The title is blunt, but there is nothing politically correct about attempted rape! This article in our situational awareness series will talk about a very brave woman that was recently assaulted while she was on a run. We have so much to learn from her situation and we will discuss the importance of self-defense skills in today’s world. View our video below for running and walking safety tips.
Imagine being in this scenario:
You are out on a 5-mile run and you stop to use the park restroom. Out of nowhere a man grabs you in the bathroom and starts to beat you. You are getting kicked in the knees and legs and are in a fight for your life.
What thoughts are going through your mind right now?
Do you know how to fight against this man or should you just tell him to stop hurting you and comply?
Do you have a plan of action for a situation like this? Have you ever thought about being attacked? If you answered “no” then keep on reading to learn what to do.
Kelly Herron was recently assaulted in a park restroom and we can learn a lot from this brave woman. Here is her recollection of what happened:
“He immediately took me down to the ground, hit both my knees and legs, and then it was a fight on the bathroom floor and I just kept screaming, ‘Not today, motherf—ker!'” she recounted in her interview with ABC. She also recalled that with help from a passerby, she was able to fend him off. “I was able to lock him in the bathroom until police arrived. Thankfully I just took a self-defense class offered at my work and utilized all of it. My face is stitched, my body is bruised, but my spirit is intact.”
A few things we can learn from Kelly’s experience are:
- Only use restrooms where there are many people. Isolated restrooms are fringe areas and are a perfect location for crime.
- Self-defense classes are imperative to learn the proper mindset to fight against a predator. Mindset is everything when it comes to self-defense and Kelly had the proper training to fight back. Studies show if you don’t have the proper mindset, you will likely freeze when you are put in a difficult situation.
- Do not be submissive or compliant when someone is beating you. Kelly did not submit to his blows and say, “Please stop! I’ll do anything you want me to do!” Criminals have reported being more aggressive toward victims who are submissive to their commands. Kelly said, “My spirit is intact.” We know the likely outcome had Kelly been compliant.
- If you cannot get away you need to match violence with violence to prevail.
Criminals don’t ever play fair. They don’t care if you are a child, elderly or a disabled person in a wheelchair. They will use you however they want with extreme violence to get the gratification they want and will not feel a bit of empathy for you. Are you trained and willing to counter assault with an equal amount of violence to save your life?
Do you think Kelly Herron thought she would be assaulted that day? I bet she didn’t. Guess what? She had the insight to know that someday, just maybe, someone might try to hurt her.
An all too common theme is that Kelly Herron’s attacker was a former sex offender. The average number of years served for an 8-year sentence for a sex offense is 3.5 and the chances of a sex offender striking again may be as high as 70%.
NO ONE and WE MEAN NO ONE has the right to ever touch you or hurt you. Statistics show that most violent encounters are over in 9 seconds when the police response may be 10-15 minutes away. You need to be able to take care of yourself because, like it or not, you are your own first responder. Do not hide under the fluffy white blanket of denial and think it will not happen to you.
Kelly Herron ran 4 miles and then “kicked the sh_t out” of a very violent former sex offender! This woman is a huge role model for the rest of us and we have so much to learn from her story.
More and more people are becoming empowered with lifesaving self-defense skills and guess what that means for the criminals out on the streets?
We see you. We know how you operate. We can read your body language. We know your next move. We know what you will do to us. We have the mindset to move away and get away from you. We are prepared to fight for our lives. We know self-defense skills to stop you. We likely are carrying self-defense tools in our skinny jeans and know how to use them.
NOT TODAY MOTHER F_ _KERS!
Join the community of empowered people who have self-defense skills. We hope you will not need our training, but we like to say it is better to have the skills and not need them than need the skills and not have them.
Get Online Situational Awareness and Self-Defense training here or empower yourself with our many free life-saving videos and blogs.
Beth is the founder of Pretty Loaded. On a mission to install strength, awareness, and confidence, Beth began her journey as an educator and National speaker after a close encounter with a would-be predator. She has trained thousands of people in person, and through her online training and videos around the world. Her safety videos reach millions globally! She is responsible for starting the National Situational Awareness Day and this was approved by the registrar of the National Day Calendar. Beth has been featured on Consumer Reports, Reddit, Yahoo!Finance, Elite Readers, BuzzFeed, ViralNova, and many more networks. Beth loves spending her time reading, playing tennis, cooking, and painting. She is married and has four wonderful girls, a supermicro pig named Clover Smalls, and lives on an organic produce farm and vineyard.
