By Police1 Senior Contributor Chuck Remsberg & “Coach” Bob Lindsey
Over 60 percent of hand-to-hand fights with suspects go to the ground, according to a study of LAPD officers. At your first opportunity to get back up, you want to do so in the way that best protects your body and your gun.
Officers untrained in ground fighting tend to roll to their non-gun side and as they push up turn away from their attacker, Trainer “Coach” Bob Lindsey told attendees at the recent ASLET conference in Florida. That exposes their sidearm and risks an easy disarming, which street gangs and prison gangs are actively practicing these days.
When you try to get up--as well as when an offender is on top of you violently attacking--it’s generally safer to turn your gun side protectively toward the ground. To rise, place your hands down on your strong side, push your lower leg back and bend your upper leg so you can push up first to a kneeling position.
This gives you a platform from which you can defend yourself with empty hands, baton, chemical spray or a gun, depending on circumstances, while trying to get up as rapidly as possible, all the while keeping your hands between you and the attacker.
As to defending yourself while you?re on the ground (or shoved down onto a bed or couch perhaps), Lindsey points out that officers are so accustomed to training while they are standing up that they often forget that when they?re on their backs (horizontal) they have basically the same fighting options (blocking, punching, kicking, drawing a weapon) as they have when vertical. Plus they may have a solid backing they can use as a platform for launching forceful strikes.
However, “These responses need to be practiced and repeatedly rehearsed through visualization,” Lindsey says, so they can be readily and effectively accessed when needed.