Fight at the Bijou

Holy shit, so there I was (the best way to start any story like this ;-)... although I don't remember the date, I had gone to see a showing of the " X Men" movie at the local art house theater and all during the movie a group of five local street/ punk/ anarchist type kids were being loud and obnoxious. At some point I had gotten up to get the manager and although he did talk to them, it wasn't long before they were at it again. I decided to just settle in, ignore them as best I could, and enjoy the movie.

It didn't work.

I ended up fuming during the whole movie (luckily It was my second time seeing it) and I decided that, after the movie was over, I was going to give them a piece of m mind.

When the movie finished I headed out the door and waited for them to come out. When they did they all blew by me except for the last one who's attention I was able to catch and I said to him (in my normal calm and diplomatic tone), " just to give you a heads up, your behavior in the theater was very inappropriate. Try thinking about other people next time" to which he responded with a very resounding, "fuck you!"

Now, at this point I know I should have let it go and said something to the effect of, "OK... well, I just wanted to let you know how I feel. Have a good night" but instead I came back with, "no...fuck you!" so this the kid responded by blading his body and putting his guard up.

In a clumsy and inexperience attempt to de-escalate the situation I said, "look, I do this for a living" (refearing to having spent the previous few months as a bouncer). He said, "so do I" (I'm still not sure what he meant by it). Being a little caught off guard and not knowing what to do next, I suggested that we go into the courtyard.

Now, I don't know why I made this suggestion (being nicknamed "Safety Dave" wouldn't happen for quite a few more years) because this guy looked dangerous, smelled bad, had spikey wrist bands and studs everywhere and, not knowing where he slept at night or what his personal grooming habits were, looked like a bio hazard. I really didn't have an interest in touching him or getting as close to him as a CQB engagement would require.

The guy didn't really give me the opprtunity to consider the folly of my course of action though as he faked a lunge at me and I reacted with a snap kick to his groin. It worked, and he went down, but not before I noticed that his hand had come up over his head and he had a home made sap in it. This of course scared me, but the fear was tempered by him saying about the funniest thing I've ever heard someone say, at least under those circumstances, " Oh...oh man...that's not alright", with the first "oh" the "man" and the "alright" kinda being drawn out as if he were in excruciating pain (as I suppose he was).

I retreated and went back inside to find the manager. He called the police and we went outside so that he could tell the kids to leave the property (my story from here on out was the "have a good night" version rather than the "no... fuck you" version).

When the two of us got to the side walk, the guy that I had encountered was still on his knees and his friends were standing around him. I immediately noticed that three of the five had knives out and in their hands. I don't know if the manager noticed this or not, but he proceeded to tell them that he had called the police and that they needed to get off the property. They did so but stopped about a block away and heckled me until the police showed up, at which point they melted away into the shadows.

When the police arrived I gave them my version of the story and they asked if I wanted a ride home. I didn't live very far away so I declined and took off on foot. Along the way I stopped by the local 7-11 as I had friends who worked there and I wanted to share my story. When I rounded the corner into the parking lot, who should be sitting on the side walk and leaning against the building but the kid I had just kicked in the ol' twig and berries. He didn't look up as I passed him, but he did manage to get out, "can you spare some change?" I responded in the negative and went past him into the store. I told the story to my friends and then called the police.

They soon arrived and placed him in custody for menacing and harassment.

This incident by the way has been, to date, the only fight I've engaged in outside of work and happened close to ten years ago. As you hopefully noticed, I made mistake after mistake during the incident and I learned a lot from it.