Intuition - a textbook example

Trusting your instincts when followed
Illustration photo, from sxc.hu

From Tulsa Oklahoma, here's a textbook example of why you should always pay attention to your surroundings and listen to your instincts/gut feeling when you get this "something isn't quite right here".

It is really impressive to see how this woman does everything right in handling this potentially dangerous situation - read it carefully and learn from it!

She got off work Thursday night, went home, opened the garage door and, as she does each night, took a moment to look around.
"When I turned around to check, I felt somebody was there. He looked me straight in the eye," Keely said.
Keely quickly realized she had been followed. She put the garage door back down and pulled out of her neighborhood, hoping maybe he was just lost, but he followed her.

What's your take on this article? Also, do you have similar experiences like this with using your awareness and trusting your instincts?

He acted that way

I commend this woman for fighting back and probably saving her own life.
But seriously, does anyone believe that self-defense/fighting back is as easy as it looks on television?
There's however another far more interesting observation here:
"I was aware of him, I saw him there. I thought he was a caretaker at the cemetery. He acted that way."
Most likely, if you are being that aware about someone, your intuition has told you that something is not right!
Think about it, we will register that someone has legitimate business being around us - like in working there.
If, however we are being aware of the person, there might absolutely be something else we have noticed. This may be that the person acts like it. Really, this phrase alone tells the whole story - acting. This woman has seen already that this was not real.

Story:
Texas -- A 43-year-old man has been charged with attacking a woman at a Beaumont cemetery.

The 45 year old woman from Beaumont said she was visiting her husband's grave on Valentine's Day when she saw the man who would soon attack her.

"I was aware of him," she told us. "I saw him there. I thought he was a caretaker at the cemetery. He acted that way."

The woman says he struck her with decorative items from her husband's grave."They were square cross luminary lights," she said. "He broke them on me. He beat my head to a pulp. I needed stitches in my forehead, left eye and eyebrow. I spent five days in a hospital. My jaw was injured. I had bruises down my cheeks and behind my ears, and scratches on my shoulders. My hands and arms were bruised."

"I'm alive, that's the main thing," she said. "I thanked my big brother for fighting with me while we were growing up because that made me fight that guy. It isn't as easy as it looks on television, but that definitely saved my life because I think he was going to kill me."

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Instincts

The woman in the earliest incident here obviously trusted her instincts!
If you get this feeling that something isn't quite right, then leave immediately, it's always better to feel "stupid" than being robbed or assaulted, or something even worse.

Chicago - A man abducted and attempted to rob a female graduate student in the Hyde Park area on Thursday, January 25.

Police believe this may be the same man who parked a similar van in the area at 9:45 p.m., Thursday, January 18, and asked a passing woman for the time.

When she felt uncomfortable and subsequently fled, the man briefly pursued her. The woman was not hurt.

Source

"Inexplicable instinct"

One of the first rules of self-defense: Always trust your instincts!
It goes without saying that taking a bogus cab/taxi is something that should be avoided at all costs. Even if a car looks like a taxi, does not guarantee it to be a legitimate taxi!

Source:
UK -- The incident happened when young student picked up what she thought was a cab at Lynn Bus Station at around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 5.

She thought everything was OK but an inexplicable instinct warned her not to give the driver her full address.

The driver was initially friendly and chatty but after she handed over payment at her destination, he pulled off again and would not stop.

The quick-thinking 17-year-old leapt from the vehicle when the driver reduced his speed just a few streets from where she had originally asked to be dropped off.

Source

Being followed

Hmmm...
"She was very aware this person was following her."
And still she just parks outside her house and gets out without being certain about the follower?
And we wonder why people are being victims, and calling crimes for random?
Luckily, this woman escaped unharmed though.

Story:
The victim, who was described as physically slight and "bookish," was returning home from a wedding early Sunday and had just pulled off of the Blue Route when the she noticed a car following close behind.

This car is right up on her to the point she thought it was a police car, according to police. She makes a right, and he's right behind her. She was very aware this person was following her.

When the victim pulled into her driveway she thought the car had driven past her house. But what she didn't know was that the driver of the black Solara parked behind some tall bushes and turned off the car’s lights and ignition, police said.

As the victim gathered some items from the back of her car, the suspect, wearing a mask, walked up from behind. He told her not to scream and to go with him.

At one point, he hit her over the head with what the victim believed to be a silver revolver with a black handle, police said. The woman was forced into the trunk of the car, which the man then drove off. The victim was able to escape from the trunk and call for help.

Source

It was odd

Here's a great example of not trusting your instincts. Luckily the woman managed to get out of the dangerous situation unharmed.
Think about it: Why would someone park close to your car in a garage, when there are lots of vacant slots?
And asking for light, direction, a cigarette etc. is very often a part of what we call an "interview". The fact that the perpetrator "seemed pleasant", should also be considered a danger sign - it's a set up, for crying out loud!

Story:
A Maitland office worker's quick thinking helped her foil a kidnapping Wednesday morning even though she had been choked unconscious and dragged into her abductor's car.

"She's darn lucky to be alive," a Maitland police officer said.

The woman had parked in a multistory garage and was reading a newspaper about 7:20 a.m. when a young man asked her to light his cigarette, police said.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, told detectives she thought it was odd that the man had parked close to her car with so many other vacant spaces, but that he seemed pleasant.

Source

Desperate action

This incident shows a couple of things, apart from the outright stupidity and mindlessness of some middle-aged men.
First it shows that it is quite possible to defend against a strangle-hold with one of your own, especially if you know how, and/or uses some item to apply the hold with.
It also proves (again) the amount of strength, ingenuity and willpower that a person can apply when the survival instinct kicks in.
Brave girl!

Story:
New Hampshire -- "When people find you, you will be decomposing."

That was the threat that the 17-year-old girl told police spurred her into desperate action; she decided she had to strangle her assailant before he strangled her.

As he choked her in the front seat of his pickup truck on a back road in Auburn, she managed to grab an orange cord and wrap it around his neck, tightening it until the 45-year-old Manchester man gasped for air and she heard a gurgling sound.

According to court records, after she released the cord the man sliced his wrist with a box cutter and then began begging the girl not to go to police.

Source