By: Jenna Jaynes, WOWT Channel 6
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Whether you’re walking home from work late in the afternoon, running in a park on a beautiful spring day, or walking in a parking garage at 10 a.m., it’s easy to let your guard down. You don’t think of a bad guy attacking during those times.
But when you’re alone and in a secluded area, it doesn’t matter the time of day. You can become an easy target if you aren’t aware.
That’s why the experts at 88 Tactical teach self defense classes. Trevor Thrasher, one of the trainers, said you have to be in the moment. He calls it “mindset.”
“Mindset means that you’re not paranoid but you recognize not everybody is a nice person,” he said.
So if you’re walking along a trail by yourself and you see a bad guy, Thrasher said you immediately have to get into an aggressive stance. That’s hands up, facing the bad guy. If he continues to come closer, Thrasher said be direct. Ask, “what do you want?”
“At a certain point she knows he’s following her,” Thrasher explained during a demonstration. “She takes up an assertive stance, she starts to use her bad dog voice, this lets him know she’s not an easy victim and it draws attention to the situation.”
Thrasher said bad guys don’t want three things: to be seen, to be hurt, or to get caught.
If something doesn’t feel right, make sure someone sees what’s going on. Thrasher said you can do that by yelling out loudly, telling the bad guy to back off.
If the bad guy tries to attack, Thrasher said you have to be ready to fight back. You can see examples of his escape techniques in the videos above. He said when it comes down to it, you have to use anything you can as a weapon.
“She’s gonna want to become dead weight, drop her hips and bring her elbows out and smash back and forth into his face as hard as she can until he releases his hands,” he said. “From there she’ll turn and she can attack the eyes, get her distance again, and then she can escape.”
Thrasher said following these strategies will help deter 90 percent of the situations you’re in.
He adds that in order to be in the moment you have to get rid of the headphones, keep your head on a swivel, and always assume you’re never alone.
“Before you get out of your car look around,” he said. “Are there any bad guys or any shady people around? Are they paying too much attention to you? Is there a van parked next to you with no windows? Something that’s gonna block your view of others? If there’s no people around that’s probably a good indicator that I should park somewhere else even if it means walking an extra 100 yards.”
All of this, Thrasher said, keeps you from being a target.
“She’s not an easy victim and he should look for someone else.”