Stabbed a Man - Page 3

On January 16 2013 08:09 CecilSunkure wrote:
I have a roommate named Chico. He's a little shorter than I and has pretty tan skin skin. You may be wondering if he's hispanic or not. Well, he's Vietnamese. He comes from Sacramento -the ghetto portion of Sacramento. Since he's shorter and smaller than the average white guy his bitchy coworkers (terrible people) like to make fun him in various ways. I like Chico a lot, though he's still a bit self-conscious about how "badass" or "manly" he appears.

Chico lived in a pretty scary area, at least it sounded scary to me judging from all the various stories I heard. Apparently when Chico's father was younger he was in some sort of Vietnamese gang. I've heard stories of extortion and violence from Chico about his father, although Chico's father left it all behind him once he had Chico. That's my understanding of the story.

Nowadays Sacramento sounds a lot safer than what it used to be, but still scares me. At one point Chico was robbed on a train at knifepoint by six huge black men. Now, I said Chico is a little shorter than myself, and I'm actually pretty short. I would have been terrified. They robbed Chico of his beloved PlayStation Portable. When Chico tells the story he speaks of feelings such as wanting to stab the guy pointing a knife at him. Naturally Chico would have died if he tried; his knife was in his pocket while the other dudes were a count of 6 with a knife drawn already.

Yesterday this random guy in Bellevue Washington (a pretty high-class area compared to what I'm used to) tried to rob Chico. Out of all the people to try to rob he picks the one guy from the ghetto who's used to this type of thing. Why, why would you ever try to rob Chico? Sure he's small but he does he really look like the type of dude who won't kill you in defense? There's a million random rich white people who have probably never thrown a punch in their life in Bellevue. But no, he has to go and try to rob Chico. And why is there a black guy mugging people in Bellevue anyways? I've never seen anybody in Bellevue except for programmers from the Middle East, white people and asian people. I basically never see any african americans around where I live. What are the chances? The chances are minuscule, impossible. Yet it happened.

After the "robbery" Chico comes home and acts very... quiet. We (the other roommates) wonder what's up with him. We figure he just had a bad day at work. On our way to driving to get groceries Chico is dead silent. None of us know why. Suddenly he decides it's time to speak -- the adrenal must have finally died down inside of him. He says "Some black dude tried to rob me today."

Silence.

"He had a knife out pointing at me. I took it from him and stabbed him."

More silence.

What the fuck? You stabbed a man today? Are you okay? Chico was really calm about the whole thing; I'm sure he had massive adrenal boosts for a really long time after he was "robbed", because Chico doesn't really remember many details about the robbery and left the guy bleeding on the ground without really thinking about it.

Apparently Chico was walking home after work and took a shortcut behind some hotel. A black dude appeared and held a knife to Chico. The guy must not have known what he was doing because as Chico came close enough to the knife, from either the guy attacking Chico or from Chico rushing towards the guy, he disarmed the attacker and defended himself. Chico stabbed the guy in the arm, and the attacker fell down clenching his arm with the knife lost in the commotion.

So, Chico just leaves. He was almost stabbed to death in a mugging behind some random building full of rich white people. This shit happens to people, not just random people you read about or see in the news. It happens to people.

So that's my story. What the fuck. Chico has definitely become much more badass than anyone I know almost instantaneously. Talk about dodging a bullet, oh my god.

On January 16 2013 12:52 SamsungStar wrote:
Why stab the arm? Why even stab at all? Slashes and thrusts are much more effective. A stab is very risky, requires you to be much closer, and you often lose the knife if the attack is successful. Reverse grips in general are risky. Much better to hold the knife in a hammer grip and pound a few quick thrusts into the guy's torso then back away while they bleed out. And most people, once disarmed, will try to shield themselves or run. At which point swinging slashes cut them up and scare them but leave them mostly unharmed and they just run away in panic.

Still, though, your friend probably should have killed the guy, not given him a superficial wound in the arm, LEAVE the knife, and then walk away. He's very lucky the guy was a wuss and didn't pick up the knife and go after him again, or have a gun on him and use that to retaliate. In general though, a knife is not a very effective weapon. It's probably the most effective for intimidation but actual combat potential is limited. Telescoping batons are a MUCH better weapon, and in a fight of equal skill, the guy wielding a baton has a significant advantage over a knife wielder. I would advise your friend Chico to purchase one and carry it on him. Nobody will freak out over seeing a steel baton. It looks like a flashlight when collapsed. It's easy to carry, compact, and provides a lot of utility. Especially for someone who has as much bad luck as your friend. It's also a lot easier to incapacitate an opponent using a baton, without outright killing them. A knife lacks in so many ways. It's probably my least favorite weapon.

On January 16 2013 14:37 SamsungStar wrote:
Chico obviously had the presence of mind to disarm his opponent. That's why it doesn't make sense to me. If he's disarmed, taken the knife, then reached out to stab, he has the presence of mind to attack in the other ways I described. If you know anything about armed combat, you'd know that reverse grip stabbing someone in the arm takes a lot more deliberation and force than a quick slash to the face or a hard thrust to the ribs. Unless by "stab" Chico meant randomly poking at the guy's arm, which would most likely be a saber grip thrust. But since the guy fell to the floor screaming and Chico lost the knife, I'm more inclined to think it was an actual reverse grip stab.

Chico grew up the son of a Viet gangster/enforcer/racketeer from what the OP is saying. His dad should have taught him these things. I know my dad did. Someone who has the fortitude to attempt a disarm should be able to keep his cool under pressure. And you should realize that what Chico did was extremely dangerous to himself. Leaving a superficially wounded opponent behind WITH the weapon is a really bad idea.

On January 16 2013 14:43 CecilSunkure wrote:

I don't think you know (or at least consider) anything about adrenaline. Chico hasn't been trained to think appropriately in stressful and life threatening situations.

On January 16 2013 14:51 SamsungStar wrote:


I've been in knife fights. I am very well acquainted with how adrenaline works. I guess I'm just surprised that Chico's father never taught him anything. Also, that he left himself in such a dangerous situation despite having the upper hand. It seems more like none of you guys have had much exposure to violence, so you seem to think it's some kind of deer in the headlights situation. Quite often, it's not. Adrenaline makes everything dialed in and slowed down, and you think with a ridiculous amount of clarity, and can remember every single detail about what happened for years afterwards. But maybe that's the fight reaction and most people have a flight one. I dno. I speak from my own personal experience, whereas it seems more like you speak from a theoretical one.

On January 16 2013 17:01 Game wrote:
It's not self-defense once you disarm somebody...

On January 16 2013 17:05 CecilSunkure wrote:

Well from the way the story was told, he took the knife and then they were both within contact. I can't imagine it being a clean "he took the knife swiftly" like you see in movies, followed by a pause and then deliberate stab. It must have been much more ad-hoc reaction, sort of like a brawl.

On January 16 2013 17:08 Game wrote:

I understand how fights go. You did however make it sound like he just took the knife and then shanked the guy in the arm after drawing the knife back and swinging it at him with a downward motion of a previously raised arm (imagery of text). Are you sure he didn't stab him out of spite?

On January 16 2013 09:38 FryBender wrote:


Thank you, you've all pierced us with your wit

On January 16 2013 09:01 iKill wrote:
I wish I had the guts to do that. If some guy pulled a knife on me in the street I would probably just pussy out and give him my shit.