Saturday, December 22, 2018

Correct way of handling this situation?


The church that attend has a large parking area behind the building, which perfectly blocks it from all passing traffic (including law enforcement). The church is on a major highway on the edge of town and as a result we get lots of "turn arounds" and people that like to do "donuts" in the gravel parking lot.We also get a lot of people that seem to "meet up" for what I assume (yes, I know) are illegal activities. Law enforcement patrols the area, but that's infrequent at best.A few evenings ago I needed to stop by the church and there was a single car parked across the rear of the driveway area almost totally blocking access. This beat up Honda was idling, in reverse gear (as evidenced by the backup lights) with foot on the break. The female driver was either very much asleep or passed out, was hard to tell in the near-dark, and I could not see if there was a passenger.I decided to just go into the church and perform my chore but, when I left the car was in the same place, still in reverse. I called our pastor for his input but he was unavailable. I decided to approach the vehicle, just to make sure that everything was ok. Remember, it's not unusual for this place to be used for people to meet up for various reasons.As a church officer I believe that it's my responsibility to show compassion and care for strangers and those in need. As a husband, father, and grandfather I believe it's in my best interest to protect myself.Before approaching the car I removed my holstered pistol from my car's center console and placed it in the pocket of my hoodie. I then tapped on the driver's window and after a bit she woke up and rolled down her rear-passenger window (smart, or maybe her other window didn't work?) and just then a guy pops up from the reclined passenger seat. I simply asked if she was OK and she said that she was waiting on someone to bring her money for her prescription. She assured me that she was OK and the guy in the car basically just stared me down. I let them both know that I wasn't trying to pry into their personal lives but that I wanted to make sure that everything was OK and that no assistance was needed.The entire time I had my hands on my pocketed pistol, one on the gun and one on the holster, but I never gave any indication that I was armed. I will say that this is the only time since being CCW permitted that I've even touched my gun in this manner.When our conversation ended the guy put the car in park and she rolled up the window. I pulled away slowly, wondering if I should have handled this differently, specifically calling law enforcement. Your thoughts? via /r/CCW http://bit.ly/2AdEb91

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