Screen capture by Boch. Via YouTube.

Here at TTAG, we’ve covered the great utility of dashcams for evidentiary value as well as for self-improvement. Now comes a dashcam video from a taxi driver in Chile who narrowly escaped a robbery and carjacking late one night. The taxi driver’s response to the attempted attack looks to be virtually textbook perfect.

The incident began with the carjackers forcing their vehicle in front of the taxi driver at an exit (see photo at top).

The good guy exercised good personal defensive driving skills, maintaining a healthy separation from the vehicle in front of him. Notice his separation compared to the other drivers in both directions.

Screen capture by Boch. Via YouTube.

In this case, after intentionally hanging back from the vehicle in front of him, the victim saw four armed individuals emerge from the car in front of him after they tried to box him in to prevent his escape.

General George Patton once said that a decent plan violently executed right now is better than a perfect plan implemented next week.

Screen capture by Boch. Via YouTube.

Instead of submitting to the attack, he accelerated at three of the four attackers, grazing one as the others got out of the way. The taxi then careened past the carjackers’ ride and sped away…after a big sigh from the good guy driver.

Screen capture by Boch. Via YouTube.

Again, the dashcam tells the tale (the action starts at about 1:25 as the carjackers stop under an overpass).

https://youtu.be/wLk-u79Xrrs

And the aftermath is covered in a local TV report here.

The reaction of the taxi driver to the attempted carjacking and robbery could not have been better, given the circumstances.

The lessons we can take away include maintaining a healthy gap between our vehicle and anyone ahead of us, particularly at stoplights or in chokepoints as seen in the video.  Remember, distance gives you time and time gives you options. Options usually mean a good chance at getting to safety.

Lastly, if something happens, don’t forget to come back to General Patton’s maxim: a good plan executed violently right now is far better than a perfect plan implemented next week.

 

 

51 COMMENTS

    • The problem here isn’t that these people decided to make a roadblock and rob/murder someone. The problem here is they had guns! Guns are the problem! And if we can just stop guns from happening, we can instantly make the hearts of all people warm, compassionate, and crime free, and get away from “Losses can never be too high” capitalvania, to “freedom can never be too low” paradise.

      • The crime plan would have had an excellent chance of success if the perps had sledgehammers if the raxi driver had just followed protocol.

      • Can’t take guns, they give me that warm, fuzzy safe feeling your talking about.

      • Dacian….as Sam Elliott might remark…..aren’t you a special kind of stupid. Evil, Violence, and Mayhem aka Burn/Loot/Murder and AntFarts exist, always have, always will. It is the intent within individuals rather than the tools at their disposal that make for EVM/BLM/AF actiions.
        The late Col Jeff Cooper remarked in 1958, “Killing is a matter of will nt weapons. You cannot control the act by passing laws concerning the means.”

        • It’s the fake dacian. He was brief, to the point, and made more sense than the real dacian.

          The real dacian likes to demonstrate his eloquent sesquipedalian loquaciousness with Massive walls of text spewing hate, anger, and bitterness at the world, gun owners, and promised but unrealized revolution.

          For a while I thought his mental state was from tertiary syphilis, based on his rants, but now I think he’s a vegan who needs to be fed a double whopper with extra bacon to correct the enzyme imbalance.

        • Dackie Boy.. plese ignore him. Maybe he’ll go away. Or get hit whilst attempting to carkjack a cab.

  1. This cab drivers situational awareness saved the day for him.He stayed at a safe distance and reacted as soon as the car jackers made their attempt at car jacking him.We have the same problem in this country.Ever increasing car jackings and robberies in this country is sending new gun owners to stores to buy protection for themselves and their families.A complancement legal system that releases criminals out without bail or low bail and Attorney Generals that refuse to use sentinceing guidelines are part of the problem also.

    • One greatdefense agasint carjacking is to drive an old beater that is solid and reliable. No jcker will take a second look at such a ride.

      Yes, the DCam video shows him falling WAY back as sooon as the SUV crowded him a bit on the lane change. Cut him off pretty closely, and Cabbie dropped WAY back.. gave him the space he needed to assess, and take INSTAND action when he KNEW they are “game on”. Bet those four clowns were surprised when Cabbie hit the long skinny pedal on the right instead of the short fat one on the left. The THUMP when the one guy got whacked was VERY satisfying to hear.
      Wish the newscast video had shown the carjacker’s ride with the right front door torn off, maybe some other scraes along that side. Pretty hard to hide that car…… plus the dded delay of the clown who sprouted wings and flew for a ways. Bet he hit the trmac with anohter solid whump. Probably leaked some red stuff, too. Stuidpeople make stupid moves and win stupid prizes. WOnder what charges were laid agasint the 20 something female driver/ringleader mentioned on the newscast. Two teenage punks were lso part of the crew… I think 14 and 16 or so. No word on how badly the one who got an extra punt came out. Prolly a trip to hospital. Doubt they sent him to the basement, though. But maybe.
      One sharp cabbie. good on him.

    • Agree. At least they lost a door and hopefully that made it easier for the cops to find them.

  2. Shouldn’t be too hard to find the perps’ car. Talk about blowing your doors off..

    • Good job cabbie! Breaking: Jimenez Arms shut down by ATF. Get ’em before they blowup in yer hand🙄

      • “Breaking: Jimenez Arms shut down by ATF. Get ’em before they blowup in yer hand”

        Worse, they destroyed all firearms and the parts used to make them.

        Could that be grounds for a civil rights violation lawsuit? The poor have the same rights as everyone else for self-defense, and often can’t afford the higher-end guns…

        • This ‘news’ is relevant to Geoff, as he is a member of the bottom 1% (in more than just the economic sense too). But to the rest of us, this is irrelevant. Quite honestly, I’m glad these sorry excuses for guns are done forever.

  3. Come again? Unless the cabbie had BULLET PROOF glass he is one lucky bugger that’s for sure. The obvious intent on the part of the bad guys was NOT TO KILL in the first place just to nick his cab. If the intent was to kill he would have been as dead and they would have been armed with something other than bloody hand guns. Just a bit of critical thinking. Just saying!!

    • Albert ‘Hand Licker’ Hall, the very last thing you can lay claim to is “critical thinking”.

    • “bugger”
      “nick his cab”
      “bloody hand guns”

      That all sounds mighty English of you, along with giving the criminals the benefit of the doubt and believing the victim should just give up his property (and perhaps life) to the perpetrators. People like you are the reason the Rochdale child sex abuse ring went on for so long.

    • per the newsclip, two of the perps were kids, but it seems all had guns, or at least things that looked like them. Such kids dont really intend to kill with them, only use them for intimidation. But Cabbie wasn’t buying any of it. He had smelled trouble way back, about the time they took the offramp, or earlier. He was building hisplan. As soon as they bailed out of the SUV nd spread out to corral him, he just said to himself :de le” and hit it. Seasoned cabbies know their territory ANd their car very well. He sized up the width of that slot, KNEW he could make it by taking off the right front door of the SUV, and moved so quickly and decisively the foop l perps were freaked, diving for cover. Tables got turned on them pretty quickly, didn’t tney? The perps turned victim and lost that round, big tome. WOnder how bad the guy who got thumoed by the cab came away from his magic carpet ride? Bet the meetup with the macadam was, uhm, “interesting”. Wonder if he is smart enough to try and find a better way to make a living?

  4. Situational Awareness. Chisel it in stone. Every street crime I worked the victim said some variation of “He came out nowhere!” No, he didn’t. Scottie did not beam him down. He was there the whole time. The victim just needed to get their head out of their fourth point of contact and look around.

    • I see people so engrossed in their phones they have nearly walked into traffic. I stopped some by grabbing them by the collar. Perhaps I should stop and consider it Darwinism in progress.

  5. The music makes that video.

    Also, a great argument for the 114lb steel bumper/bull bar I recently installed. Always knew I’d find a good excuse.

    • Moosesses are a thing way up here in the colonies. Big things. I’ve met two at higher velocities, neither on the bike, thank f#ck.

  6. Well done, taxi driver!

    Still, he was lucky the robbers made the mistake of leaving room on the right side of their vehicle for him to squeeze by.

    • Ken, that’s when you start pushing the whole shit-n-kaboodle down the road. Come, bleed, or blister. Something is going to give.

    • Or, throw it reverse and back away. Quickly! If that path is open. It’s all about options. Best to know what they are before you need them. That’s situational awareness.

    • Nah he had room on the left. On the plus side it would have taken out one of the bastards also.

    • Yup We are so engrained to pass on the left hardly anyone ever things to take the path to the right. The rig had moved to the left to block that path, opening up the right side. Well played by the hackie.

  7. Too bad he grazed a bad guy instead of smearing him against the wall like a bug under a boot.

    • well, that thump was pound enough I think he got a pretty big hurt put on him. Well deserved, too. I think he went a flying through the air with the greatest of ease… like the old Irish bricklayer’s sage, its not the falling but the landing that wil lalter social standing….. though I’m pretty certain that thump heard in the dashcam video straeam hurt quite a bit. I’d be very shocked if he did not have at least a few broken bones. WHich he certainly earned.

  8. I don’t know…that is a pretty satisfying “splutch” from impacting the first guy on the right. Sounded like more than a “grazing”. Hopefully that carjacker will have trouble ambulating for the rest of his life.

      • @R/S

        I recorded my Garand ejecting a clip. That “Ping” is my current notification tone. I like it in that I can hear it even when there is high ambient noise. Fun to watch other Garand owners recognize the sound…non-shooters have no clue.

        • Montana, Ha! Excellent! Prob cause quite a stir years ago at a Veterans get together 😁.

  9. This will start happening here, more and more, especially to the owners of expensive German cars. If you’ve got the bling, you’ll feel the sting, is all I can tell you. You make yourself a target if you advertise your wealth.

    • Yup. I used to know a guy mod forties, always wore a $10K Rolex, genuine. But he walked around in old blue jeans, chambray shirt with a few stais and tears, and old tennie runners. A bit of scruff in his beard, unkept hair, wide awake and aware. He’d walk thorugh the “bad part of town” and never get a second look. The Rolex was up under the sleeve of that old faded Cchambray shirt, not out there bliding and dazzling.

      I find one of the best defenses agasist car “troubles”like this is to drive a rock solid prefectl running beater. I’m inside odon;t see the dents and scaprs, or the busted grille, and don’t give rip. I’ve run that thing for mmore than a quarter million miles its mever left me stranded, always runs perfectly and no one ever gives it a second look. Added facttor I have hardly anything invested in it.

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