I was 15 at the time of the incident, had like a season of wrestling experience and weighed 140 pounds. Me and my two buddies were at a hotel during a basketball tournament, and we were walking the hotel. Eventually we wandered too far off into the parking lot of some apartments/condos that neighbored the hotel. As we were walking, a man flies outside his door screaming profanities at us, telling us to get off his property in a manner that was incredibly threatening. I was in the back of the group and didn’t really have anywhere to go, whereas my two buddies took off into the parking lot. I was left alone with this intoxicated, angry man much bigger than myself, so I knew fighting wasn’t an option. I made the mistake of bringing myself closer to him with my hands up in an attempt to calm him, but in retrospect that seems like a great way to get shot/attacked. Now me and the man are about 10-15 feet apart (I was on the sidewalk and he was halfway in his yard.) I’m talking to him clearly without sounding threatening, explaining that we were just from the hotel next door and had wandered off too far. Prior to us entering the area, some kids had run onto his property and harassed him/scared him, so his reaction was reasonable considering that he thought we were the same kids. He was still hot, but after I assured him we weren’t those kids and had just found ourselves over here, his demeanor changed and he apologized and told me to make sure nobody else came through that area later that night. I was pretty shook up after but I thought I handled the situation as well as I could and was glad I got out unscathed. I still wonder if just running and not trying to calm him would have been the right method, but at the end of the day nobody was hurt. let me know what you think and give me feedback for future situations if possible.
Submitted August 8, 2026 at 09:01PM by Specialist_Kick_8400 https://ift.tt/6WGPeri
