I almost fought a homeless guy on the weekend

[silverpig]

So on Saturday night the wife and I went to a football game downtown. After it ended, we were walking the 7 or so blocks over to the main drag to catch a bus home. We were on a nice street, with a lot of traffic, well lit, along with many other football fans also walking back from the game.

The wife and I were having a conversation and I was paying attention to her so when a homeless guy, walking in the other direction, said something to me, I ignored him. It's the standard fare for silverpig/crazy-homeless-guy interactions: They rant, I walk on by.

Well apparently he wanted to know where I was coming from, and my non-responsiveness offended him as a few seconds after we passed him I heard him yell out: "Hey you f*ckin' goof! Answer me!"

I turned my head to see what he was yelling at, saw him visibly upset at me, shook my head and kept walking with my wife. At this point he yelled out: "That's it, I'm gonna f*ckin' kick your ass!"

Now I have to turn around and face the guy. I was perfectly content to let the first one slide off my back, and I'd even let that second comment pass, but if he's going to come at me, I'm not going to let him have a free shot at me from behind. I turned and stopped, he walked up to me and stood in front of me and asked me again where I was coming from. At this point we did our quick sizing up of each other and I knew I'd be okay. I'm 6'3" 200 lbs and he wasn't much more than 5'7" 120. I didn't answer and just stared him down so he raised his hands to hit me. I did the same then took a quick step/lunge towards him and saw him back off 2 steps with a worried look on his face. I just shook my head again, told him to be on his way and started walking away.

As soon as I got back to the wife I heard him yell out again: "Don't f*cking disrespect me! I'm gonna kill you you dumb f*ck!"

I went to turn around again but he had already come up beside me and raised his hands again. I did the same and I think he went to hit me, but if he did it was the worst punch in the history of punches as it didn't come anywhere near me. He then tried to kick me, so I brought my knee up and hit him in the shin pretty good. I told him to just get lost and he ran off, still yelling threats at me. Keep in mind here that by this time a lot of people were watching.

Now, I could have very easily dropped the guy but I didn't. There are a few reasons. First, I didn't want to spend the next several hours talking to the cops when I had to be up at 5AM the next morning for work just to have the guy thrown in the slammer overnight. Second, I wasn't sure exactly what the other people had seen and didn't want any stories to go against me (I was having a terrible day by that point and getting accused of starting something was just how that day would have ended with my luck). Third, I didn't want to cut my knuckles on his teeth and have the blood from his split lip get into me along with whatever diseases he might have from his years of probable intra-venous drug use.

The wife is a bit upset with me for not just telling the guy where we were coming from. She was pretty scared by the incident.


edit: changed hobo as I'm guessing he wasn't travelling around looking for work

 

[markgm]

Then what happened?

 

[brxndxn]

It's smart not to fight people that have much less to lose than you..

In a fair fight, 6'3 200lbs, you'd kick his ass every time.. But if the guy is willing to lose teeth or an eye in the fight, you'd better watch out.. Who knows what a crazy person will do?

 

[bonkers325]

:thumbsup:

that hobo deserved what was coming, but u did a good job restraining yourself. getting hobo blood on yourself is probably bad for you

 

[StageLeft]

Fvckin whacko (him). To have applied all those three considerations in not kicking him in the gut was pretty good. This is why we should be encouraging, not discouraging, the teens who go on bum-killing rampages. I'm sure you agree.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: markgm
Then what happened?

Went home, went to bed... *shrug*

 

[FoBoT]

cool, you beat up the bum
sweet
:thumbsup:

 

[maddogchen]

my friend got into a fight with a hobo. Got himself pepper sprayed LOL

 

[yllus]

Wow, man, glad you're okay. Report it if you can because he might remember and try it again with a knife someday.

You folks in BC need to start catapulting your bums into the ocean. I don't know how accurate the news we get on the east coast is about that stuff, but it sounds like it's becoming a bit of an epidemic.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: bonkers325
:thumbsup:

that hobo deserved what was coming, but u did a good job restraining yourself. getting hobo blood on yourself is probably bad for you

That made me laugh.

 

[zinfamous]

so, it seems that you, like the majority of people, are completely unaware of the distinction b/w hobo and homeless person.

 

[PepePeru]

you're clearly a no-bo.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Fvckin whacko (him). To have applied all those three considerations in not kicking him in the gut was pretty good. This is why we should be encouraging, not discouraging, the teens who go on bum-killing rampages. I'm sure you agree.

It's a bit of a problem here. We are the only city in the country that's warm enough in the winter to facilitate homelessness, so we get the entire country's crop. Most of them are confined to their little area in one corner of the city, and even still they mostly keep to themselves. Lately though they've been making noise as the city is spending a lot of money on stuff for the olympics while they feel entitled to having the government provide free housing for them all.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: zinfamous
so, it seems that you, like the majority of people, are completely unaware of the distinction b/w hobo and homeless person.

Heh, sorry, perhaps I should change it then.


edit: to qualify my use, I know hobo isn't the right word, but it fits with the story better. Bum is a bit too disparaging I think, and hobo has a nice ring to it. It might not have been right, but it got the point across. I changed it anyways.

 

[needalife]

good job... i like the anti-hoboness in u.

 

[moshquerade]

bum fight!

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

That was his homework assignment.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: zinfamous
so, it seems that you, like the majority of people, are completely unaware of the distinction b/w hobo and homeless person.

Heh, sorry, perhaps I should change it then.

:thumbsup:
:beer:

It just irks me when the far more respectable title of "hobo" is confused with that of "bum"

 

[Queasy]

He just wanted some change, man. Change? Got some change?

 

[UncleWai]

Wait till he goes to sleep, then steal his blanket.

 

[yllus]

This thread is seriously making me crack up.

 

[needalife]

is this incident going to inspire u to be a super hero? HOBOMAN!

 

[OutHouse]

I got into a fight with a bum when i was 18. I went to downtown denver to take my MEPS test to get into the air force. i was just walking down the street and this bum comes up to me as im passing a alley asing for money. i told him i didnt have any and kept on walking. i get up to to the light to cross the street and the bum is right next to me talking smack. telling how big of a dick i am and he is going to kick my ass. the then shoved me into the street lno cars were coming but that was enough out of mr bum.

when i was in high school i was one belt away from being a blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do, so i laid the guy out flat on his back. the moron didnt even land a hit.

so i went on my way to take my test and scored pretty shitty. once my adrenalin came down my mind started thinking about if he stabbed me. if i ever see that bum again i would kick his ass again.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: yllus
Wow, man, glad you're okay. Report it if you can because he might remember and try it again with a knife someday.

You folks in BC need to start catapulting your bums into the ocean. I don't know how accurate the news we get on the east coast is about that stuff, but it sounds like it's becoming a bit of an epidemic.

Well the thing is a lot of them aren't "our bums". I think about 30-35% of the bums here are from Quebec. There are plenty from the other provinces too.

It's a touchy issue. There are a lot of people who make a lot of noise in support for the homeless. And there are honest stories of guys who got laid off in a slow time, got behind on some payments, lost their wife, lived out of their car for a few weeks looking for work, then ended up on the street. I'm sure at least a good percentage of them don't want to be there and would make good use out of a second chance, but then there are the militant assholes like this guy who ruin it for them.

The big thing here right now is the city/province/feds are spending billions here for the olympics. And damn is it ever money well spent. However, the bleeding hearts question how we can spend this much when there are homeless still on the street.

One of the loudest noisemakers is a guy by the name of David Cunningham. He's the leader of this group called the APC (anti-poverty committee or something like that). They stage disrupting protests, demonstrations etc, and are very vocal in the media. It got to a point where he got some airtime on a local radio station and he totally blew it.

The announcers asked him why he felt like he deserved free money and a free place to live. He said that he didn't make much money and needed help etc. The announcers asked if he had a job. He said he worked for the APC. They asked how often he worked. He said 2 days a week. They said that there are plenty of jobs available here, and asked why he didn't work more. "Eh, none of those jobs are suited to me."

So because he doesn't want to work, he feels he's entitled to free food, money, and a place to stay, and thinks the same for everyone living on the streets.

So while public opinion was leaning towards the APC for a while just because so many people are disconnected with what's going on in that part of town, it seems the tide has turned against them because of that radio interview and incidents like mine.

 

[Capt Caveman]

You handled it well.