Self defending dunces

Whilst trawling around the forumsphere this evening, I’ve somehow come across loads of threads started by people angry at Chavs or any number of other labels for attacking them or their friends at some point or another.  Just now, whilst reading a thread about what sounded like quite a vicious assault (and therefore, unusually so – worth pointing out) on some guys in Preston as reported by his friends on some random forum I read this sentence:

“so if they’d stabbed one of your friends in the head, getting in the car and running a couple over would be fine.”

Oh dear.

A while back, with some guys of varying backgrounds, I inadvertently got involved in presenting and demonstrating some self defence techniques for women at a Ninjitsu Dojo in Ely.  I was there because a friend who I often chatted to about this kind of stuff had invited me, and between us we demonstrated a load of stuff including some really quite evilly-improvised weapons shown to us by the Ninja Sensae.  Ninjas are mental.  Incidentally, because it annoys people I will credit Rich as a Sensei of Bajinko Tae-Jitsu as it’s really called in this case.

Anyway, during this little meeting one of the women of Ely and a few martial artists, only one asked anything unusual that I was able to answer better than the others (I was presenting with a Master of Aikido, a Ninja Sensei and a Jiu Jitsu practitioner so this is hardly surprising really).  After we’d been asked how to “disarm a chav with a knife” (don’t, run.) and how to “escape a headlock” (For the record, put your hand closest to their body behind you, over their face from behind, poke them in the eye and stand up.  Then run.) and so on, one woman asked “What is legally self defence, and what will get me into trouble?” and this was the best question of the evening.  After this evening’s little escapade with people suggesting that you should run over people with knives because it’s legal I feel the need to answer this question again, for everyone’s good.  Applicable to UK law in this case, because that’s what I know best.  Most legal systems are very similar on self defence though.

Here, in the good old UK, where we have ASBOs and PCSOs and other four letter abrreviations, self defence is/isn’t the following few points, and remember them, because they can save a lot of time in a cell.

• Self defence is initially action to defend against attacks, so you can legally (obviously) block punches, kicks and stabs, and anything else that may be a threat to you.  There is nothing in UK law that prevents you touching another person in order to stop them hurting you.  It’s a matter of how much ‘touching’ you do, and how much damage it causes.  Blocking is fine, running away is 10x better.
• In the UK, you may legally react to an attack to neutralise the threat.  This is pretty simple really, and is by no means black and white, but essentially, you can stop someone being able to hurt you by the most reasonable action possible.  The less you do to stop someone being able to hurt you the better.  (What this means is that whilst breaking someone’s arm to stop them continuing an attack is effective and possibly justified, bruising their arm is better if it does the job)
• Your reaction must be pretty much in proportion to the threat posed.  If someone is trying to punch you and you punch them and knock them out, that’s more or less fair game and would usually be regarded as fair game (You should be careful with head injuries as complications are very easy to develop, a kick in the balls is much better).
• Your reaction cannot ever be sustained beyond the threat.  As soon as you are not in danger from a person, you are not entitled to strike or otherwise hurt them.

So, bearing that in mind, what should the guy who wrote the above do in the situation he describes.  Remember now that his friend has been stabbed in the head, and he has the chance to get into a car a “run a couple over”.

I really hope that everyone has worked out that he should get in the car and leave to get help.  The car would clearly offer good protection and only a fool would get in the way of it.  Given the chance he may want to grab his friend and get him into the car but all in all it seems more likely that he would be best summoning help before anything else.  After that he can decide to return to brave the situation again if he wants, but making sure that help is on the way for the injured is top priority in this case.

In the seminar I was asked as a follow-up question: “So, if I was faced by a kid with a knife and couldn’t escape, if I hurt him badly, that would be legal” and the answer is sometimes. In some situations it would be judged legal afterward.  Either way, if you hurt someone badly in self defence you should expect it to take one hell of a time to sort out.  The police won’t just say “Oh, he had a knife did he?  Off you go then”, they’ll arrest everyone who might be implicated and sort it out at the station.  If you ever decide to defend yourself, you’re also signing up to a long and detailed explanation, and a million counter allegations too.  It’s a necessary part of the justice system.

So that’s that sorted.  If someone hurts your friend, don’t drive any cars at them huh?

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