A Reddit user said the encounter happened in Memphis in late February 2009 while he was pumping gas into his Jeep at the Sam’s Club station on Getwell Road, just north of I-240. According to his comment in the thread, there was a McDonald’s out in front of the station, and while he was standing there at the pump he noticed a man walking from the McDonald’s toward him. He said the guy fit the look of a gang member in that area — baggy sagging jeans, jacket, bandanna, cigarette in his mouth, the whole look that made him pay attention before the man even got close.
He wrote that the man came straight up toward the front of the Jeep and asked if he had a light. The driver immediately raised his hand in a stop gesture and told him no, he did not have a light, and to move along. That should have been the end of it. Instead, the man took offense. According to the post, the refusal visibly pissed him off, and he stepped forward again instead of backing away. Then he reached for the Jeep’s driver door handle while moving toward both the door and the owner.
The driver said he had already put his hand on his carry gun by then, a Glock 19 at the time, because he had seen the man coming across the lot and did not like the way he was locked onto him. He also said he bladed his body a bit to try to hide the fact that his hand was already on the gun. When the man grabbed for the door and kept advancing, the driver shouted, “STOP! Get back NOW!” That only made the situation worse. The man yelled back, “I GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU!” and reached under his coat and behind his right hip.
That was the moment the driver drew.
He wrote that he was already bringing the Glock up on target and fully intended to shoot. The only thing that stopped him was what he saw next: the man’s shoulders dipped and rotated as he turned to run. In other words, he was only a fraction of a second away from being shot, and the reason he lived was because he broke off at the exact point the gun was coming up. The commenter was very clear about that. He did not describe the draw as a bluff, a warning, or a maybe. He said he was coming up with every intention of firing when the suspect bailed.
After the man ran, the driver called 911 while trying to get a witness from the other side of the pump to stay and tell the police what had happened. According to him, the witness looked at him and simply said, “Nope,” then got in the car and drove away. So now he was standing there at a Memphis gas station after a near carjacking, still full of adrenaline, with the one obvious witness deciding not to be involved at all.
Then the police response changed the whole pace of the aftermath.
He said there had been a cop parked up near the Sam’s Club store doing paperwork, so the officer got to him much faster than he expected. The cop took the description and direction the suspect had run, put it out over the radio, and within minutes other officers had someone in custody. The original officer told him they were bringing the man back for an identification. A short time later, a patrol car rolled up with the same guy handcuffed in the back seat. The Reddit user identified him right there, no more than about 20 minutes after the man had nearly gotten himself killed trying to get into the Jeep.
He added that the officers did not find a gun on the suspect, which bothered him. The police told him they believed the man probably had what they called a “community gun,” meaning a firearm shared around the neighborhood that could have been stashed or handed off once he ran. What they did find on him, according to the post, was a bag of weed, a little baggie of crack, and a couple of outstanding warrants. So even without a gun physically on him when he was caught, the officers were not exactly treating him like some harmless guy who just overreacted about a lighter.
The story kept going after the arrest. The commenter said that a few months later he was in court testifying as part of the man’s trial. The suspect ended up being charged with attempted robbery and attempted carjacking, with the carjacking count tied to the fact that he had reached for the Jeep door while threatening him. According to the driver, the man was convicted and served around three years. He said he never saw him again after that.
So the full story he told was this: he was pumping gas into his Jeep at Sam’s Club in Memphis when a man walked over from the McDonald’s asking for a light. He told him no and to move along. The man got angry, grabbed for the driver’s door handle, shouted that he had something for him, and reached behind his hip. The driver drew his Glock 19 and was already coming up to fire when the man turned and ran. Police caught him within about 20 minutes, brought him back in cuffs for an identification, and the case eventually ended with convictions for attempted robbery and attempted carjacking.
What do you think — if a man at a gas pump grabbed for your Jeep door, yelled that he had something for you, and reached behind his hip, would you have read that as a carjacking right then too?
Original Reddit post: Have you had to draw your weapon?
