My first thought when I saw this footage was that there just HAD to be a way for the woman to foil this guy's plan. I agree with Steve that she probably made some tragic errors earlier in the abduction process, but given the fact that authorities believe her abductor knew her and it was obvious that he was HIGHLY motivated, an earlier defense may or may not have been successful. Yelling for help, while always a great choice, did little, as the videotape shows a number of spectators standing around DOING NOTHING even though it was clear that she was in serious trouble...classic.
I'm looking at this as a "Worst Case Scenario" where, yep, it might have turned out differently had she done a million other things first, but instead here she is, hoisted over her abductior's shoulder. Even at this point I believe that she could have made it so hard to be carried that he would have been forced to drop her or put her down. Along the lines of what Trembula suggested re: crawling down the back, my belief is that if a woman were to completely spaz out - violently elbow him in the back of the head and neck or thrash full force with her knees and hips, it would be very hard for her abductor to continue walking without losing his balance or her falling off of his shoulder. Mike and I were just experimenting with other ideas such as: jammimg an elbow into the side of his neck (into the mastoid process) and push away HARD as you violently roll your hips AWAY from his head. From what we could determine, it seems plausible that even a very strong abductor is likely to respond by either losing his balance or letting go of his victim. But we have not spent a lot of time experimenting, so I'm curious to know: WHO HAS TRIED DIFFERENT RELEASES FROM A CARRY AND WHAT WAS THE RESULT? I'd really like to hear what worked and what didn't!
A huge component of surviving this kind of nightmare is FIGHTING SPIRIT - the willingness to do whatever is necessary to survive and the unwillingness to give up easily. Often times the BIGGEST IMPEDIMENT TO A SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE IS PSYCHOLOGICAL, NOT PHYSICAL. In this particular case the victim probably had a history of abuse with her abductor, so it's likely that she did not believe that she had the ability or even the right to defend herself. People in this situation often give up mentally and believe they are out of options when confronted with a terrifying situation like this.
I just spoke with a friend who has studied this field extensively and he suggested that beyond "giving up", the response many people have in this scenario (allowing themselves to be carried away) may also be the result of the "hard wiring" most humans have re: maintaining our balance and equlibrium to avoid falling. If we perceive that a fall is imminent, our desire to avoid it can supercede our "fight or flight" response. For the average, untrained woman, evidently she experiences a visceral response wherein almost immediately she becomes DEPENDENT ON HER ABDUCTOR AS HER BASE. HE is what is keeping her from falling, so on a completely subconcious level she finds herself unwilling to jeopardize her safety EVEN THOUGH FIGHTING AND PERHAPS FALLING WOULD ULTIMATELY BE A WAY FOR HER TO ESCAPE! Physiologically the victim is not in an unwinnable situation, as her weigh is up above her abductor's center of gravity, so if she were to "Fight like a cat that doesn't want to be held" and land a few power blows, she would likely be released. But that would mean falling, or worse, being fallen ON, which the sunbconscious mind wants to avoid at all costs. Fascinatling, huh?
Of course, the more training a person has, the less debilitating this response will likely be - it makes sense that a judo practitioner who has taken hundreds of falls over the years would probably fare better or have been able to avoid being hoisted up to begin with. But while it obvious that physical training is a crucial component of any effective assault defense (duh!), physically practicing realistic and effective escapes for THIS SCENARIO poses huge challenges for everyone involved. In order to REALLY find out what this woman might have been able to do to escape her abductor, a person would have to be willing to incur injury, maybe serious injury, while training. A face plant, being dropped from shoulder height and slamming to the ground UNDERNEATH the abductor are all likely outcomes for a realistic full-force defense and all pose significant danger for the person in the "victim" position. On the other, it's no party for the person in the "abductor" position, either! Lifting another person over your shoulder who is struggling violently, flailing wildly or slamming you with elbows (and god knows what else) in an effort to make you let go or FALL DOWN WITH THEM ON TOP OF YOU is daunting, to say the least! Consequently, this type of scenario / defense is hard to train, even for us using the full force protective gear - it's simply too dangerous.
So again, I'm asking you all: Have you had hands-on experience training an escape from a shoulder carry scenario? If so, HOW did you approach the training (what method did you use) and what skills / defenses were effective? Please let us know because I've yet to see any system address this sceanrio in a pratical, effective way.
Thanks!
Meredith
Author
Topic: Picked up over the shoulder and thrown into the trunk (Read 1594 times)