding to each attack with equal force.
The 3 guys were a mess. The guy in the back seat had to get reconstructive plastic surgery to fix his face. The other one in my passenger seat had several of his spinal disk herniated and dislocated; the guy in front of me, suffered 6 broken ribs and a broken nose. They were found to be under the influence of drugs, by the authorities. They did not feel a single one of my blows. (Until the day after, of course).
My “friend” moved the day after, while I was in the hospital. The 3 guys were charged with assault, with intent to murder a peace officer. My legal handgun was stashed under the driver’s seat all the while this had occurred.
Would I have done anything differently? Ok, aside from picking better friends, yes. I could have done several things, but at that moment, time was distorted, my mind was on my friend, the police watching, and my resolution of not losing my car. Everyday I look at myself, I see the physical scars of that night, and every time I talk about self-defense, I relate this incident.
