Advice for when you get stabbed

What Mega-Rad said is very true. When the police investigate the crime, having the correct facts is necessary to the process. When you tell them you are a children's entertainer, their next question will likely be "where were you going to/coming from entertain/ing?" or some such. Then you're in a spot where you either level with them, or tell a blatant lie that could affect the way they investigate the case. This could even extend into a legal problem if they decide your lack of disclosure constitutes obstruction. I think your best bet is just to be honest. The hospital will report it to police, and police will interview you. At this point, they have seen you in costume, so what does it matter why you're wearing it? If they see you on patrol at some future point, I can almost guarantee they will remember you.

One thing that you can do for a stab wound that punctures the lung is take a plastic bag and fold it into a square. Place it over the wound tightly, then tape 3 sides of the square. This will let air out but not let any air in. However, this will only buy you time. A wound like that needs to be treated in a hospital no matter how stubborn you may be.

Gauge wrote:

What Mega-Rad said is very true. When the police investigate the crime, having the correct facts is necessary to the process. When you tell them you are a children's entertainer, their next question will likely be "where were you going to/coming from entertain/ing?" or some such. Then you're in a spot where you either level with them, or tell a blatant lie that could affect the way they investigate the case. This could even extend into a legal problem if they decide your lack of disclosure constitutes obstruction. I think your best bet is just to be honest. The hospital will report it to police, and police will interview you. At this point, they have seen you in costume, so what does it matter why you're wearing it? If they see you on patrol at some future point, I can almost guarantee they will remember you.

True - but there is a big difference between telling the whole truth to the police and telling unnecessary truth to the medical personnel. They just need to know that you got stabbed. Everything else can be kept between you and the officers. Its on a need-to-know basis as far as I am concerned. I can handle a lecture from a police officer, but I dont need every janitor, nurse aide, and other wandering hospital employee telling me how to do what I am doing.

And even then - I could care less if they know my secret ID...its not a secret.

Yeah, Golden Valkyrie, there is some first aid for what they call "sucking chest wounds." Despite quite a while in the army, I'm not sure I could actually do it in real life, though. It's like an emergency tension pneumothorax decompression thing... hard, basically.

the EMT says,

dont get stabbed.

if you do, call 911 and tell them as much before you pass out.

Crossfire, the police will interview the medical personnel that interacted with you to see if you said anything that could be helpful, and to make sure your story to them is consistent. I am not saying you have to volunteer to hospital personnel that you are a superhero, just that you need to tell the truth when they ask you how it happened. If they ask about the costume, just tell them it's not relevant. If you go in costume, I think they may either figure it out or make up their own story. Either way, the superhero label will get applied by someone. But think of this, if you get wounded fighting a crime and end up at the emergency room, you can count on news interviews in very short order (if that's of interest to you) and a whole lot of publicity and street cred.

Well... maybe the responding EMT will also be a superhero. That would be a mind %$&* to me, personally.

Im thinking if I get stabbed the responding EMT will be MY superhero...LOL

A few addenda. Shock. You get cut or stabbed, there is a good chance you will go into shock. So treating yourself probably will not be possible. After the hormonal cocktail in your system wears off, you will probably not have the presence of mind or the steady hands to do the job anyway.

SH was right about 20 feet is close enough. Police shoot people with knives before they get that close. It's been proven several times that a guy with a blade can cover that distance and cut you faster than you can draw and shoot. And then you probably won't hit them.

If you try to block a knife attack, use the BACK of your forearm and get your head and body out of the way.

I echo what everyone else has said before: If they have a knife, and you can...run. If you get stabbed/cut and you are able, control the bleeding and get medical help.

I was stabbed in the left forearm a few years back and treated it myself -- bandages, pressure, butterfly bandages, stuff like that. That wasn't the smartest decision, but it didn't really have drastic negative consequences, either. I just ended up with a worse scar, I think. Anyway, my left arm from the elbow down (including hand) was disabled for over a week.

I also had some very superficial slashing type wounds on my inner right elbow another time. I just put bandaids on those.

Nowadays I would go to a hospital, despite my antipathy toward doctors.

At the time I didn't want the incidents, which happened in Germany, to be part of any official reports.

When I was learning Karate, my sensei said that when someone draws a knife, someone is going to get cut. That's also something to consider if you ever engage or are engaged by someone with a knife. A knife can cut the attacker just as easily as the person being attacked. Running is usually the best option, in my opinion.

With all due respect, and in full agreement that fleeing is normally the best option if someone pulls a knife or other weapon, my assumption for this thread is that this would happen on patrol, likely in response to intervening in a physical altercation between two or more people (such as a mugging). Under this assumption, I believe most of us would not flee, leaving the perpetrator free to continue his criminal act. Prof. Midnight, good point about the shock factor. It is an excellent protective mechanism. I would add that it is different for everyone and it is important that you know how it affects you. Personally, if someone attacks me off-patrol, I will defend myself as a first measure if the perp looks like he could outrun me. What use is it to tire yourself from running and THEN have to fight as well once he catches up. It's more tactically sound to just use my on-hand weapons to neutralize the threat. Even if he has no weapon, he will be getting a fully justifiable drubbing and an all-expenses paid trip to the county jail for a night of public defecation and sweet, sweet jailhouse lovin.

Gauge, I think Prof. Midnight didn't mean Shock as in "Oh my god, someone just pulled a knife on me." I think he meant more along the lines of Shock as in the medical condition. Shock can be deadly. Shock happens when you lose a lot of blood, if I remember correctly. It can have some very deadly effects. Some signs of it are clammy skin, a rapid and weak pulse, shallow respiration, and even hypothermia. For more about Shock, click [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I have experienced medical shock and am very familiar with how it affects me. I realize that is what Prof. Midnight was talking about. It can be brought on by blood loss, but also by severe pain or strong emotion. You stated the symptoms and dangers quite well, and it can also produce drowsiness which can cause one to lapse into a coma. The dangers aside, shock can be protective as well, as in some people it can reduce or eliminate pain sensations and may allow some people to operate beyond their normal tolerances for short periods. Obviously, this does not translate to every trauma or every person, and I wouldn't want to count on it happening this way. Now if you want to talk about the fear response, or "fight-or-flight" mechanics of the autonomic nervous system, that'd make an interesting thread, too.

I had someone attempt to stab me once, 2nd patrol, abdominal attempt, I had on ballistic armor with stab reistance. The split second he realized the screwdriver did not penetrate, he received a clean radial break.

when being attacked by a person with a knife you want to block them with something like a chair as you try to get away. good to have mace or anything to blind the attacker.i know from experience not to try and fight bare handed against a mad man with a knife.i have a few jabs but lucky nothing deap.i promise you a knife cuts through a fist.you are best to get any weapon or object to block yourself and blind or bash the attacker with.never let yourself get cornered.

If you must fend off a knifeman, do not splay your hand out and present an open palm.

The palm is laced with the tendons and ligaments that move your fingers. If they get cut, they'll be calling you Paralysed Claw Hand Man on your next patrol.

Clench a fist, and present the knuckles at the opponent. It's STILL VERY DANGEROUS and is nowhere near a good spot to be caught in. Wear slash and/or punture-resistant gloves, and hope for the best.

Then run like billy-oh.

PS- for God's sake, if you get stabbed, stop playing silly buggers and get yourself down to the hospital.

I plan to not even go out on patrol until I get the proper armor, and can protect all my arteries, etc.

My advice for when you go up against someone with a knife? Taze em bro!

master legend wrote:

when being attacked by a person with a knife you want to block them with something like a chair as you try to get away. good to have mace or anything to blind the attacker.i know from experience not to try and fight bare handed against a mad man with a knife.i have a few jabs but lucky nothing deap.i promise you a knife cuts through a fist.you are best to get any weapon or object to block yourself and blind or bash the attacker with.never let yourself get cornered.

What ML said. Get a good distance object like a chair or even a baton. That takes the knife advantage away.

BTW, I was in EMT-B classes. If you get stabbed, and they take off and the knife is still in DO NOT pull it out.
Stabilize it with gauze/cloth/etc and pressure, and get to a hospital ASAP, especially if it's in the vitals.
Pull it out and you could very well bleed to death.

One of the stories one of our EMT instructors told us years ago was about a rookie who went with him to a bar stabbing. The patient is sitting there with a knife in his side.
The rookie proceeds to pull it halfway out when his partner says "No! Leave it in."
Shlick. Right back in it went. Patient passed out after that one.


It is a true story: I cannot confirm it but I have seen true life emergencies just as strange./comical/potentially lethal.

Midnite Detective wrote:

One of the stories one of our EMT instructors told us years ago was about a rookie who went with him to a bar stabbing. The patient is sitting there with a knife in his side.
The rookie proceeds to pull it halfway out when his partner says "No! Leave it in."
Shlick. Right back in it went. Patient passed out after that one.

Gah is it terrible of me that I seriously laughed out loud at that???

Midnite Detective,

Good advice there. You can also do additional damage when pulling a knife out. Cut muscle tissue, an artery, etc. But most important is the bleeding to death part. Not good for your public image. Also why you shouldn't move broken limbs; you can do much more damage.

Gauge

here's a little something I learned while doing First Aid class...

If, for any resaon, you use cloth or bandage and you want to hold it together by tying a knot. NEVER place the knot directly above the wound but on the opposite side of it. This might seem logical to do, yet a lot of people still tie the knot directly over the wound.

Ive never been stabbed but I did have my hand slashed through my glove years ago A punk stood in the schoolyard with a steak knife at a little kids throat I came up behind them and placed my hand inbetween the kids throat and the knife then attemted to grab the blade and break it off Now when I did this I was about 15 or 16 years old at the time and another kid ran to the dept.store across the street and got the cop who was just putting his groceries in the truck then brought him back here to the school yard By that time the knife had slid through my glove and into my palm but I wasnt even aware of it I had already pushed the other kid to the ground and sent him home to get his parents and was wrestling with the punk who had the knife By the time the cop showed up I had the side of the blade embeded into my glove and just under some skin but it was broken off the handle He was notonly in trouble for endangering another kids life but also for the destruction of his grandmothers knife that the sailors gave to her mom when she was a girl Now there is a tool I hope to never ever see used as a wepon because this will be much worse than a knife The ulu is a small handle with a curved blade used for cutting meat and sinew to make clothes but the ulu blade is also wider than the blade of the knife which only makes a straight line across or in and out The ulu will slice first and if it were to stab through you it is much more difficult for anybody to remove from the wound because of the curve would catch onto the edge of the wound like a razorhook

Is there stab-resistant clothing?

They sell a "knife-proof" shirt in Japan for a couple hundred dollars. The consensus among reviewers is it doesn't work.

That's what ordinary chainmail is designed for and it's widely available, though not cheap. If money was no object I would get a long sleeve welded titanium (for the lower weight) under shirt with small links.

Stab plates exist and can also be made out of polycarbonate (Lexan).

Most hard shell type sports armors are at least knife resistant.

The cheapest and best option I've heard about so far is butcher's mail, which you can buy as aprons and then modify into vests. But I haven't been able to find a vendor so far.

PS. Please ignore the main post of this thread. I posted it a long time ago. While I have been stabbed, the whole notion of posting this was kind of dumb.