The bad guy always wants one of three things: property, body or life.
“Bad guys don’t want to get caught, they don’t want to get hurt, they don’t want shit to take too long,” says Tony Blauer, who owns Blauer Tactical Systems and leads the CrossFit Defense courses.
In a carjacking scenario, it’s no different.
“The simplest thing to do is make that car inoperable,” Blauer explains. “I want to devalue myself as a target without escalating the violence.”
So he acts out a hypothetical situation in which he’s either getting boxed in or is hit from behind and feels as if a carjacking is likely.
“The easiest thing to do is to shut your car off the second you have a bad feeling,” Blauer says.
Then, pretend you ran out of gas by quickly exiting the car and yelling in frustration. And don’t let your mind wander to all the potential situations that could arise afterward. Pretending to be out of gas is a safe move that could save you.
“We gotta take care of one problem at a time,” Blauer says. “There is no risk in playing the safety card. Absolutely no risk.”
The technique can also be used to defuse a situation at an ATM machine: ATM Strategy With Tony Blauer.
Video by Jay Vera.
4min 18sec
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Additional reading: Dark-Alley Defense by Hilary Achauer, published Jan. 8, 2013.