What to tell police if no shots fired?

[Friar Whently]

So I hate to post a scenario, but this is something that I've been wondering about and I can't find a thread on this specific topic.

Say you were in a situation where the use of deadly force was completely justified (let's say the BG has a knife or other weapon) and you drew your carry gun with every intention to use it. As you draw, the BG sees it and turns tail and runs off and the situation is over with no shots fired. Now you must (or at least should) call the police and report the incident. But what do you tell them? Do you tell them you drew your gun and the BG ran off? If you didn't fire it, then they may assume you weren't justified in pulling it in the first place, and if you happen to be talking to police face-to-face, they may try to charge you for brandishing or some such nonsense. I suppose you could leave the scene, call, tell them everything but give them no personal information. Do you not mention the gun? It would sound pretty strange that you were able to make an armed assailant think twice without being armed yourself. Do you try to be vague about what happened?

Any thoughts?

 

[TXAZ]

I've been in a similar situation once. My order of battle is: (and this isn't legal advice and I'm not a lawyer)

1) Don't lie to the cops. If you don't know, say so, but don't guess.

2) See # 1 again. You don't have to say anything, but potential suspects (i.e. you're the only one there, maybe you're the robber?) don't win any cop friends, and it is not uncommon to hear they will often help you if the initial story holds water. As in "...and you were in fear of your life and you drew to stop the threat", correct.

3) The $250 - $500 I spend on an immediate call to my attorney before providing a dissertation to the officers is significantly money better spent than waiting until after with a defense lawyer. He's likely to remind me to tell the officer(s) at a very high level what happened: BG with knife approached, I was startled and in fear, I drew a weapon, BG ran. BG was an orange haired 5-5'6" man in jeans and Tshirt. That I'm currently very shaken, and will provide more details later. That's it other than name & contact info.

4) Don't hide anything like your weapon.

But then this is all hypothetical, right?

 

[zxcvbob]

I think it depends a lot on where you are. If you're in Chicago, Philadelphia, or New Orleans, keep your mouth shut, your phone in your pocket, and keep walking.

If you're someplace where you can be fairly certain the bad guy wasn't a moonlighting cop (and his "brothers" will take exception to you drawing on him) of course you mention that he ran away when you drew your gun. (the gun is legal, isn't it?) Your story doesn't make any sense otherwise.

The first one to report the crime is presumed to be the victim. Except for a few cities where anyone with a gun is presumed to be the bad guy in all circumstances.

 

[Frank Ettin]

Report the incident promptly and truthfully.

If the other guy gets on the phone to the police first complaining about the nut job waving a gun at him, you'll start out telling your story in a hole you'll need to climb out of.

 

[pjp74]

I have been in that exact situation about 12-13 years ago, working behind a supermarket in Mobile, AL, on the refrigeration, guy walks up, asks for money. Told him I was broke, he then pulled a knife on me and demanded my wallet. I was able to take a couple of quick steps backwards, at the same time drawing my Kimber, moment bad guy saw gun, he pitched knife in bushes, turned tail and ran. I immediately grabbed up my tools and pulled around front where I would be visible to other people (in case he came back with another weapon or a few buddies) and called the police. Officers said I did nothing wrong and that I was completely within my rights, took my name, address, and brief statement. I haven't heard anything about it since.

 

[egor20]

Frank Ettin

Frank Ettin

Report the incident promptly and truthfully.

My wife's been involved in 2 incidents involving drawing a weapon, one with no shot being fired. She called the police on the no shots fired and one of reason was the next person might not be armed and not be lucky enough having the BG run away.

 

[moose_nukelz]

Above all else, make sure you tell the dispatcher you are armed and give a description of yourself (height, weight, skin color and clothing). Stay on the phone with the dispatcher and do what they tell you until the responding units arrive. Shouldn't be an problems.

 

[Tom Servo]

If the other guy gets on the phone to the police first complaining about the nut job waving a gun at him, you'll start out telling your story in a hole you'll need to climb out of.

I've been in that exact situation. I reported the incident immediately after it happened. When the police caught up with my assailant several days after the incident, he and his accomplice had gotten their stories straight, which involved crazy me waving a gun and screaming epithets.

Lacking any other evidence, it would have been my word against theirs. One of the biggest factors in my favor was that I'd been the first to report, while the others had never contacted law enforcement at all.

 

[Bailey Boat]

IMHO..... A crime has happened (attempted robbery) and needs to be reported truthfully or it could come back to bite you in the butt. If you don't report it and the BG goes down the block and robs someone else and there is an attack you'll feel bad that you may have prevented it with your report...

 

[Pbearperry]

To pull a firearm to protect yourself and not report it to the Police can be a huge mistake on your part.Fleeing bad guys have called Police to report guns were pulled on them and the good guy ends up looking like a bad guy.

 

[doofus47]

Several reasons to call the police in my rule book:
1. Legal cover: I just pulled my gun; I should report this to the police before some well-meaning but ignorant 3rd party bystander who didn't see the bad guy's weapon does call 911. Then I become a bad guy pulling and waving his pistol in public.
2. Social duty: there's a bad guy out there running loose. This is the very reason we have full-time police. They can run a patrol car through the neighborhood a couple more times a week and maybe catch this yahoo before he assaults my grandma.

I don't have a big rule book.

 

[Skadoosh]

He/she who has their 911 call logged first wins. Generally, this will establish you as the victim/complainant.

Above all, be truthful. But, as with anything in life, only provide enough information needed to answer the question being asked by the authorities.

 

[TLeo]

Why would you not call the police and report a crime attempted against you????? The only reason not to do so would be if you are doing something illegal yourself. If you are carrying legally and would have been justified in using deadly force had the bad guy continued then it would be stupid to not tell the truth. Once you omit or change a fact it will be hard to believe anything else you might say and as another poster said..you don't want a bystander who might not have a clear view calling to report you as the aggressor.

 

[RedBowTies88]

Why would you not call the police and report a crime attempted against you????? The only reason not to do so would be if you are doing something illegal yourself. If you are carrying legally and would have been justified in using deadly force had the bad guy continued then it would be stupid to not tell the truth. Once you omit or change a fact it will be hard to believe anything else you might say and as another poster said..you don't want a bystander who might not have a clear view calling to report you as the aggressor.

There are many municipalities who value criminals rights higher then yours. They will do anything they can to bring you up on charges and try to get you on a technicality for protecting yourself.

 

[OldMarksman]

Posted by RedBowTies88: There are many municipalities who value criminals rights higher then yours. They will do anything they can to bring you up on charges and try to get you on a technicality for protecting yourself.

Are you suggesting that having the incident first reported by a bystander or by your assailant is preferable to your being the first to report?

 

[RedBowTies88]

No, just commenting on the train of though that some may have. It's hard for people who live in the real america to understand that view soometimes.

 

[TLeo]

redbowties, I do live in the real world . I have been in law enforcement for 30+ years and seen just about everything and it makes no sense to not report an attempted crime. It seems some one else doesn't live in the real world if one thinks the police are all out to get you.
Paranoid much?

 

[RedBowTies88]

Thats not what I mean at all, when I made reference to "real america" I was making a reference to pro 2A states. Not the mindset of you or anyone else. I have no doubt that you're very much in touch with the real world...all im saying is the same inncident in 2 different states or even different areas of the same state can be and often are treated entirely differently.

in states like this as soon as a prosecuter hears the word gun they're going to try and come after you wether you were right or wrong. If they can nail you with a technicality you bet they will. This is why some people prefer to just pretend it never happened even though realistically they were in the right.

I know that doesn't make sense but when you have law abiding people fearing their goverment this train of thought is the outcome.

(I in no way personally condone not reporting an inccident to the police. just playing devils advocate)

 

[Skadoosh]

RBT88: I'm from the 609 area code of NJ (Willingboro Twp). I am sorry you feel that way, but I completely disagree with your assessment.

 

[Nnobby45]

Report the incident promptly and truthfully.

If the other guy gets on the phone to the police first complaining about the nut job waving a gun at him, you'll start out telling your story in a hole you'll need to climb out of.

I know that Ayoob, whose advice I take to heart, has pointed that out on numerous occasions.

Sometimes just talking to the officers and telling the truth is far better than all the memorized phrases and slick studied lines--especially when you had cause to draw your weapon.