To begin, never argue with a drunk. As the old saying goes, “Reason goes into the bottle faster than the alcohol comes out of it.” If you can get away with it, just smile, nod, and say “Yes” or “No” as appropriate. Oftentimes, however, liquid courage will lead the other guy to take a swing at you. That is when you will undoubtedly be tempted to strike back.
Unfortunately, hitting a drunk doesn’t work nearly as well as you might think. It is not necessarily that they don’t feel pain, but rather that they do not feel it as much or as immediately as sober people do. That is an important consideration when dealing with an inebriated opponent.
Alcohol is not the only substance you might encounter that alters the mind of those who mean you ill. People who use drugs are roughly twice as likely to engage in violent behaviors as people who do not. In general, it is best to avoid tangling with anyone who is under the influence of drugs because such confrontations can become extraordinarily ugly. Leave such things to law enforcement professionals whenever possible.
For example, it can take as many as a dozen officers to restrain someone effectively in a drug-induced frenzy without accidentally killing him because less-lethal weapons such as pepper spray, Tasers® and the like, can prove ineffective in such cases. There is a good chance that many, if not all participants, will be injured in the process.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than half of violent criminal offenders are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or both, at the time of their offense for which they are subsequently convicted. The drugs of choice are most often marijuana, cocaine/crack, or heroine/opiates. Stimulants such as cocaine and crack are most linked to violence, although certain psychological conditions can have similar effects. (We’ll discuss emotionally disturbed persons in the chapter about Level 2.) Similarly, about 30 percent of victims are intoxicated with drugs at the time they are attacked.
Pain Compliance versus Mechanical Compliance
At the end of the National Anthem, we block the stairs above the 50-yard line to let the band exit the field and take their places in the stands. This usually takes several minutes, during which latecomers cannot take their seats. Those at the front of the line can see the kickoff and first few plays of the game, but those in back can only hear what’s going on. Needless to say that makes us somewhat less than popular, yet most fans understand and wait (more or less) patiently for the band to get out of the way. Not so, no-shirt guy. Painted purple with a gold W on his chest, he shoved his way through the line and tried to push his way past the guards at the top of the stairs.
They managed to stop his forward progress, but he launched into a verbal tirade and continued to push against my employees, nearly knocking one down the cement stairwell. After helping the guard regain his balance, I stepped into the fray and tried to reason with the fan, quickly discovering that he was far too intoxicated to understand what I was saying let alone comply. After fruitlessly arguing for a moment, I reached over and slid my fingers around the top of his collarbone while simultaneously pushing my thumb into the suprasternal notch at the base of his throat and dug in hard. On most people this will cause excruciating pain, simultaneously buckling their knees. On this guy, nothing. He didn’t even notice.
Pain compliance is a an excellent tool. It affords you the ability to control an opponent without seriously injuring him—when it works. Unfortunately, a committed adversary, a person whose mind is affected by certain intoxicants or who is in an altered state of consciousness, or one who is gripped by adrenaline is likely to shrug off virtually any pain you can throw at him. In those cases, pressure points or pain compliance techniques will not be enough. You will need mechanical leverage to control or injure your adversary.
If you must hurt someone in a fight, you will need to target a vital area of his body, someplace that can be damaged relatively easily. Punching someone in the stomach, for example, may only piss him off while striking him in the head may render him unconscious if you hit hard enough (and possibly shatter your hand in the process).
As we cover the higher levels of the force continuum, you will discover that targeting moves from lesser to more vital areas of the body to help assure success when dealing with determined foe. For now, be aware that merely delivering pain may not be sufficient to control a situation.
On January 1, 2008, Meredith Emerson, a 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate, managed to fend off both a knife and a baton attack, holding her own until her assailant tricked her into surrendering. Gary Michael Hilton, a burly 61-year-old drifter, subsequently tied her up and carried her to a remote location where he raped and eventually killed her three days later.
Hilton reportedly told police interrogators that his petite victim nearly overpowered him when he first accosted her on an Appalachian hiking trail. According to published reports, Hilton stalked the 5-foot-4-inch tall, 120-pound woman on the trail but was unable to keep up so he laid in wait and intercepted her on her way back down. He pulled a knife and demanded her ATM card. Emerson, a trained martial artist, recognized the threat and immediately fought back.
“I lost control, and she fought. And as I read in the paper, she’s a martial artist.” Emerson, who held middle kyu ranks (blue belt and green belt) in two different martial arts, ripped the knife out of his hands. He countered with a baton that she was also able to pull from his grasp. As the struggle continued, they fell down a steep slope, leaving both weapons behind. “The bayonet is probably still up there,” Hilton later told investigators.
“I had to hand-fight her,” Hilton said. “She wouldn’t stop fighting and yelling at the same time so I needed to both control her and silence her.” He kept punching her, blackening her eyes, fracturing her nose, and breaking his own hand in the process. He figured that he had worn her down as they moved farther off the trail, but suddenly she began fighting again. He finally got her to stop by telling her that all he wanted was her credit card and PIN number.
Once she relaxed her guard, he restrained her hands with a zip tie, took her to a remote location, and tied her to a tree. Predators often take their victims to secondary crime scenes where they have the privacy to perform their depravations. Sadly this was no exception. He kept her captive in the wilderness for three terrifying days before telling her that he was ready to let her go.
Then he beat her to death with a car-jack handle and cut off her head.
Hilton made a plea deal with prosecutors, leading investigators to his victim’s remains so that they would not seek the death penalty for his crimes. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
The goal of self-defense is not to win a fight, but rather to avoid combat in the first place. After all, the only battle you are guaranteed to walk away from unscathed is the one you never engage in. Taking a beat-down can seriously mess up your life. Nevertheless, sometimes despite your best intentions, you may find yourself in a situation where there really is no alternative but to fight. When it comes to such circumstances, particularly in an asocial violence scenario, you cannot stop until it’s over.
Once engaged in battle, it is critical to remain mentally and physically prepared to fight or continue a brawl at a moment’s notice. Always keep your opponent in sight until you can escape to safety. Even if your blow knocks an adversary to the ground, remain alert for a possible continuation of his attack. Most fistfights end when one combatant gives up rather than when he or she can no longer physically continue. Weapons bring a whole new dynamic into play. Even fatally wounded adversaries do not always succumb to their injuries right away; they can continue to be a critical danger for several seconds, if not minutes. That is a very long time in a fight.