Had an interesting experience with an aggressor on my way home from work.

Okay so the purpose of writing this post is sharing my experience from last sunday night, and to ask some basic questions relating to the situation I was in. (TL;DR at bottom of the post).

I had just left work and lit up a cigarette while walking. I was carrying my employee meal in one hand, and nothing in the other. I walked by a group of men that were standing at a bus stop. One of the men asked me for a cigarette, and I told him no because "sorry this is my last one." It's not really relevant, but this was a lie I'm just not about to give some random a cigarette. I don't really think anything of it so I continue walking down the street, this is where things get dicey. After getting a medium distance away from the group I hear the vague sound of someone running up behind me. Then, I hear a guy yell some phrase and smack me on the back/shoulders while running past me. He starts yelling at me for "disrespecting the fuck out of his friend," and while I was trying to explain that I just didn't have another cigarette he started asking to see my wallet. Of course I say "What? I'm not giving you my wallet." Then I just fucking book it out of there. He chases for a pretty short distance, one threatening to shoot me if I don't stop, but I had crossed the street onto a college campus and I'm a pretty quick runner.

Alright so that's what happened, I'd like to ask for some general advice about what to do in this one or future situations like this.

I know that running away was for sure the best option, my plan was to run to a 24/7 donut shop near my apartment in case he kept on chasing me. However, looking back on this event I realize that I definitely could have prevented it if I had actually reacted to the sound of someone running up behind me rather than the actual smack on my back. Am I correct in assuming that even if you don't know if someone is trying to do you harm, running away is NEVER a bad strategy?

Related to this, I've been reading a couple different threads concerning different sprays. Am I correct that the general consensus is that pepper spray or a gel spray is the most effective way to defend yourself?

TL;DR Almost got mugged on my way home from work, ran away successfully. Is running always the best strategy? And in terms of self defense options, is pepper spray the most effective?

Submitted December 25, 2020 at 05:08PM by MemescoperSixtyNines https://ift.tt/3nOzWYw