PART III: CHILD SELF DEFENSE STRATEGIES AGAINST A CHICKEN HAWK
July 7, 2009
Saving The Little Girl At the Bottom of the Lake
This is Part III of a four-part post following police discovering the weighted-down body of a little girl at the bottom of Lake Wallenpaupak in a Northeast Pennsylvania resort area. Part I was a plea to schools and/or parents to take the role of Safety Coaches for their children; II looked at some strategies Safety Coaches can teach their children on evading and escaping the Chicken Hawk if and when the predator layed hands on the child, and, so here we are. Part III.
Part III: Worse Case Scenario – The Predator Drags the Child to His Car!
A primal principle of surviving a confrontation with a predator: Never Go With Him. Always Stay in the First Place (Initial Crime Scene)! Why? The predator wants more than anything to remove the child as fast as possible from where that child is found. The constant and inexorable intent is to abduct the child and take him or her to an isolated Secondary Crime Scene where the abductor has all the time and privacy he needs to torture, molest and kill the child.
Fact is, I would be – and so would any responsible Safety Coach – a fool if I didn’t prepare my child students for the possibility when they would be taken, despite their best efforts, away from the initial (crime) scene.
What, then, do you teach your children to do in this situation?*
Obviously, it is up to you. You may come up with a batter strategy. You may. But I doubt that you will conjure up a better set of principles thank I. The principles should guide all of your strategies and techniques.
NEVER, EVER GIVE UP.
BREATHE, DON’T FREEZE.
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A SECOND OR TWO WHERE YOU CAN ESCAPE. TAKE IT!
Teach the child that, even though the situation seems hopeless, there will always be an opportunity to fight and escape if he or she keeps alert and does not panic. For instance, if the abductor passes anything the child can grab onto and hug, Do It!
If the predator(s) pauses at his getaway car to open the door, wait until he frees one of his hands to squirm, kick and bite and to drop toward the predator’s feet. Hook onto his legs, ankles.
If the predator does get the door open, here may be a chance to escape! The Bad Guy will be in a hurry, so this is the time where he may, in his haste, make a mistake. The child needs to be alert for anything he or she can use. Like placing his or her feet against the passenger seat and pushing against it. Like grabbing the seat belt fastener and pulling on that.
If the child is placed in the seat, he or she can throw the male portion of the seatbelt into the doorway to make it tough to close. He can disobey the Bad Guy’s instructions to belt him/herself in and when the Bad Guy reaches to belt him in, the child can rake the guy’s eyes, strike him in the throat, whatever needs to be done in order to escape.
Remember: The key here is to delay the Bad Guy at the crime scene, to draw attention to the child’s plight. A desperation tactic could also be to reach out one’s hands to the Bad Guy, as if to hug. If the Bad Guy falls for it, the child can slide over toward the Bad Guy – which is always what the Bad Guy wants – and, suddenly, leap face first against the Bad Guy and hook onto him – face-to-face. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, the child is now in position to bite, gouge, head butt and just hold on to the predator.
Not only can the predator not drive, more likely than not, he would not want to drive with a child who is not his own hooked on to him face-to-face. Think about it. Would you? Looks a little suspicious, huh?
The child can also grab the keys and toss them into the back seat.
*The success or failure of these esoteric strategies depends on your trainings as a Safety Coach. My suggestion: Use fun Role Play Games to teach your kids how to do what I have suggested in this and previous posts. Without making the games terrifying, teach your child how to avoid being placed in a car by using the Drop, Lock and Roll technique; teach them how to open the passenger door from the inside (when it is locked); maybe teach them how to escape from the inside of a trunk, or, at the least, break one of the tail lights and stick a hand or object through the hole to attract attention.
If you want more specifics on how to be a good Safety Coach, or on any of the escape techniques, including the Drop, Lock and Roll, contact me through www.ActionFightingArts.com, or, contact me through harrywigder@rcn.com. There is no charge for any assistance.
These strategies can save your child from the bottom of the lake.
Stay Safe.
Hammer