Capt Steve
US Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,678
- Reaction score
- 3,014
I was playing golf at the local course this morning with three friends. All was well for the first six holes but when we arrived at the seventh tee we encountered the worst kind of nut...one with a gun. Her house is about 40 yards right of the tee box and we had zero conversation or interaction with this woman. As we were hitting our drives she let her two large dogs out of the house through the sliding glass door and followed them into the yard carrying a lever action, walnut stock rifle of undetermined caliber. I commented to my friends that you don't see a blond with a rifle around here very often.
I kept an eye on her and as we walked off the tee box she aimed the rifle directly at my partner and I as we were getting into the golf cart. Now she is about 40 yards away sighting us in and I loudly said "Don't do that!". She not only continues to draw a bead on us, as we drive away she tracks us for about 50 yards, all the while rifle at the shoulder sighting at our heads. I called the proshop and told them to call the Sheriff. By now we were several hundred yards down the fairway and lost sight of her. An hour and 15 minutes later the deputies arrive and I am brought in off the course to give my statement. I told them that she had a history of erratic behavior as she had gone off on a golfer that she accused of flashing her when all he was doing was tucking in his shirt. There were multiple witnesses to that incident as well. They head for her house and I return to the course.
About 45 minutes later I get a call from the deputy. Three deputies knocked on her door and she and her husband let them in. She denied the entire incident. Said they had guns in the house but none that matched my description. He didn't feel like she acted guilty or like she was lying and he felt it came down to he said/she said, no further action was contemplated. To say the least I was dumbfounded. Now I know that since the LEO's did not witness the incident they could not make an arrest but they made no effort to interview my three friends. He felt my credibility was strained as I had not called 911(calling 911 without a street address is a waste of your breath - they will not respond and I had no idea of her house address) and had knowledge of the prior incident. He inferred that I might have issues with her. I don't know this lady, have never spoken to her, just seen her on my rounds working and playing the course. I had knowledge of the prior incident only because I worked there.
He advised me to avoid any further contact with her (DUH!), and said the matter was closed. I reminded him that I had not had any contact with her until I was looking down the barrel of her rifle. Told him she was without question lying through her teeth and predicted he would hear of her again. I know LEO's are trained to be a good judge of people, read them when they are lying, but this one got by him.
For the record I was not carrying, I never do on the golf course. If I had been it would have been either my Bersa .380, my Smith 649 or MP9c. None of these would have been any sort of a match for a rifle at 40 yards. Pulling anyone of these and challenging her to drop the rifle would have only escalated the situation and we chose to flee rather than prolong our exposure to an obvious armed nut job. I just got off the phone with the deputy and asked him to call my partner for his version of what went down to verify my version. He apologized for giving me the impression that he doubted my version and promised to call Bernie.
OK guys let fly. What should I have done/not done?
I kept an eye on her and as we walked off the tee box she aimed the rifle directly at my partner and I as we were getting into the golf cart. Now she is about 40 yards away sighting us in and I loudly said "Don't do that!". She not only continues to draw a bead on us, as we drive away she tracks us for about 50 yards, all the while rifle at the shoulder sighting at our heads. I called the proshop and told them to call the Sheriff. By now we were several hundred yards down the fairway and lost sight of her. An hour and 15 minutes later the deputies arrive and I am brought in off the course to give my statement. I told them that she had a history of erratic behavior as she had gone off on a golfer that she accused of flashing her when all he was doing was tucking in his shirt. There were multiple witnesses to that incident as well. They head for her house and I return to the course.
About 45 minutes later I get a call from the deputy. Three deputies knocked on her door and she and her husband let them in. She denied the entire incident. Said they had guns in the house but none that matched my description. He didn't feel like she acted guilty or like she was lying and he felt it came down to he said/she said, no further action was contemplated. To say the least I was dumbfounded. Now I know that since the LEO's did not witness the incident they could not make an arrest but they made no effort to interview my three friends. He felt my credibility was strained as I had not called 911(calling 911 without a street address is a waste of your breath - they will not respond and I had no idea of her house address) and had knowledge of the prior incident. He inferred that I might have issues with her. I don't know this lady, have never spoken to her, just seen her on my rounds working and playing the course. I had knowledge of the prior incident only because I worked there.
He advised me to avoid any further contact with her (DUH!), and said the matter was closed. I reminded him that I had not had any contact with her until I was looking down the barrel of her rifle. Told him she was without question lying through her teeth and predicted he would hear of her again. I know LEO's are trained to be a good judge of people, read them when they are lying, but this one got by him.
For the record I was not carrying, I never do on the golf course. If I had been it would have been either my Bersa .380, my Smith 649 or MP9c. None of these would have been any sort of a match for a rifle at 40 yards. Pulling anyone of these and challenging her to drop the rifle would have only escalated the situation and we chose to flee rather than prolong our exposure to an obvious armed nut job. I just got off the phone with the deputy and asked him to call my partner for his version of what went down to verify my version. He apologized for giving me the impression that he doubted my version and promised to call Bernie.
OK guys let fly. What should I have done/not done?