Spyderco saved my life

[TomyT]

I had to join this forum and say thank you to everyone at spyderco, I have owned 3 spyderco knives in the last 30 years a workhorse Endura, a police model (lost over board while fishing) and my EDC knife a stainless 4 inch Delica partially serrated. I was on vacation in Acapulco last week with my Girl Friend and we were out and about on the main drag late and decided to take a cab back to the hotel. I have been there 4 or 5 times and always stayed at the same hotel, when I noticed the driver make a u turn and head the wrong way,(note: I had heard many stories of cab drivers kidnapping people or turning them over to cartel members so they could ask for ransom) I immediately questioned him and he didn't reply with a rush of Adrenalin I put all my weight on his back forcing him onto the steering wheel making him break hard. Instinctively I had pulled my Delica out opened it and when I saw him trying to reach under the seat I put my knife "blade up" under his armpit while still confining him to the steering wheel, my GF by this time was out of the car screaming for help,I speak Spanish like a native and I told him if continued to struggle and reach for what ever was under the seat I would open up his artery. A bunch of people rushed over to help me many of them were Americans on vacation, they pulled him out of the car and subdued him. The police arrived seconds later. I spoke to the local police and the federal police and when they searched the car they found a machete under the seat and four credit/debit cards belonging to Americans. He was targeting Mexican or latino Americans and doing whats called express kidnapping he would threaten to kill the GF or wife and force the BF or Husband to go to atms and withdraw as much money as they could from their cards. He would then dump them unharmed far from the strip. The reason (rather twisted) he would not kidnap Anglo Americans is because it was bad for tourism and the penalty is much more severe he told the authorities, the ironic part of all this had all the American tourist not stayed to give testimony and to insure our safety I would have been arrested for carrying an illegal weapon 4 inch blade is illegal according to the police so they confiscated my knife and said I could place a formal complaint but that would open me up to charges and to just let thing be as they were. ( in other words don't rattle any cages) The hotel has armed guards and one was assigned to stay outside our room and accompany us around the hotel I was told not to go to town in case of reprisals, a consulate rep had coordinated everything and even arranged transport to the airport. This was overall a bad experience but had it not been for my Delica who knows how things could have ended up. Thank You Spyderco :spyder: I'm going to miss my trusty knife.

Regards,

TomyT

[SpyderNut]

Good gosh, man. Glad to hear you and your GF made it through that ordeal safely. Wow...

[sal]

Hi TomyT,

Welcome to our forum and thanx much for sharing your story. There are some scary places in the world these day, glad you are ok and had the courage and presence of mind to act.

While watching action films and the hero/heroine is in trouble, I find myself saying, "if they only had a Clipit".

sal

[SpeedHoles]

This is scary. My wife is going to travel to Mexico for the first time for a business trip next week. I am not comfortable with it at this point.


Glad to hear you were able to recognize and handle your situation.

[Evil D]

Glad you're OK. This is a big reason I don't really care to travel outside the US.

[SpeedHoles]

Glad you're OK. This is a big reason I don't really care to travel outside the US.

I know Mexico doesn't have a great reputation right now for ease of travel, but, not everything outside the US borders is a horror film!
Bad things happen in our home country as well.
Just last night only a few hours away from me a nut job drove around Kalamazoo and shot 8 people at random, murdering 6, without any clear motive. This is insane.

[Holland]

Welcome to the forums

Thanks for sharing, glad to hear you made it out okay

[Evil D]

Glad you're OK. This is a big reason I don't really care to travel outside the US.

I know Mexico doesn't have a great reputation right now for ease of travel, but, not everything outside the US borders is a horror film!
Bad things happen in our home country as well.
Just last night only a few hours away from me a nut job drove around Kalamazoo and shot 8 people at random, murdering 6, without any clear motive. This is insane.

True, but at least any state I travel to I can legally carry.

[npad69]

glad you and your partner got out safe. i couldnt predict what i would do if faced with a situation like yours especially if my family's life is ib danger. i might have put a spyderco faucet on him as soon as he tries reaching for a weapon. it could have be a gun you know.
you should try vacationing in our place (palawan islands Philippines) sometimes and you need not to worry about incidences like that.
btw, if youre going to buy a replacement, make it 2 and gift the other one to your wife. stay safe.

[Doc Dan]

Another good reason to always have a Delica and the Delica is sized to be an "always" knife.

[mattman]

Crazy story! Thanks for sharing.

You say the restriction was on 4" blades... How did they justify confiscating your knife for length?

[zhyla]

It takes some special kind of gall to take a knife from someone that apprehended a kidnapper. Glad it all worked out.

[JAfromMN]

Awesome story


I always carry a blade


Yoy never know what may happen

[murphjd25]

What a great story, thank you so much for sharing! Glad you two are safe! I have been wanting to pick up a delica 4 for the last few weeks and I think this just reassured I shall buy one. Now I will go talk to my wife :-)

[swigert]

Crazy story. Glad you and the gf are ok. Time to order a new knife!

[Donut]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm glad to hear you are okay.

[Liquid Cobra]

Glad you're OK. This is a big reason I don't really care to travel outside the US.

Really? America ain't the safest place by far, carrying or not. Come to Canada. Plenty safe.

[Evil D]

Glad you're OK. This is a big reason I don't really care to travel outside the US.

Really? America ain't the safest place by far, carrying or not. Come to Canada. Plenty safe.

Are you guys gonna quote me one by one telling me how safe your countries are now? :p

Ok, I exaggerated a bit. There's a ton of places I wanna travel to, but I'd be lying if some foreign policies and things like this incident don't freak me the heck out.

[SpyderNut]

Glad you're OK. This is a big reason I don't really care to travel outside the US.

I know Mexico doesn't have a great reputation right now for ease of travel, but, not everything outside the US borders is a horror film!
Bad things happen in our home country as well.
Just last night only a few hours away from me a nut job drove around Kalamazoo and shot 8 people at random, murdering 6, without any clear motive. This is insane.

I just heard about this too. Very sad news indeed. Kalamazoo, MI is only abut an hour and a half from where I live. Just goes to show that this type of thing can happen in our back yards... Prayers to the families of the victims...

[Dr. Snubnose]

Glad everything turned out good for you.....I love it when the good guys win!!!....Doc:)