Car-jacking prevention....don't pull into spot

[hecklerkoch]

If at all possible, if it is night time or if you are not around people, consider backing your car into your parking space if you will not be holding up other cars to any significant degree if the area you are in is even remotely questionable.

Recently, on Albemarle near Sharon Amity, I pulled into a strip mall at 9:30 PM. There were only two other cars in the lot and I pulled forward into the space. Within moments a car was directly behind me and had me pinned into the spot.

I'm glad I've taken some pretty good training and try to be aware of my surroundings as I put my car in reverse, threw on the dome light, took my handgun from my holster, and pointed it straight up above my shoulder to make it visible as I kept checking all three mirrors and looking for their dome light to go on or a door to open. I've double checked what to do if that had happened and it's to ram their car as well as shoot out your own window to let them know you mean business. Yes, it sounds odd, but getting their attention before they get yours adds up to the two rules taught in my weapons class:

1- Always cheat!

2- Always win!

I'm very glad I didn't need to do that.

The car sat there for about 20-30 seconds as they apparently discussed what they wanted to do. It backed up across the lot to 100 feet away and sat there.

I exited the car [my friend and a customer were inside his business so I wasn't leaving them] and I looked at the car and took out my cell phone. They turned off their lights and sped off.

Thanks to Kelly running this site I took a look at crime in that area. Inside of 4 blocks, in the 4 days before there were 4 armed robberies of a car pulling up to someone, jumping out with a gun, and robbing the individual just as they turned the engine off. The next night after my incident, a woman was robbed and carjacked in the Eckerd parking lot at Albemarle and Sharon Amity and dragged a few feet.

In speaking to the police this was likely a gang. They pick an area for a few days and then jump to another. Had I backed into the spot [which I do religiously now] I;d have had a better view of what was happening, been able to slam their car with my 4x4, or even exited the car with the doors as protection. I was in the worst possible situation by pulling in forward into a dark and deserted parking lot.

Lesson learned!
HK

p.s. FWIW, you can get some great training over at Firepower in Matthews with EagleRock training. They have a website.

[pcg]

Great suggestion. Plus I like that you checked the crime pattern in the area before going out. That's something I will start paying attention to. I live in that part of town.

[cmpdrookie]

Here are some other tips that I would like to add these in no manner represent CMPD.

Plan your trip ahead of time, so you know which route to take, and avoid high crime areas.

Avoid driving in the far right lane. This lane is most vulnerable to carjackings.

Carjackers often lightly rear-end ("tap") their targeted victims, hoping the victims will immediately get out and inspect the damage ... and walk right into the hands of the waiting carjackers. If you've been lightly rear-ended, and you do not feel safe where you are, then turn on your emergency flashers and drive carefully to a gas station or police station or where you feel safe.

Carjackers may try to get you to stop by tricking you into believing you have a flat tire or other mechanical problem. If you do not feel safe, then drive carefully to a gas station or other high-traffic area.

[karz10]

cmpdrookie said:

Here are some other tips that I would like to add these in no manner represent CMPD.

Plan your trip ahead of time, so you know which route to take, and avoid high crime areas....

Yes! As cmpdrookie points out avoid high crime areas, such as Charlotte, particularly inside the 485 loop, as noted by the 58 robberies in 5 days in this CnC story and map: crimeincharlotte.blogspot.com/2007/07/weekend-robberies-in-charlotte.html

I'm halfway joking, I know what cmpdrookie is saying, and don't mean to take anything away from his sound advice, but I just couldn't resist after having just read that story and looked at that link. Another good way to avoid crime, don't go onto CMS campuses!

PS, I back into parking spaces 95% of the time, unless I know I need to load large objects into the back of the SUV, safer and smarter for many, many reasons, especially w/ large vehicles.

Karz