Ever Been Attacked?

[jim sitton]

Photogs are threatened and attacked all the time. What's your story?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16fDRt1GOE

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ok here's another kind of attack.

Late night fatal car in canal accident. Out in the middle of no-where Texas. Circa 1983
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I sat my camera down on the bank (in the dark) as I waited for an officer to come give me an SOT.
Finally he comes over and I pick up my camera and put it on my shoulder to do a quick interview.
As he begins to answer my first question I feel alot of little crawly tickly sensations all over my neck and shoulder. Tickly turns to painful stinging as the red ants begin biting me as fast as they can. I scream, throw down the camera and start ripping my shirt off and running around in circles like a lil girl. Flailing about and yelping like an epileptic monkey.
The cop at first thought I'd lost my mind and looked as if he was gonna shoot me. I was stripped down to my skivvies before he and all the firefighters realized what was happening.

Lets just say, They all had a great laugh and I learned a valuable lesson.
Never set your camera down at night in a bed of red ants and NEVER scream like a lil girl in front of cops!

Neither group will let you forget!

Jim

[Land Rover]

I had a flock of hornets chase me but I got away. My tripod wasn't so lucky and I had to wait for them to calm down before I could go back for it. Didn't get stung by the way.

[pre-set]

I got the sh!t kicked outta me prettyl good while covering a basketball post-game riot at the University of Maryland in January of 2001, I think.

I was heading back to my truck with a dead camera battery, and rounded the corner of a building next to where I was parked just in time to run into 5 or 6 guys beginning to trash the truck. 2 of 'em took off right away, but the others jumped right on me.

Looking back on it, I was too damn worried about my camera, and trying to protect it while trying to get outta dodge, instead of putting up a better fight and maybe stopping things right there. I shoulda just dropped it and grabbed the nearest kid to start beating him, but I didn't. I held onto it the whole time, and as a result, was pretty much defenseless AND off-balance. The only good thing was that I stayed on my feet and was able to keep moving. If I had fallen, they woulda stomped me. By keeping moving, they weren't able to kick me - only punch, and I was able to get back to the street and they broke off out of fear of a cop seeing them (lots of cops in riot gear that night).

Not the first time in my life - or the last - that I'd been in a fight. But it was the most lop-sided. I got punched in the ear (which unless you've ever felt it you cannot possiblity understand how much that hurts!), lip cut, ribs sore... but I still think of it as getting off light. The only thing I managed was to elbow one of the kids in the eye socket. That stopped him cold, but not his buddies...


Lessons learned?

Find a better, safer parking place if possible. It didn't occur to me at the time, but it's obvious now. I was in a secluded area behind a building with NO sightlines to the street. Bad place.

Have a spare battery on you if you find yourself in a riot. If my battery hadn't died, I woulda walked back an hour later to a truck with busted windows, but I would've been fine.

Look and listen before you walk around corners in situations like that. Think like a crimminal, sneaking around, instead of just walking around corners.

Either fight or run - but not both. Your call.

If you decide to fight, forget the camera. Drop it. All it does is keep you off balance and occupy an arm. An arm that you NEED right then.

The eye socket of the kid standing to your left is great place to jam your left elbow. It makes him let go of your jacket and fall to the ground. Also, from past experience (not this one) - if you can find ONE guy to focus your entire attack on, it'll ussually scare the others enough that they'll stay out of it for afew seconds. Take that 5 seconds and kick and punch that guy as many times as you possibly can, then be ready to run like Hell.



Hope that helps....




And I'd take fire ant stings over getting beat up any day.

[jim sitton]

"And I'd take fire ant stings over getting beat up any day."

Amen to that Brother!

I once knew a photog that got suspended for going to the aide of another photographer who was getting beat up after a football game. His station was pissed because he didn't roll tape.
A third shooter from a competing station neglected to help and got the video. The suits thought HE was the hero???

[Sore Shoulder]

If you decide to fight, forget the camera. Drop it. All it does is keep you off balance and occupy an arm. An arm that you NEED right then.


What about using the camera as a weapon? A little turn to the right (if it's on shoulder) and smack! with the battery. owie

[cameragod]

I’ve had stones thrown at me, been punched, spat at, cracked a rib in a peace protest, run over by a police car and humorously hit with an umbrella…

but the one that I like to tell is the time I was walking in London’s Leicester Square when a guy lunged out and grabbed the camera. By pure reflex I didn’t let go so when he pulled I fell forward. We stumbled a couple of steps crashing up against a wall. My elbow came up as we landed and connected solidly with his nose, banging his had back on the wall. He let go of the camera ran squirting blood, still slightly confused as to what just happened I had to choke down the urge to yell “sorry” after him.

Maybe I should have had a sign in of cameraninja? Maybe not, my elbow hurt.

[104imdirect]

The story was about a pitbull that supposedly mauled a baby. Cops show up to the house and the dog comes running out with blood all over him. Dog charges cops - cops shoot dog. Dead baby + dead dog = lead at 11. So we're getting ready to do a live shot and a group of people come walking up the street screaming at us to get the f out of their hood and it wasn't right for the cops to shoot the dog. We were a minute from air when they started throwing bottles and rocks. I called 911 - and as is the case often in south baltimore, no cops showed up. Managed to do the shot and get up out without any scratches - just a bunch of sots that will never make air.
Also had bottle rockets shot at my live truck while driving through another sketchy area of the city one night. Thought they were gunshots.

[Frank McBride]

I've had a few. I posted a thread (http://www.b-roll.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19107) awhile back about a woman who pushed me into a ditch. Some thought I might have caused that one by pestering her too much. Like cameragod I've also been whacked with an umbrella, but luckily no broken bones. In the critter category I've had some serious encounters with dogs but never got bitten (the key is never turn your back, and a kick to the mouth can change an attitude quickly), but my most embarassing was when I was doing a story on a nature trail near Jennings, LA and as I was rolling tape I was bitten on the back of the neck by what I later learned was a deer fly. Sounds harmless, but trust me...OW! I really wished I hadn't been rolling because I was right there with you doing the girly scream. But that was a long time ago! ;)

FMc

[Sean-1966]

I had a Mexican soldier put the business end of a rifle to my chest once. Had a couple of handlers get a little pushy with me. Got surrounded by some less than nice people doing a video on Hate Crimes. Luckily one of the guys with us was a cop and he pulled us out quickly. I've never seen trashy people move so fast.

[Raiderfan]

It was actually a year ago today that I was assaulted. A guy was pissing on the live truck and I got out to tell him to get away. I was a bit close to the guy and the next thing I know I get punched in the face. I tried to run, stumbled and fell as I was trying to get my phone out to dial 911. I just rolled myself into a ball and got kicked in the back and then some other people came and hit the guy with a sandwhich board. Turns out he also had a knife on him and I am told he was getting it out when the people showed up. I was out of work for a week with a black eye and back spazms. The guy got four months in jail. He was also drunk and high, and didn't even remember attacking me.

[SimonW]

cracked a rib in a peace protest

An irony if ever I heard one!

[Hank Scorpio]

Raiderfan-

Check your Private Messages

[Spot remover]

Pushed a lot, yelled at a lot

got the finger countless times

Someone tried to hit me with a car (see 5' woman below)

had a bottle thrown at me at a Grateful Dead concert from 50' up. missed. barely..

jumped on by a 5', 85 lb. woman (I'm 6'4", 235lbs., it felt like I was giving a piggyback ride to a 5 grader)

Same lady's 400lb., 76 year old father tried to hit me with a 12' long 2x4. He was so winded by the time got to me, he couldn't left the thing

Got shot at...kinda. The perp in question was shooting at the demons in his house and head and the bullets hit the brances above me and a super cute girl cop. We snuggled behind a huge oak tree until it was over.

[SupaMusk]

Pushed a lot, yelled at a lot

got the finger countless times

Someone tried to hit me with a car (see 5' woman below)

had a bottle thrown at me at a Grateful Dead concert from 50' up. missed. barely..

jumped on by a 5', 85 lb. woman (I'm 6'4", 235lbs., it felt like I was giving a piggyback ride to a 5 grader)

Same lady's 400lb., 76 year old father tried to hit me with a 12' long 2x4. He was so winded by the time got to me, he couldn't left the thing

Got shot at...kinda. The perp in question was shooting at the demons in his house and head and the bullets hit the brances above me and a super cute girl cop. We snuggled behind a huge oak tree until it was over.


WOW...you're synopsis makes them alot funnier than it probably was. But because my imagination makes it tens times funnier...i'm not going to ask how and why these events occured...

...Glad you're alright though

[Rusty_Hoot]

I was covering the typical Thanksgiving Day feeding the homeless story when one homeless guy took exception to my being there with a camera. Said I had no right to put homeless people on TV. I told him that since he seemed to be the only one who had a problem with my presence, I promised not to shoot video of him.

I continue doing my story when a few minutes later he attacks me from my right side where my camera is on my shoulder so I never see him coming. My camera slams into my jaw and head and the only thing I can think of is keeping ahold of it. The guy starts punching and I avoid him by backing away and yelling at him to back off. Amazingly, no-one else seemed to notice, not even the few police officers who were there. He walked away cursing and I ended up continuing on and keeping my distance from him, always keeping him in sight. Luckily I only had a sore jaw and split lip.

[C St. SW]

I was covering the typical Thanksgiving Day feeding the homeless story when one homeless guy took exception to my being there with a camera. Said I had no right to put homeless people on TV. I told him that since he seemed to be the only one who had a problem with my presence, I promised not to shoot video of him.

I always HATED shooting those stories. Half the people in those feeding programs or homeless shelters don't want anything to do with cameras and the other half are just plain mental cases. The problem is you can't ever tell which is which.

[cameragod]

An irony if ever I heard one!

To this day I don't know who did it.

Whoever it was I really don’t like peace protests. For some reason Peace protesters are always the most violent. They seem to attract all the nut elements and are so vague, no one is marching for the same reasons, and they are usually not under any sort of march control.


In this one I was crushed in between a barrier, the police and the crowd, when someone hit me on the blindside and actually managed to crack a rib. Didn’t see who did it, most likely it was a protester or less likely a cop but it could also have been a dickhead Scottish snapper that I had ongoing issues with, he was right there... looking smug.



He ended up in hospital a week later when a gang member attacked him outside a court… he gave up shooting after that… karma? irony?… just don’t know.

[FloridaFotog]

Good thread...lets see

Had a monkey jump on me doing a live morning show shoot. The shoot had nothing to do with a monkey...to this day not sure why it was there?

Been shot at ....that was also live....won a best breaking news AP award for that crap.

Can hurricanes count for attacks =)

[Sportsguy]

Covering a mini-riot following a Puerto Rican Day parade: Had a softball-sized chunk of concrete lobbed through a newsvan window in my general direction. The window was closed prior to the strike. (Which was great, because then the tear gas was able to waft in...)

Missed my head by probably a quarter of an inch. I felt the air move as it careened past my head and ended up covered in glass.

[Ecks76]

Got shot at...kinda. The perp in question was shooting at the demons in his house and head and the bullets hit the brances above me and a super cute girl cop. We snuggled behind a huge oak tree until it was over.

Well as long as you got to snuggle, that makes it all worthwhile! ;)