Got followed tonight after movie! Need AAR thoughts.

Some of this stuff I will obscure but I thought I would tell the tale and see what other think I could have done better next time. Hopefully we can all learn something from this. This took place from Fulton county into Gwinnett county. That's all the big specifics I will say.

Left the movie theater with the wife and I noticed we were being followed closely. I changed lanes, they changed lanes. I changed again and they did as well. I turned left into a Kroger shopping mall and did a loop back out onto the main road and they followed me the whole way as well. Had the wife dial 911, which hung up on us, called back and talked for a sec before they put her on hold. I managed to pull back into Kroger parking lot again and they followed me back in and then broke their tail. I managed to quickly get behind them before they exited the parking lot to get the plate number and then I broke off in the opposite direction with the police back on the line.

We relayed the plate to the police, parked under a light in the parking lot and waited for a unit to arrive. Had the wife stay in the car on the phone with dispatch while I did a 360 walk/scan around it looking out for the car in case it came back or to flag down the patrol car. I was thinking that maybe I should stay in the car to get mobile again if need be, but I wanted to be able to quickly see the police unit. and be outside to wave it down.

Patrol unit came by, and we talked it over. He said they traced the plate to X city but that there wasn't anything they could really do. I then took a few detours home to make sure I could see any tail. Stopped a few times as well to see if and rolled past. Backed the car in the driveway so you can't see my plates or my BFL from the street but they were behind my long enough to get my plates. I think there were at least two (driver and one in rear seat) in the car but there could have been more.

I was armed with my Kahr PM9 with an extra mag reload. My plan was to stay mobile and be in a public location to meet the police hopefully avoiding being boxed in.

There was no altercation or interaction with anyone at the movie theater. There was a SUV parked close to us with it's occupants outside the vehicle when we got into our and drove away, but that was not the sedan that tailed us. I didn't cut anyone off or pull out close to anyone. I don't remember anyone following us out of the theater.

I hope this was simply a bunch of stupid kids that decided to get some kicks. At worst we were being targeted as a possible spontaneous target of opportunity for god knows what.

Other than putting us on high alert and circling though kroger a few times, there's no law broken here I think. If I'm being targeted, I don't think changing my plates (and I wouldn't be able to change them until Tuesday at the earliest) would matter as they'll be able to get my address if they somehow did a reverse lookup. I could certainly remove the BFL off the back.


Any thoughts here?

No we don't do drugs or know any dealers or anything like that. We're not rich and we certainly don't look wealthy by any stretch of the imagination driving my old, dirty xterra.

p.s. Book if you think this would better to be removed, just let me know. I was hoping that this might be of some use to the local crew.

Thanks for the story and you did everything right. I would have went to the police dept or Fire dept.. You just never know who is watching these days.

Sounds like you did everything fine. I would rather you have went to the PD or like he said a fire dept. Chances are there will be a cop at either.

I have had it happen a couple of times, be careful out there.

You see the black helicopters too?

Any blacked our suburbans??

Predators just out hunting for prey

They're everywhere

No I don't see black helicopters nor blacked out SUV's.


Thanks for the helpful suggestions. For us to drive to the PD or FD would have taken another 10 minutes or so I believe but I will keep that in mind if it ever happens again.

i would second your thought to stay in the car and stay mobile. i would have also had my wife tell the PD that we were on the way to their location, and please have an officer waiting outside.

If they did want a piece of you, or something from your car, they did everything possible to be overly obvious that they were tailing you. Following you into a parking lot and back out demonstrates this.

I am glad nothing came of it, but it does suck that the police won't do anything. The least they could have done was roll by the owner of the vehicles house at 3:00 AM and pound on the door, wake their asses up, and find out who was driving the car that night. It was a teen, his parents would have been his head in (hopefully).

You did everything correctly, except getting out of the car. I would have stayed put in case the car came back. I wouldn't want to be outside my car if I needed to gun it.

Maybe some of our LEO brothers and sisters on here could shed some light as to why an officer wouldn't want to follow up on someone with this type of behavior when the OP clearly got the liense plate number.

Might have been waiting for an opportunity to do the old bump and rob routine where they tap your rear bumper at a stop sign or light, then when you get out of the car to inspect the "damage" they rob you.

about 1979 the same thing happened to me. your details are similiar to mine, except i was alone. every time i would turn around they would hang out of the car helling and beating the side of the car. tried to lose them, shake them, just like you. i had a Colt .45 in my lap and was scared, all of your thoughts ran through my mind. could see 3-4 of them and didn' know if they had guns. i was scared that i was going to have to shoot them or worse kill them (you understand me i am not bad or internet ninja just SCARED. (i was scared because they followed me for maybe 25 minutes), would not go home, finally sat in a parking lot and they parked about 50 feet away. didn't have cell phones in that day so i drove about 1 block to an LEO's house that is a friend of mine. we got in his unmarked patrol car (they followed me to his house yelling, shouting, beating the side of their car). LEO went back to the parking lot and made them get out of the car. all about 16-18 years old, drinking, had baseball bats and homemade weapons (no guns). LEO called for backup then verbally and physically pushed them around a bit (tried to scare them).

about 2 weeks EARLIER i was riding with 3 friends (what you do in a small town) when a car started following my friend. same thing , followed us everywhere. my friend finally got tired and stuck a S&W m19 in his waist and walked back to the car and asked what they wanted. they said they thought he had done something to their buddy (my guess is his car looked similar to the one they were looking for because my friend didn't do anything). they apologized and drove off. unknown to me when my friend dropped me off at my car they were watching from a distance and saw my car.

i never saw it coming, thought it was an isolated incident, but they had waited to find me alone and beat the crap out of me. why?? I DON"T KNOW. they told the cops my friend pulled a gun on them. WHY DID THEY FOLLOW ME? I DON"T KNOW
they are local trash and crack heads

i know this website and the internet as a whole is full of unfearfull heroes, but that night i was so scared i was shaking

Thank you for being honest. I too would have been terrified if that happened to me. More often than not, we hear how people would have handled it, like it was out of a Steven Segal movie or something. But in reality, most people would be afraid and just want the situation over with. I am glad most people have cell phones these days and can alert authorities without having to get out of their car or without having to know where the police stations are in every town.

The Marine in me says you should have driven to a public park or other dark secluded area, If they were gonna rob you that would be best place for them to do it.

However the logical civilian in me says you did the correct thing. you would have been better off driving straight to the PD. Or calling them and telling them where you are going and see if they can meet you in a well lighten place, with them being there first.

Good job on being vigilant!

I had something like that happen once, many years ago. It was obvious that I was simply being harassed. Some folks don't need much of an excuse to harass you.

You did read that he had his wife with him, didn't you. That changes the options greatly.

Yeah, it evens up the odds...

Learn to do Surveillance detection runs. Prosecute any tails you have.

Probably just punk kids. You did good. But I wouldn't have left the wife alone. Too each their own. Glad you're ok.

What movie???

Had a nutjob follow me once. That was before I carried a gun. I have carried ever since.

I was wondering how you and your husband met....

LOL
No
His best friend married my best friend and we met at their wedding. We were actually paired up to walk together as bridesmaid/groomsman. Awwww....

You did fine.

Only thing I would change is to pull into a police station if you are able to.

I had something similar happen to me when I was around 19, and luckily knowing the area, just took all of the side streets directly to the police station at which point they took off. This was in a very small town, and they weren't locals.

The movie wedding crashers popped into my he's after reading this for some reason...

dude, i saw your BFL and figured you were cool. didnt know you were gonna go all apeshit dick tracey on my and try to evade


just kidding, i would have given you a love tap at the redlight to let you know i was a fellow ARFcommer

I was a senior in high school when a guy followed me and tried to pull me out of my car in a K-mart parking lot . He said he wanted to talk . I had it in first and let out the clutch . he grabbed my shoulder and stood on the door sill as we road across the parking lot he was yelling at me to stop. I got a filleting knife and tried to stick him , he pulled up his arm to block and I opened up his arm last I saw he was rolling across the parking lot . A friend of his found me later and said he had 76 stitches and a tetanus shot . He wanted me to pay . I told him fuck you. Apparently he was mad because a month prior to our meeting I cut him off in traffic. I do not remember ever seeing him before .

You can maintain "tactical advantage" by staying in the car and mobile. Also be aware of the ole Im sorry I hit your car now give me your wallet routine as well...

Well played.

You did the right thing. I live in Gwinnett and understand why you did not drive to a police station. The only one I know of is the County Police station in Lawrenceville and that could be a 20-30 min. drive, depending on where you are.

Thanks all for the feedback.

One thing I should mention is when I pulled into the kroger parking lot and parked, I was within arms reach of my xterra the whole time I 360'ed around the vehicle. I saw a police unit in the parking lot (but apparently it was not the unit dispatch sent to me) that I was trying to flag down, but he took off. The 2nd unit arrived in a couple of minutes.

If the tail had come back I could have been in the car in a few seconds but I see that it was an unneeded risk to step outside, so next time I will stay in the car & hit the hazards.

Side note is my wife's GWL has expired and she had been slow to renew it. Now she's getting back on the ball, so there's some good out of all this.

I had a guy follow me a few months ago. I used a tactical flashltght to "let him know" that I am aware of him and his actions. He took the next right turn to avoid me. He did not break any laws by following me and I did not break any by lighting him up either.
Scott
www.centerfiretraining.com

That brings up a question I have been wondering about. Are there any legal ramifications for using a flashlight to light up a car following to closely, or driving too aggressively?

I had my flashlight on me and I debated hitting them with it but I was unsure the laws regarding its usage.

When I drove my Jeep add a daily driver a long time ago I used to keep a handful of Pennies for tail gaiters......

HAHAH. I use my pennies for boogers. It makes it easier to flick out the window without worry of it flying back at me.

HA!

Simple answer - the car following did nothing illegal. Whether or not their intentions were ill, they committed no crime, so unless the vehicle was linked to a rash of incidents where a carjacking occurred, etc. there's not a lot that can be done about it.

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