[youtube=http://youtu.be/wNOyDMzn2bY]
The above video shows a despicable and cowardly incident that happened Sunday in New York City when a father, Alexian Lien, out on a Sunday Drive on his First Wedding Anniversary with his wife and 2-year-old infant child were aggressively provoked and then openly assaulted by a group of “crotch-rocket” thugs out on a joy ride. You can see the provoking action when one of the motorcycles slows down intentionally, cutting Lien off , causing an at-fault collision (the motorcycle driver). At that point, Lien’s SUV comes to a stop. What unfolds after that (and what the video fails to show clearly) is basically Lien’s SUV getting pummelled and mobbed by the unruly and pissed off thugs, one of them slashing one of Lian’s tires. After Lien realizes his life and the life of his young family is in danger, he does the right thing and EGRESSES OUT OF THE KILL ZONE! Lien punches the gas on the SUV, in the process running over 3 bikes and hitting one of the riders, reportedly breaking his leg (It would later be reported the rider had both legs broken and possibly could be paralyzed from the waist down). A chase ensues. Lien exits off of the freeway and as he stopped by a traffic light, one of the thugs run up to the SUV, open the door and attempt to drag Lien out. Lien again does the right thing, punching the gas and escaping, Liens’s lashed tire slowing him down considerably. The riders continue to pursue, this time following Lien all the way onto surface streets and into the city proper. As traffic finally stops and boxes in Lien, giving him no escape route, the riders attack in force, with one using a helmet to break the driver’s side window and another close behind to drag Lian out. Of course this is where the cowards camera stop filming so as not to provide any incriminating evidence. We know from the police and hospital reports however, that Mr. Lien was heavily assaulted, with injuries to include lacerations and slashes to his head and chest (by a knife) black eye’s and facial bruising. According to this NY Daily News Report, no arrest have been made in this incident, however Police are reviewing the above footage and city CCTV footage to try to identify the thugs responsible. As an indicator of the type of people that assaulted Mr. Lien, none of the motorcycles had legal license plates displayed and several other witnesses stated they had seen these same riders all over the city being a menace.
The Primary fact that the CO needs to take away from this video is the Ideal that Violence like this can strike ANYWHERE and ANYTIME. This time it just happened to be when this man’s entire reason for existence: His Young Family, was in the car with him. The CO has to be ready to act at any time to defend his self and his family, with whatever force necessary.
Let’s go over a few things on being prepared while on the Road.
The fact that Lien stopped the car at all after the collision was I think out of concern over the hit rider. But I think Lien soon realized the thugs REAL intent, which was to try to draw him out into a confrontation. We can validate this by how the thugs were “attempting” to block the SUV in, also slashing one of his tires and pummeling the vehicle repeatedly, trying to provoke him outside. This brings us to our first point.
- When you are in your vehicle, you have to realize that you are sitting in a MOBILE, Two-Ton projectile that has the ability to both plow over your enemy and get you the hell out of dodge! You need to remind yourself of this fact in times like these. Do you really need to get out of the vehicle to solve the problem? This is exactly what Lien realizes about :50 seconds into the clip. You can just see his OODA loop turning can’t you? First, he sees and hears the thuds on the vehicle as the thugs strike it violently. He also hears their loud and cursing taunts. At this moment he knows he is safer inside the vehicle than outside. He knows he is easily outnumbered 30 to 1. Second, he realizes that this is not a good place to be, if he stay’s here, he risk his safety and the safety of his family. Third, he decides to EGRESS out of the area by plowing right through the “attempted road block” of crotch-rockets in front of him. Fourth, He follows through and Punches the Gas! At this point, AFTER you have got out of the DANGER AREA, if it has not been done already, 911 needs to be called and the operator kept on the line to audibly witness everything that happens from here on out. The driver needs to clearly express he is in fear for his safety and the life of his family and needs Law Enforcement Assistance ASAP. He needs to arrange to meet a patrol unit at a nearby landmark or business ASAP to mediate the situation.
- As the pursuit continues and Lian exits, traffic congestion from a traffic light forces him to slow down, giving the thugs the opportunity to drag him out, which they almost succeeded in because his DOORS WERE NOT LOCKED! Locked Doors HAVE to be a basic rule of travel safety. In fact, most makes and models automatically do this for you when the car is put into Drive. Something to always double-check when traveling, even if it is just to the corner market!
- Here is where it get’s tricky. As Lien is pursued into the City Proper and traffic finally boxes him in with no escape routes, the cowards see their chance and make their final assault. OK, stop tape. I am going to make a suggestion here, and it very well may have gone through Mr. Lien’s mind, I don’t know. Stress does funny things to people guys. Instead of heading into the city, why not just keep on the traffic free freeway? Why not stay on the phone with 911 or a friend, until a Law Enforcement Unit or a friend with a LEO found them? Anything but getting yourself into a “Boxed In” Situation with no OUT! This situation is tactically akin to keeping as much distance between you and a potential attacker as possible, IF POSSIBLE. Remember: Distance is your friend…Movement is your Friend.
OK, so I will bite at the question I know is nagging a lot of my readers: Would the situation have turned out different if Lian had been armed? Of course it would have. Now I don’t have my crystal ball handy so I cannot tell you for sure, but I would say, Yeah, having a firearm would have (at minimum) improved this guy’s odds of not getting accosted and assaulted, and under the circumstances presented in this video clip, I would say (now don’t quote me since this is New York!) that he would have been purely within the legal boundaries to defend himself with lethal force. My reasoning for this is very simple: The Police reports said Lien was slashed with a knife. A knife constitutes a lethal weapon and therefore, lethal force can be used to defend yourself. To further support his case, his wife and 2-year-old infant child were in the car. Another often overlooked factor in situations like these is Disparity of Force. Lien is a medium built Asian man, weighing maybe 150 lbs, his aggressors number around 20-30 men, all agitated, and at least one or more of them armed with a knife. I would like to think a jury of Lien’s peers in a court of law would see the logic in all of this, but as I said, this is New York so don’t hold your breath. But in reality, we don’t have to worry about any of these “possibles”, because the politicians in NY, along with our President, have decided most civilians in New York State are better off without firearms to defend themselves from crimes such as these.
Of course it goes without saying that having a solid set of combatives with counter-knife techniques in your toolbox is a must for any CO, but let’s not be complete Armchair Rambo’s here guys; Lien was outnumbered 30 to 1, all of them pissed off, amped up bikers, swinging helmets like clubs. Even your best empty-hand Krav-Maga fighter would be strained here to come out on top.
OK, so we could continue armchair quarterbacking this thing to death, But I am not. Suffice to say, I think my above suggestions cover it. As I said, it is hard to use videos like this to train, because obviously we were not there! We do not know the entire story. Overall, I will say this guy acted like 95% of sane American CO Fathers would if the same thing happened to them…he felt threatened for his family, so he gassed it and tried to get the hell away from these creeps!
Update 1: I found some videos of the thugs behavior before the above incident. You can clearly see these guys were riding around asking for trouble, look how they willfully violate traffic laws, swerving in and out of traffic, cutting around vehicles, Acting as if they own the road. Just overall Rude Behavior. This corroborates the other witnesses testimony of how they were being a menace in other parts of the city.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3cd_1380579664
Update 2: Thugs being brought to Justice…
Stay Armed, Stay Mobile and Stay Dangerous! The Adventure Continues……………..
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