This article caught my eye on a City Pages newsstand today, and here is the link to the online version:
http://www.citypages.com/2011-07-27/news/one-punch-homicide/It has many thoughts running through my brain. Where to start, exactly? Might as well get right to it.
1) We've learned in class that it does not take much to hurt someone, and with our training it is likely that if we do as we are trained that an attacker may end up greying or blacking out as a result of physical interaction with us. As we have learned, there are many very hard obstacles to bang one's head into at the end of a fall or throw. This article points out just how common it is for that fall to be extremely injurious and even fatal.
2) This is a HUGE wake up call to me, a guy who wants to protect myself but would rather not tour the state's resort facilities for murder or manslaughter. Even my aikido techniques come under scrutiny here. Causing a fall can cause as much damage as a standing knockout if the surface the attackers head finds is a concrete floor, steel door frame, or other such brain unfriendly surface.
3) How to avoid this? Avoid like hell drunken morons and places they hang out, for one. For two, avoid getting drawn into the monkey dance of ego and bravado. Not that I have ever been tempted to do so, but it pays to spot this kind of behavior coming if possible and LEAVE. I can soak up a lot of bruising to my ego at home, enjoying a beer and watching a movie instead of in a lockup listening to rap music and enduring company with the slimy underbelly of humanity.
4) I am not a cop and will likely get no consideration of being in the right if some guy ends up seriously injured or dead at my hands, even if it was the fall that hurt him and there was no premeditation or intent. Video and witnesses make no real difference. Self-defense evidently means little when someone is on a respirator or dead. Now, perhaps I would get dealt a friendly card by a prosecutor but I certainly wouldn't want to bet on it.
This article was sobering in context of the level of damage we are learning to administer. The human body is pretty fragile, especially head impact on hard objects after a free fall.
A sobering dose of reality for us, at least in my mind.
Great read Tristan! It's amazing how resilient a human body can be on one hand, and how fragile and weak it can be on another. Knowing the law is ESSENTIAL to being a martial artist. Many Japanese arts talk about Bushido: The Law which they fought under. As a martial arts community, we need to remember the laws and rules. Fix your bruised ego outside of jail... That's my prescription!
ReplyDeleteOh! Another thing that is KEY:
ReplyDelete"If you're looking for one common thing: alcohol," says Detective Hagen. "All of mine have involved alcohol."
What do you think this has to do with the death?