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I posted this on BF's Prac/Tac board, but some folk may only see it here. Sadly, when the force continuum is not understood tragedy awaits.



Two men in their mid-fifties get into a freeway 'road rage' altercation. After exiting the freeway, they stop at a stoplight. Bell, 52, is in the rearmost vehicle, exits his pick-up truck and approachs Mann, 53, who is in the forward car. Mann exits his car, and both men meet between the stopped cars. A verbal argument begins, Mann takes a swing at Bell and misses; Bell then draws a non-permited handgun and shoots Mann to death.



Both Men had family members in their vehicles, who witnessed the events. Neither men had a previous criminal history.



Bell was charged with voluntary manslaughter and related weapons charges and posted a $25,000 bail bond. This incident occured two weeks ago.



Yesterday, Bell drives to the very spot of the incident and shoots himself in the head.



http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local01_20010521.html



What lessons might we draw from these tragic events?



Setting aside for the moment, the ridiculous actions of both men regarding the traffic beef; there are some salient conclusions to draw.



1. Bell was armed, yet he did not prepare himself for the realties of a street confrontation. He had no contingency for non-lethal or less-than-lethal defense. His response when swung upon, was to draw and fire a lethal weapon. More importantly, his mental preparation in using lethal force was sorely lacking. The gravity of taking a life was so great, than it drove him to a guilt based ritual suicide.



2. We often envision Bad Guys as evil incarnate, and some are, others just act stupidly and emotionally.



3. If Bell had been mindful that traveling armed requires extra avoidance of potential confrontation, many people would be spared heartache.



There are many other lessons embedded within this incident, perhaps if we all learn something, these men may not have died in vain.



PostScript: I have read where the Gunting concept is criticized as being too 'soft' on the bad guy. Does anyone doubt that Mr. Bell wished he had exercised other options in the days before his suicide?







Edited by - Seth on 5/22/2001 12:16:22 AM

Seth,
I had a similar road rage incident, a few years back. Some guy who was in such a rush and thought I was unduly impeding his way. Gave me the finger but then decided he had enough time to confront me about my counter hand signal.

When it came time for the guy to come up to my car. I was already starting to realize the stupidity of the situation. So when he asked what my problem was I told him I had none. Then he questioned a couple more things like my being 5mph under the speed limit (was only going a short distance, then, I really made him mad when I hit my turn signal while he was riding my bumper).

After explaining things, he said well your'e just an a***ole, I said yep your'e right I guess I am one. That really took the wind out of his sails. Unsure what to do next he returned to his car and repeated his name for me and the fact that he was not afraid, then took off. BTW he had a kid about 6 or 7 in the passenger seat of his car, what a role model he was.

Conquently I ignore, avoid eye contact and do not return hand signals of people who keep telling me I am number #1, anymore.

Excellent posts & thoughts gentlemen:much food for thought.
Sadly too few forget that right carries responsibility:if you excercise your right to carry the proper equipment to protect yourself you have the responsibilty to learn when & how to use it,to avoid conflict,to keep a cool head,yes even to retreat if need to avoid confrontation.You forgo the rights to act like an ifrresponsible *******,to get mad at the least little thing,to tell folks they're #1,& to drink. Well Said Fellers!

this is why I'm so concerned with the ability to escalate within a conflict or deescalate as needed...
Without options on force, on amount of force one has to use whats there..
If one trains in options and thinks in shades of grey one can operate in a shades of grey...

Common sense helps alot as well..

stay safe out there!

Well Said BRAM! But I must differ on one point:'common sense' is an oxymoron.Like courtesy(manners)sense seems to be getting kinda rare.(A sad comment on society.)

While force options are nice think carefully.
In the court case involving an unopened folding knife, the person with the closed knife was conviceted of assault with a deadly weapon and is doing time. Police have a continuoum of force very different than civilians. It seems fashionable to apply a police like ladder of force to civilians these days. This is not only wrong it is illegal.

In this case, the moment person B left their car they lost any claim to self defence. If they had used a closed Gunting, they would have commited assault with a deadly weapon.

In civilian law, you can only use a weapon, any weapon, if you are in fear of death or grevious bodily harm. This generally means the other person has a weapon, there are more than one of them, or you are very old or infirm.

Gentlemen. Is it just me or are there like a ton of other options for dealing with road rage. Personally I don't really care if some one blares his horn or flips me off when blowing past me, if anything I find it amusing that someone would care enough about me that he felt the need to share his opinion about my driving
secondly you're in a car right? Stay in the **** thing it's like a suit of armor that moves. If someone wants to follow you around drive him to the nearest police station. little stuff like that.
Excellent points by the way about being able to diffuse a situation. I work security and I rarely have to us physical tactics to get compliance from people. Knowing how to talk your way out of a situation can be invaluable

riverrodent,

Granted your point about the ADW is valid, However, let's apply that to this tragedy.

Let's say Bell(the Shooter), pulled out a closed knife, and countered Mann's punch with a loaded fist impact and bought the physical altercation to a halt.

Now he's in court charged with ADW. His legal counsel is unable to presuade the jury that this was a case of self-defense, he's convicted with a suspended sentence.(likely for a person with Bell's non-criminal history).

Somehow, I don't think the self-guilt over a ADW conviction would drive Bell to suicide.

And, had the incident gone this way, Two good, but confused, men would be alive to apologize to their loved ones for all the trouble they caused.

In today's world, any act of self-defense will bring legal review to the law abiding -- prepare for it.

Yes, a closed knife isn't a free stay-out-jail pass, but you stand a better chance of mounting an affrimative legal defense by showing forethought in a civilian's force reaction.

BTW- ADW charges have been applied to pencils, it's not the object, it's the intent and action taken with the object. If Bell had used a handtool, he still would have faced charges.

Once again, Does anyone doubt that Bell wished he had choosen a different force action?

-Seth

Many martial arts fail to deal with the legal ramifications of self defense. They advocate punching and kicking the assailant until he stops moving. That kind of conduct can get you in big trouble. They neglect to caution the student on the repurcussions of continuing to attack after the threat is over. A "complete" or politically correct martial artist in today's litigious and governmentally prosecutorial society must not only be able to inflict injury, he or she must also be able to control an assailant without inflicting injury. Control can be through the use of physical techniques such as joint locks or pressure points. However, it should also be through the use of one's mind, by exercising control over your own body and not yelling back or not getting out of a car to confront another driver. This is called self control. I used to think that self control came with maturity. Unfortunately, as I myself have matured, I learned that this is not so. The newspapers show this on a daily basis. Does anyone have an idea why road rage seem to be on the rise. I never remember as many incidents over past years as appears in the news at present.