You would think that life as a high school anatomy teacher and boys bowling coach would render itself to a certain safety zone. However, things can happen when you least expect them to...
Brian was downstate in O'Fallon Illinois at Boy Bowling STATE - yes they made it this year. The boys and most of the parents drove down very excitedly at what could be a highlight in (many of them) their senior year. At the hotel after the big day of the tournament - a full day of game after game after game...the unthinkable happened.
One of the fathers saw a drunk driver ram into their car in the hotel parking lot. He had been inside with Brian and some of the other parents. He ran outside to confront a man who was poised for a nice HIT AND RUN affair. The father came toward the vehicle, and just as the drunk driver was in the process of turning the car to drive off, the father stuck his hand through the window and somehow grabbed the keys.
Well, This guy was getting very riled up in his intoxicated state and tried to POUNCE on the father with a fury. With curse works flying in this agitated state, Brian and two of the fathers pinned him up against the nearby hotel exterior wall. Brian saw a huge knife in his jacket, and grabbed the knife from the man before it could be used against them. After they had the knife and the keys he got out of their grip, and then said to the father,
"Do you have good health insurance?"
The father looked up to see another knife he had extracted from his person, and had it hoisted above his head - ready to throw it right at the father's heart.
Luckily, the police had been called and just as the knife was about to be thrown, the policeman grabbed the knife from the man.
Brian explained what had happened with the two knives and how it was an attempted assault. (He was actually holding the knife in his hand when the policeman drove up, which could have looked bad had there not been other witnesses) The policeman, instead of pursuing that (even though he was now holding the drunk driver's knives in his possession) he began to perform a drunk driving test on him, having him take steps and what not.
Brian and the other dads were incredulous that he wasn't being charged with attempted assault. They watched for a moment, and the drunk driver looked up during his "test" to see the father was looking. He said roughly, "What are you looking at" and then DOVE at the father in the MIDDLE of the test.
Finally, it was at THAT moment, that a 2nd and 3rd set of policeman immediately put him in one of the cars and handcuffed him. The bowling boys, meanwhile, getting everything on camera from the balcony above on their cell phones. This turned out to come in handy as the questioning of witnesses commenced.
So, in the words of Brian's principal - who is a huge black dude - "SO - YOU ARE A HERO." And so he was!!
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3 comments:
Whoa!! That is one crazy story. Glad no one was stabbed!!! Yikes!
Your question on my blog: I pretty much always use a 50mm fixed lens on just about everything--at least portraity type things. It was probably in aperture priority so the shutter speed automatically adjusted itself, and I was probably around 2.2 f-stop. Hope that helps!
wow, what a night! it's scary enough just reading about it, good job Brian for being so calm headed and quick to get that first knife away! and good job to the students for getting it on film!!
What an amazing experience!! Way to go Brian and the Bowling Team (I had to throw them in too because I still love the fact that he is the coach.) Way to show that crazy drunk guy what's up. Come police--get with it guys!!
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