Throw your wallet and RUN!

Playing dead is what opossums do; they tend to get eaten.

If you are prevented from running, you fight for your life. And that means slamming kneecaps and folding them inward, fists slammed into throats or family jewels as hard as you can, eye-gouging, bending fingers backwards all the way, and anything else you can do, and you try to make it permanent. The best swarmer is a crippled or blinded swarmer.

Just keep in mind that swarming is an ATTACK. You play by their rules, not Marquis of Queensbury, and if there are girls involved, they get the same treatment.

Victims who refuse to be victims sometimes have a surprising effect on this kind of trash. They often DEPEND on your being a crying, begging, sniveling, cringing victim. That's the kind of victim they want.

Sue

Having just quit from a juvenile detention center, the question is a valid one. Teenagers are mean no days! The attack may be provoked or they may not. If I was going to give any advise, it would be to make sure that you use your verbal skills as opposed to your fighting skills. I have personally been confronted by a group that personally did not like me. As they approached, they made their intent clear, my first responce was to use VERY basic resoning. The quote I used was lets walk away from this cause one of us is going to the hospital, one of us is going to jail. I was not talking to anyone of them, but it was clear enough that I had to endure some taunting as I walked away, but I WALKED AWAY! Maybe this isnt the most heroic thing I have ever done, but I know that I am not Chuck Norris and this is not the movies. As a side note - I have my CCW and I am a former cop. I was carrying and at that point, a weapon was NOT an option, it was the first thought, but unless you are in fear of your life or the life of another is in danger, dont put yourself out there as a first choice. Good luck with this thread, it is a VERY real threat, and talk about ETS hitting close to home.

What nobody mentioned was chemical agents (pepper spray). With the spray a group is easier to hit than an individual. The spray and spin works with a group of teens as well as it does in the middle of a bar fight. Just be aware that you will get some too as at least part of the spin will be into the wind.

Just be sure they are a threat and not a lost church group looking for directions. You will know the difference. Lost or other legitimate groups tend to stay together while predators spread out to surround victims. It was also a good idea to start with the biggest or the obvious leader of the group.

Take Care and Stay Safe

I once heard a story about a senior black belt in some martial art who was reputed to be so good that he could fight off five other black belts simultaneously.

One day, when he was leaving the dojo, a bunch of six teen hoodlums decided to gang up on him - not a mugging, they were looking for bragging rights.

He looked them straight in the eyes and said, as coolly as he could, "You know, I can only fight 5 men at a time. So - I'm going to have to kill one of you."

After a tense silence, they backed off and let him go on his way.

Not a solution for most of us, but I figure, if a black belt with his reputation felt it was safer to use his mouth than his fists, I'd be committing suicide if I tried to get physical.

It is a real threat in urban areas these days and a serious predicament if you happen to become a victim of such an assault. Avoiding places where youth gangs hang out is good advice. I've been in that situation at least twice. Once I managed to get away without getting physical. Once I got blindsided by the biggest guy while a couple of others distracted me and caught a sucker punch but since I didn't go down (I used to box a bit) the guys freaked out, backed away and a passerby defused the whole thing before it turned into a big fight.

In my experience, confrontations with youth gangs always start at a verbal level and often stay there. It's mostly about ego. In any gang most guys are basically cowards and don't want to fight (though they will happily assist in beating a helpless victim if they can without risk to themselves). But there is always at least one leader/tough guy who looks for trouble in order to impress the group. The usual tactic is to surround a victim and intimidate him. If you hand out your wallet or cellphone at this time it may not help. Maybe they're looking for money, maybe it's about something else. If they smell fear they will likely press you even harder, very simple predator mentality.

Good verbal skills and taking a confident but not aggressive stance seems to work best. If you can run away, good. But if you have to fight you must understand that you're heavily outnumbered. If you let them surround you you won't last more than a few seconds. Though most groups don't expect the victim to fight back. If you're the one to initiate the fight and manage to disable at least the leader there will be serious panic among the rest of the group. The advice from people who I know could actually handle themselves in that kind of fight is always go for the leader, strike first, keep all the assailants in front of you, maybe incapacitate the closest/weakest attacker and use him as a shield. Any kind of weapon is a big asset but it has to be deployed instantly before anyone knows what's going on and once you do it there's no turning back.

It is possible to fight your way out through multiple attackers but only if you're totally comitted and have the skills and attributes to pull it off. Look into Krav Maga or military combatives (WWII), they deal with this. If unarmed, strike hard to vital areas and move as fast as you can. The idea is not to incapacitate every guy in the group Bruce Lee style but rather to stun and disorient the leader and any guys directly blocking your way so you can escape as quickly as possible. A concealed blade can be extremely effective, aimed at the face or hands. But once you deploy a knife it's kill or get killed. In a civilian enviroment that probably means going to jail even if you survive the fight. Nothing to be taken lightly and a whole lot easier to talk about it than do it for real.

OK, contrary to some of the advice given:

Attack into them. You have, for all intents and purposes, been ambushed. The only way out of an ambush is an immediate attack into it.

Be very clear about one thing: You have to kill or cripple as many of them as it takes to break them. DO NOT attempt to run away. If you run away, they will run you down. They will hammer you into the floor and they will kick you either spastic or to death.

If they have any one who looks like a leader, snuff him.

If you have anything that can be used as a weapon, use it. Forget about negotiation. It needs two to negotiate and they are not "negotiable" as it were.

You are going to be very scared. Accept it. Use it. Focus it. Being scared is normal. It causes your body to generate a massive adrenaline surge. Your strength increases. You reflexes accelerate. You ability to absorbe punishment increases.

You are going to get hammered. Either by them or by the Court later. Quite possibly by both. The chances are very good that you will, through no fault of your own, be imprisoned for a very long time or (if where you live has a Death Penalty) executed.

That being the case, exact as high a price as possible.

If all else failes: Do your uttermost to ensure that you have a proper escort across the Styx.

This discussion is getting close to the borderlines of acceptable content for the board(If I remember the rules correctly), but, given that, I would feel remiss if I did not commit on this...

WARNING... Controversial and adult content follows... If you do not like that, then do not read it.


If you are going to pull a knife, you had better be afraid for your life... If you are afraid for your life, you do NOT pull out the knife and try to scare them off, you pull it and start stabbing as fast and viciously as you can and try to put as many of them out of commission as you can, and then RUN. If they are not expecting it, you should be able to take three or four of them out before the rest catch on to what is happening, and it you are acting crazy enough they will likely want to get away from you... This is assuming that they are not hardened gang members... If they are, then YOU would likely have a knife in you as soon as they surrounded you, if they were intent on killing you.
Remember, you NEVER want to get in a 'knife fight', what you are trying to do, is save your own life, by whatever means possible. You do not want to try to injure them, you want to put them down... But remember, you are NOT trying to kill them, you just want them to be out of the picture, whether they are dead at the end of the day is of no consequence. Only whether YOU are alive.

Saying, "Don't beat me, I'll only get an erection," apparently worked for Stephen Fry.

He has an ultimate weapon:

He just offers to kiss one of 'em.

i didn't think anyone saw the humor - after my first suggestion - but leave it to you brits!

cheers!

bsmith