Escaping Common Street Attacks
ACTION AGAINST VIOLENCE
March 14, 2009
NOW YOU’VE GOT ME. NOW YOU DON’T! Escaping the Most Common Street Attacks.
Now you’ve gone and done it. Got yourself entangled in one of the 20 most common types of street attacks (see March 10 Post, Part I). Could be in pretty deep poop, unless you stay in focus and do something about it, like quick. Not just any actions will do, though. You have to be dynamic and your move has to disempower the hands, arms, legs that are holding you or striking you. Not only that, whatever you do should in some way cause the bad guy’s brain to split, to weaken by going in directions other than it intended to.
Take the most common street attack – the wrist grab – for instance. Almost always the preamble to another attack move. Often, the bad guy expects you to freeze for a second or two, but this is where you change his expectations (and mental focus, too) by doing one of two or three things.
- Use a quick Wrist Release. Quickly lower your center, make a fist(s) and power that hand upward, if the bad guy’s palm is down, or down if his palm is up. As you are moving the hand turn the hand so that your thumb is up (blade your wrist and hand) and escape through the hole between his thumb and gingers. Done quickly and aided by your center mass, it is almost impossible for him to hold on.
- Distract and then escape. In the case where the bad guy has great superior strength, you may want to weaken his strength by changing his thought process. As he is concentrating on preventing you from escaping, drive the front instep or toe of your shoe hard into his lower shin. Simultaneously escape the grab. Be aware, of course, that, most likely, things will get pretty medieval from that point on. Likely he will re-grab with greater intensity, or simply escalate to a more serious attack. Ergo, my suggestion is you distract, escape, and immediately begin to hit other targets which will open up with your distraction kick.
- Use a Target Focus Attack. Here’s a thought. Cut out the “middle man.” The bad guy has one or both of your hands tied up with one or both of his hands. He has attached himself voluntarily to you, and, in your mind, you should thank him for that. Why? Because, if he is grabbing you with his upper body striking levers, he cannot possible block your punches or strikes, nor can he strike you with them. I call this a Free Throw. Take the Free Throw ASAP.
Ø Step 1. Make no attempt to free yourself from his grip. He will think you are freezing,
Ø Step 2. Maintain eye contact with his face. This will induce Singularity of Focus on his part. In other words, he will maintain focus on your upper body. I will call this Channel 6. That is where his mind wants to be.
Ø Step 3. Now that you have induced Singularity of Focus (Channel 6), drive your rearward foot hard into his lower shin. You have now changed him from Channel 6 to Channel 22 (your channel, baby). His mind and body are effectively split, which means both are significantly weakened for about 2 to 3 seconds.
Ø Step 4. You have about 2 seconds to do damage and escape. Release your hands from his weakened grip, and, before he can recover, tattoo him in vulnerable, Big Dollar open targets, like the groin, eyes, nose, knees, solar plexus, throat, etc.
Next Post: Hair Pull. Until then, Stay Safe.
Hammer