Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 21, 1995 TAG: 9503210129
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANGELA CAIN KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Someone grabs your purse in a grocery-store parking lot.
Someone tries to jump into your car at an intersection.
Someone leaps out from behind a bush in your front yard.
The attack can strip you of your money, your car, maybe even your life.
Many people think they'll never become victims of such crimes.
But chances are, you may have prevented an attack from happening without even knowing it.
``The littlest thing you may have done - making eye contact with a suspicious person, parking under a light, timing your exit from a building so that someone else is leaving at the same time - could have made you less likely to become a victim,'' says Emory Morris of Tallahassee, owner of Taekwondo USA, who frequently teaches a self-defense course.
``It's a revolution for a lot of people that self-defense is mainly prevention.''
Self-defense training often is thought of as a series of karate chops and slick maneuvers that will render an attacker helpless. But self-defense experts say such moves should be a last resort.
Your best bet is to try to avoid such potentially life-threatening situations in the first place, says Bill Bierbaum, a Tallahassee (Fla.) Police Department officer who teaches a personal-safety course.
Most of all, Bierbaum encourages women to be aware of their surroundings, to be aware of what's happening around them. If something seems suspicious, don't make yourself a likely victim. Trust your instincts. Avoid the circumstance all together.
Jennifer Luther regrets that she ignored her instincts on that late night in 1992.
After working a late shift as a waitress, she and a friend pulled into the driveway of her home. Although she sensed that something was amiss, Luther stepped out of her car anyway.
That's when a man appeared from behind some bushes, waving a gun. He ran toward her and grabbed her purse.
As his brow wrinkled, Luther knew he was going to shoot her. The bullet pierced her left arm, knocking her to the ground.
In the 60 seconds it took for the incident to occur, there was nothing she could have done to prevent it from happening.
Luther knows that what happened was not her fault. But she says she'll never ignore a premonition of impending danger again.
``The main thing I think I did wrong was not listen to my intuition,'' says Luther, now 26, a Tallahassee Community College student.
However, personal-safety experts say that people shouldn't question how they coped in an unexpected situation.
``If you survived, you did the right thing,'' Bierbaum says. ``It's very easy for somebody to be a Monday morning quarterback and second guess somebody's handling of a situation. Violence is unpredictable. You have to do what feels right for you. Every situation is different.''
Much like the Boy Scout motto, a person's best defense against a rape or assault is to be prepared. Taking a self-defense or personal safety course is one preventive option.
``A class doesn't prevent bad things from happening to you,'' says Joyce Carbonell, a Florida State University associate professor of psychology who teaches a safety course with Bierbaum.
Morris adds: ``A self-defense class gives a person as many multiple choices as there can be for a situation. A person who is truly vulnerable is a person who has no options.''
The first step is to ask yourself what you are willing to do to defend yourself.
Carbonell encourages women to imagine scenarios of dangerous situations and how they would handle them.
``When an assault situation arises, women tend to have an immediate startled reaction. They need to know what to do after that. It's important for people to feel mentally and physically prepared.''
Some women don't think they'll be able to fight off an attacker. Others fear that the attacker will become angry if they fight back.
Carbonell says there is no defense strategy that is 100-percent guaranteed for every situation.
Bierbaum and Morris teach physical defense moves such as gouging an attacker's eyes, but many women cringe at the thought of using force against another person.
``At the time you're doing a self-defense technique, you can't be worried about the other person's safety,'' Morris says. ``You have to believe that you're worth fighting for.
``Using physical force is the last resort. But when these techniques are done, there's no halfway to do them. You have to do them 100 percent, and practice them that way, too.''
Morris teaches a target-based system of self-defense. Weaker areas of the body, including eyes, ears, nose, throat and groin, should be prime targets for a woman fending off an attacker.
``A woman tends to get nervous because she can't physically move the attacker, but the person who is trying to get a hold of you is not made of solid steel,'' he says.
``Ears will tear as easy as cardboard. An open eye is not the strongest part of the body either. Strike at the eyes with your keys or your fingernails. Just don't feel like what you do has to be technically perfect. Be accurate and hit hard.''
The groin seems to be the first place people think of to grab, kick or knee. But initially, that might not be the best choice. Attackers expect a person to go for the groin.
Instead, use a distraction technique first, such as screaming, gouging an attacker's eyes or using pepper spray. Then, do a groin grab or kick. As soon as you do these techniques, run.
``The best self-defense technique I know is running,'' Morris says.
Bierbaum says too many people rely solely on a weapon, such as a gun or pepper spray. The false sense of security people have when they carry a weapon makes them unprepared to handle an attack.
The weapon used on Luther wasn't hers, but the bullet's scar will forever remind her that violent acts can happen to anyone.
by CNB