PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - If you caught a thief red-handed..

pj67coll · #14 05-17-2003, 02:31 AM

Interesting post. Because I was involved in such an incident back home in South African some years ago before moving to the US. And I have to say I have precious little tolerance for criminial rights in the manner in which it's taken to lunatic extremes in California etc...

All told in my immediate family we had five radios' stolen from four cars and two cars themselves stolen and one attempted car theft.

In the particular instance I'm thinking of when I surprised a burglar I returned home from work one Saturday morning at 01:30 and as I turned into the garage my 116's headlights revealed an individual walking out of my garage with a bunch of tools in his hands. Obviously small time and probably way more surprised than me. Must have thought everyone was safely asleep by that time...

I jumped out of my car and he threw the tools at me. The drivers door of the S-class made for a decent piece of armor plate as sundry hammers and implements sailed in my direction. I chased him down our driveway, it was a long driveway as the property was over an acre in size but it seemed to me he was not moving nearly as fast as someone caught in the act should have been. In fact he was barely moving.

I realised I was not the type to engage in a fistfight with a criminal and also knew that attemtping to arrest him was a useless exercise in futility the crime situation being what it was. And yet I couldn't see letting him get away without a lesson being learned. So I fired two shots into the lawn just a few yards in front of me and he took off like a bat out of hell. It was quite funny really.

Except later that day my mother discovered a knife lying in exactly the location he'd been at when I fired, along with a disgustingly greasy pair of sunglasses. Obviously the bastard had been pulling his knife out of his jeans pocket, and his glasses came with it, and he dropped them in shock when I fired.

A rather nice example of an arms race working out very much in my favour I think. It was quite a nice knife too with a folding blade made in Solingen Germany. A chemist friend of mine gave it a good sonic bath and I kept if for some years after that.

Interestingly the police back home used to unoficially provide the following advice to people. If there is an intruder in your home the only thing you need to do is ensure you kill them with shots to the front. That way it's your word against a dead criminals and if they are shot in the front it can easily be interpreted as self defence. Of course that would only apply if the individual was facing you or moving towards you. It did not apply in my case where the criminial was moving away, although had I approached any further and had he tried anything with the knife it could have been very different.

Fate hinges on such split second decisions.

- Peter.