Truck Stop Public Violence - How To Handle It?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by GhentSaintPeters, Aug 16, 2019.

  1. GhentSaintPeters

    GhentSaintPeters Light Load Member

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    Jul 16, 2019
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    im a new driver, only been driving a since January 2019, and tonight was the 1st time I've experienced anything like this OTR. And yeah, I'm an OTR driver driving nationally.

    So tonight at the truck stop it's dark and I'm in the back of my cab on my bed, playing around on my phone. I hear loud voices. Weird, but ok, whatever.

    The loud voices turn into crying and shrieking, with the shrieking sounding more like anger and not scared. If that makes sense.

    I pull the curtains back and look up front out my drivers side window, and the team drivers who have been parked beside me for the last few hours are now in between their truck and mine, screaming and shouting at each other.

    This escalates about 10 seconds later into a few haymakers being thrown and one of them being shoved into THEIR (not mine) back of the cab.

    I now do not know what to do. But here's the thing - they are both female, black and yelling at each other in a dialect that the lower class speaks in. Now look, I'm not trying to be mean or hateful or anything, but this is important to note because I am a white male.

    This all happened very quickly but I decided not to intervene or step outside and instead I grabbed my hammer just in case one of them tried to make a go at me in my cab (obviously they wouldn't, but heat of the moment instincts kicked in on my part). I was ready to call the truck stop inside and 911 if it looked like death or serious injury would have occurred.

    However, after I grabbed my hammer, the skirmish had ended and one of the females got back in the truck, while the other sat down beside the front tire of her truck and was crying very loudly. The female by the tire was the one who had lost the skirmish.

    Now, for this instance I think I was 100% in the right to do what I did.

    For one, the fight ended quickly. Two, it was two females going at it.

    If I would have intervened, either one of them could have filed bogus assault charges on me. Or maybe they had weapons. Or maybe somebody else would see a white male in the middle of two brawling black females and thought I was the aggressor? You know?

    So many things could have gone wrong if I had intervened. And again, it all ended within 15 - 20 seconds and both females were in a position to run safely into the store or smack dab in the middle of the parking lot to get help if the situation was dire. Therefore, they both felt safe enough not to get help if either one of them felt that they needed it.

    So again, in this case, I believe with all things considered, I made the right choice by staying out of it and not intervening. Not my business, I'll stay out of it.

    Now here's my question for you guys - What should I have done if this was a male beating on a female? Or if even the actual event that happened that I just described, what if that event became violent where it looked like somebody was going to get seriously hurt and it wasn't just a quick skirmish with a few haymakers thrown in?

    On the one hand, I would think I would have to intervene to save a life.

    On the other hand, I've seen stories of a male beating on his girlfriend in public, another male tries to stop it, then either the couple presses charges on the male who intervened on the females behalf or worse, the female then joins in on her abusive boyfriends side? Whose to say any occupants involved don't have weapons or aren't high out of their minds?

    It goes without saying I come from a lower middle class (and safe) background. This event has me a bit shook (I'm sure I'll sleep great tonight).

    I'm thinking calling the inside of the truck stop and/or 911 would be the best option in these scenarios where the violence escalated. There's just to many variables involved for me to stop something like that, you know? I have a lot of living to do myself and a family who loves me as well, you know?

    But on the other hand, humanity has to step in at some point, right?

    I don't know. I hope I don't have a situation happen like this again and I definitely hope I never have to make a decision on violence that escalated into dangerous territory. Thoughts? Please tell me public physical violence is rare OTR and I won't have to deal with this again?
     
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  3. Powder Joints

    Powder Joints Subjective Prognosticator

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    Keep your curtain pulled, stay out of it, none of your business, period.
     
  4. asphaltreptile311

    asphaltreptile311 Road Train Member

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    If you're a real bad ### you'll pop out a revolver and fire a shot at them and watch them run for their lives. In reality you just let them be animals I mean obviously if they are fighting at a truckstop it can't be for a real kosher reason. You could call 9/11 that would be the safest best bet, or you could shout at them to shut the #### up. I've seen a few truck stop fights break out I usually ignore it and walk around it or drive through them if they are in the way. Alot of truckers are armed and not afraid to use it my advice would be as long your not in the fight stay out and let cops handle it. It's probably over who gets to hit the crack pipe next or that one lizard is charging 25 cents less than the next.
     
  5. starmac

    starmac Road Train Member

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    Get on the cb and let everybody know, so they can watch too, sounds like it was over too fast to be much of a show though. lol.
     
  6. Rubber duck kw

    Rubber duck kw Road Train Member

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    And order popcorn.
     
  7. D.Tibbitt

    D.Tibbitt Road Train Member

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    Gettin' down westbound
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    Grab some popcorn and watch the trucker action!! Get on 19 . " breaker break one nine we got a cat fight in the back row yall come get ya some of it!!"
     
    MTN Boomer, autopaint, lynchy and 7 others Thank this.
  8. Dave_in_AZ

    Dave_in_AZ Road Train Member

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  9. Mototom

    Mototom Road Train Member

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    Stay tf out of it. You don’t know a #### thing that’s going on only what you assume. More then one persons been killed by good intentions.
    The ONLY time I get involved in confrontation is when it benefits ME or MINE and I like to fight. Most don’t so they really shouldn’t stick there nose in stuff.
    Companies ain’t gonna wait for you to post bail and deliver the road. Just like being in jail won’t keep you from getting fired from a factory or construction job.

    Very rarely will being involved in violence result in a good outcome.
    The times that can, you won’t really have an option.
     
  10. D.Tibbitt

    D.Tibbitt Road Train Member

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    I was in west memphis maybe a out a month ago. This kinght driver. Old white guy. Called this black guy the n word and the black guy proceeded to kick his ### LOL man they dont meSS,around in the south. Everytime i go there is somebody fighting
     
  11. stayinback

    stayinback Road Train Member

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    chicago,il
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    A lot of this has to do with the Quality of the Hire.........

    I tell ya, These carriers will put anything in the seat, I mean Anything.

    They Don't think about the consequences........Nor Care
     
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