In this video from the online self defense course “Martial Studies: Third-Person Defense”, discover why it is crucial to analyze a situation before providing assistance to a person in danger.
Table of Contents
Simulation
“You stab him, Hervé is on the floor. I love it Jean-Pierre, your aggressive spirit, that’s a good aggressor! Keep stabbing him, slowly, on the dotted line, follow the dotted line, it’s a real butcher.”
You tell yourself “Non-Assistance to Person in Danger”, “should I go or not?”.
Obviously, you don’t go. Just look at his face, he’s dead.
What I mean is that it’s complicated to analyze the situation. You see someone with a knife, he is already stabbing the victim. And I tell you not to intervene. Indeed, that’s what I advise you!
People can always contradict me by saying that “maybe he is not dead yet, you can save him, you can take him to the hospital…” Yes, and you with it, at the same time!
He has a knife!
The man has a knife, so if on top of that you find yourself alone with him, it is extremely complicated and extremely risky. You have to run away!
Also, you see someone you don’t know who is being stabbed, he is bleeding and you see in his eyes that he is dead. This is all the more risky!
Some people are going to try to play the “hero” “hey man, let him go, let him go” and they’re going to lose their life! Great, he’s a hero, but he’s dead! So, in the end, there are two victims.
Is it better to go, or not to intervene?
All this to tell what?
Everyone is free to do what they want. I’m just telling you the different options. “You want to go, you go” but when it comes to me, in this kind of situation, I analyze first!
Analyze the situation, it’s very important! But this is an extreme case.
Let’s take another example, without a knife. Imagine that you are confronted with two men fighting. “What should I do?”, you have seen the scene, you could intervene and separate them. But in reality, what can you do? What’s the point of intervening and saying, “hey men, calm down”. The most important thing is to intervene intelligently, and above all, to take the time to analyze the situation to see if it allows it!
Also, a point not to ignore: never pass between 2 people who are fighting! It may seem silly, but it’s like dogs fighting, don’t separate them with your leg.
Also, you should not act under the impulse, because it is very dangerous, especially if you do not know if one of them has a weapon!
Analyze
Be careful and once again, analyze: is it just a little late-night brawl at the bar between two drunk people who mess around for an hour without hurting each other? Fights happen every day so don’t put yourself in danger for that!
Now, if you someone on the ground who is killing him, then yes, you should intervene. However, you are not obliged to intervene physically, but you are obliged to help, I mean to call for help.
Here I am trying to show you roughly what you should do in these very risky situations. Now you know what you risk, you know what you can and cannot do:
- either you intervene
- or you don’t and you come home safe and sound,
In both cases, you are confronted with yourself, and it is a very complicated choice. Many will say “I would have intervene”. “You say that now, but in the heat of the action with four people holding knives, do you really think you would go?”
I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t intervene, only that you should be thoughtful before you put your life in danger, especially for people you don’t know! Sometimes facts can be confusing. Let’s say you see 2 guys fighting, you think “wait, he’s hurting him” but actually they are 2 drunk friends hitting each other. You come to address the situation, and in the end, both of them turn against you. You see, make sure it’s really worth it!
