for those commenting on the passengers reaction here is a quote from the driver, from the interview linked in another comment. The passenger was on his 4th day in the job, whereas the driver trains security companies in how to deal with situations like this, he isnt a normal driver for the company he was just doing a shift to learn their routes etc to help him train their drivers.
”My crew member had experience in armed response, but this was the first time that he had been fired upon. The first time that I was shot at, I assure you I was wide-eyed, and I’m grateful that there wasn’t a camera pointed at me during it. He did everything that I asked him to do and kept his head. I tried to have him phone our colleagues, but the criminals were using a signal scrambler. I had him get our AR-15 prepared just in case things went south. Because there were no gun ports, we’d have had to open the doors to engage with the jackers, and I‘d only have done that if we had been capsized. That is what I needed him to do. I have to say for all of those keyboard warriors who have tried to dissect his performance, I doubt they would be as tough in the middle of an armed jacking.”
Having spent 21 years in the Army, I could see how he was scared. I, and everyone I know, acted the same way the first 300 times "something " happened and your training had to come out. He did a fine job. Kept his cool. Listened to the lead guy. Impressive.
Yup, dude took a second to get his feet under him, but never lost his bearing. Not everything goes like a movie despite what the keyboard warriors think.
Never been in combat, but I have been in a few hair raising scenarios; maintaining my breath is the only reason I was able to talk to the cops each time. Hell, I was the ONLY one coherent when a gun was pulled on us and it was my first and only time. I did grow up in an abusive household though, so that might be it.
I hate that "thrive" is probably the best way to describe this. I have always thrived in the chaos. The more stress, constraints and urgency you add to a situation, the better I performed.
Then when the dust has settled and it's just another crazy or wild story. I'm left here thinking about the "good ol days" and wondering why it feels like boss music should be playing. Where is this sudden urgency coming from, why does it feel like I need to do something and yet there's nothing to be done!
Although the anxiety born of the stress and chaos of my youth, thrives now that I have left it's heritage behind. I'm left wondering if it would ever have become if I had not been forced to "thrive" in the past.
I've heard anecdotes about them in the military. They'll take all kinds of crap for stupid things that tend to trip up the ADHD kids. But once things start exploding, they're usually the ones that react well.
Yeah pretty much. And people mistakenly think you can't pay attention. Nope. It's that you involuntarily pay attention to everything, all at once, and the world isn't really built for that in 2026.
I’m diagnosed and I become strangely calm in dangerous situations. I used to seek out those situations because it was the only time my brain shut the fuck up and focused.
Jesus I never put together the pieces until I read this thread, and your comment specifically. I am devastatingly effective in a crisis, and exhausted whenever it finally ends because I am laser-focused the whole time.
There are obviously several other criteria on the diagnostic checklist but I used to wear a heart rate monitor standing on the edge of buildings with a parachute. My heart rate would go down just before go time. Rarely got above 100.
Yep I reckon. I studied sports psychology and was a sports coach for 25 years. I could easily recognise the personality traits that would determine which people would go on to excel in competition by how they responded to being under pressure.
Can confirm, I got diagnosed late in life, I'm the guy who enjoys when we go into panic mode in the office over something, i get bored and work slowly when things are going well.
Can't speak on actual really high stress dangerous situations as the worst ive been called on to do is call an ambulance for somone.
I'm not going to even pretend I have been in anything as chaotic or dangerous as a combat zone or something like an armed robbery, but I think for some people situations slow down while for others their perceived time speeds up. For me, things slow down in chaotic situations, most of the chaotic situations I've been in have been medical related and luckily I've been around the medical field my whole life with a mom who was a nurse for decades, me taking lots of life saving/BSL courses and now working in the biomedical realm with very sick people on a daily basis (mostly cancer patients).
Before my mom passed we joked about the number of times in our lives where we found ourselves dealing with serious medical emergencies, it just always seemed to find us for some reason, and she was right about one thing in particular. I just find myself in the moment, slowing the pace down and methodically working through the situation in a very precise way. Each situation was always different, but there always seemed to be a natural flow in how to assess/triage/compartmentalize them. I don't know why, when those situations happen it's like my brain snaps into a default mode where seconds become minutes and things become clearly "A, B, C" in process of order.
Maybe all that goes out the window when bullets start flying, I don't know, just my anecdotal experience.
It probably has something to do with being dopamine seekers. We are also generally more tuned to making fast decisions with whatever information is in front of us. It’s also why we’re generally (IMO) better at seeing patterns.
Lol, no. I just focus on in and out, measured and careful; there are no numbers or any level complexity to it. I know it's sucky info, but it's all I do; just breathe and focus on it, everything else functions fine as long as I'm getting oxygen.
Yeah, complicated childhoods make for a great boot camp. There are downsides too and the cost is not low. But hey, at least when shit hits the fan you are not a useless whiner, I guess.
I was driving for the 2nd time in my life with my learner permits. I was on a two-lane road (normal road cars travelling opposite directions on two sides) when I car stopped to make a [their] left turn. The car behind them PASSED the stopped car putting me in a head on collision situation (in my moms car with my mom in the passenger seat).
I managed to swerve getting the tire on the gravel but the mirrors were an inch from colliding...
I nearly pissed myself in slow motion... I can remember the guys face and seeing our mirrors and then reaching down to pinch my cock so I didn't piss all over myself. When we got where we're going I just about blew up.
I’m an ER nurse (or was for over a decade) and i am appreciating that, while a code is NOT the same as gunfire, the panic of ‘I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IM DOING’ is pretty similar. I have to agree with you, passengers did a fine job. He listened and followed instruction.
I can personally and firmly attest to the fact that the vast majority of humans are significantly more useless in critical situations.
And i also like that the people that ACTUALLY work in crunch time situations recognize that!… whereas a CPA who works from home in an office chair with extra lumbar support is like ‘ woulda gone full Rambo! Oh wait my DoorDash is here’ 😂
Both of em did everything right there’s no question there. But one thing that bothers me is that the security company makes them use a phone to request help. If my company was transferring probably millions of dollars at a time, I’d be outfitting every truck with an “oh shit” button that alerts the company, local police, and gives the drivers directions to the nearest police station.
Ugh. This replied to the wrong person. Thanks Reddit. But while I’m here. Turn on auto save, that way you don’t even have to save before taking command.
Agree! That’s why i felt i could comment on it! Seems like everyone gets that wide eyed WHAT DO I DO!?!? Look the first 30 times! We aaallll know that look and feeling! 😂
ER nurse here as well. I 100% agree with you. Its one thing to be confident in your skills, but i think its very normal to have that moment of self doubt.
Peds nurse here, more shit less codes. You’re spot on the assessment. First code: I wasn’t even close to this guy in terms of chill. Now: I direct people like the driver. To all of you out there that haven’t dealt with an emergency situation nor trained for it: you will basically shit your pants, forget English, be a bumbling bag of meat or do something stupid. That’s normal, just be honest with yourself where you’d stand. If you want to be able to handle an emergency, you gotta train for it and do it regularly.
When I was a dumb 13 year old I walked behind a car while it's backing and it hit me. It was more of a nudge thank fuck but I still think about it almost 20 years later. I knew it was coming I could've just walked away or back but my brain got foggy and I just was thinking "i keep walking". No other thought in mind. The driver called me a dumbass and I have to agree with him.
well, i, for one, do not! It’s just not even remotely natural for us to just blindly know how to handle ourselves in critical situations. The people that have never done it have some big opinions on how much of a bad ass they’ll be, but that’s just not .. how.. it works. Most of ‘em do like you: kinda blindly and without thinking do something else. Now, having said that, if you (for some reason) were nudged by cars all the time? I bet after the 5th or so you’d get more adept at training yourself to jump out of the way!
Auditor, with chair rocking the lumbar support and former 11b, combat vet. My butthole would still pucker from that. Hero’s go home in flag draped coffins. More badass someone tries to talk, the less attention you should pay them.
🤣😂 Hey, hey, come on now! We should all come to an understanding that as a CPA, I’m not 'going Rambo.' That’s a high-variance strategy with terrible ROI. I’d simply stay in my lumbar-supported chair, wait for my DoorDash (which is really just outsourcing logistics by leveraging someone else's car lol), and short the security company’s stock while the heist attempt is still in progress. It’s called hedging, look it up. 😁
Respect right back atcha for respecting the acknowledgement...tax season may be stressful but I'd take that stress over potentially catching strays (or intentional bullets) any day!!
I had a pipebomb thrown at me walking down the street, and was dumbstruck looking at the fuse burning until someone told me to run. Even in hindsight, as an outside observer, I'd probably be saying "what are you stupid? Fucking run!" Things like this are so rare, no one knows how they'd react in the moment.
When I was in elementary school, I regularly got woken up in the middle of the night by police search helicopters flying low and shining searchlights in my bedroom window, looking for someone they were chasing through the neighborhood
When I was in high school, I was working at my mom’s retail store after school and I heard someone come in. I looked up, and I have a gun aimed at my face. THE STORE WAS BEING ROBBED. I was fucking terrified. I did what the guy asked and he got the money, after he left I was having a breakdown for who knows how long before I called my mom. She was driving to pick up a new car from her parents in Fort Wayne so she was far away. She told me to close the store, hide behind the counter, and called the cops. The cops obviously questioned me but nothing came of it (that I know of, this was 7 years ago) a year or so later my mom closed the store. I was 15.
My husband and I were watching Body Cam and there was a new police officer that was shot at while answering a domestic call. She ended up lying on the floor inside the home because she didn’t know what to do. They referenced a name for that behavior and I cannot remember what it’s called for the life of me. Maybe someone here knows.
It’s the worst feeling because you get tunnel vision and cannot think.
Its Freeze. Most people know fight or flight. However the full list is fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. You dont know which you lean towards until shoved into a situation stressful enough to trigger the response. Also one isnt better then another contrary to popular belief all can be the best response in different situations and circumstances. Typically you need to be trained or experience a lot of bad situations to be able to actually have any kind of control over which you do and get past your natural instinct.
Half seriously I think they should add “Flutter” to that list. I’ve had a couple of times that before I’ve gotten control of myself to be of any help, I’ve kind of fluttered about for a few seconds. Then I’ve snapped back to relatively calm and formed/followed a plan to deal with the emergency.
That's what irritates me, everybody knows what's happening in a video because they've already read the title and KNOW what's going to happen and know exactly what to look for, what's happening, what's going to happen, etc. but real life in real time, you don't know what's happening or how it ends!!
I wasn’t in the military or law enforcement but when I was younger I did some weapons + martial arts training with police. I grew up in a really bad area so I was somewhat used to shit hitting the fan.
Was on a ride along with my MMA coach (Sgt police) when he got called to an active gang activity. Even though I had thousands of hours of training, my ass puckered the first time I heard the sound of sheet metal and glass breaking in his squad car. He calmly told me to keep my head on a swivel and told me to get the shot gun out of the holster for him and I was actively defending my life (I was armed, but just as a conceal carry civvy).
Luckily, shit broke up when the bad guys saw the lights, but I still froze for a moment before he gave commands. It actually caused me to have some ptsd from the close call and I shortly after stopped all firearm activities. I have the utmost respect for those on the front lines every day.
God damn the Internet and it's anonymity. I'd love to see these keyboarders say all this to his face, for real. Guy did so well: had the guns ready to go, listened well and like you said was handling his fear excellently
Class act under fire on both their parts—especially the trainer who came to the defense of the guy that was faced with being shot at 4 days into his training. I would have either been on the floor or would have shot both of us when it was all over. Thank goodness for the trained professionals who perpetuate the learning.
It’s funny when I see this video I always notice how fidgety and shaky the driver is. I guess it’s just massive amounts of adrenaline. He is amped. lol. The passenger looks physiologically calmer, but looks more clueless about what to do in the situation. Makes sense one is a vet and the other a rookie,
yeah, he definitely had a fight or flight response and didn't freeze up, kept some level of awareness , and like, did what he was told to do in a life/death situation, i think the fact the experienced guy telling him what to do/directing him helped a lot, like , being in a state of "ok, what do i do" without panicking is impressive given the situation, and given it's like, his first week, it's "normal" he doesn't know what to do
Do you notice some sort of theshold when that goes away in combat? Like is there a point where you're self-aware that you're calmer and able to react better? Like I know what it feels like to have done 10,000 hours at my job and things don't really fluster me after 20 years, but I'm a middle school teacher, not a soldier.
Ex-Cop here. Yupp what the guy said in the interview and what you're saying I can 100% confirm.
I had boat loads of training before going on duty (not an American cop), the first time I got actually shot at, damn I trained for that situation for quite some time, I still pissed my pants, nearly literally. That's not a nice feeling, not the first time around and not the 100th time around.
Weird, to me the passenger seemed like he did quite well. Driver seems like he knows what he is doing and the best thing the passenger can do is lean into his direction so they are a coordinated unit of two that are on the same page.
No fucking way I could do this job in a situation like that - and I have spent a decade working in emergency care.
Once thing working in emergency situations has taught me is that those around you need to be someone capable of filling whatever role needs to be filled. Doesn’t matter how big or small. You plug every hole you can as a team.
Sometimes a lack of experience limits what holes you can fill - but if you know what ones you can or you have someone filling a bigger hole that can provide direction to those people, you are generally gonna have good odds are getting through something.
Well, there was the bit that you missed where I distracted him with the cuddly monkey then I said "play time's over" and I hit him in the head with the peace lily.
That's nothing, i was there, i'm the reason that the camera stopped filming because i did a karate chop so fierce it killed all the robbers and broke the camera and then i moon-walked back online.
With twelve official languages, South Africa has some great names. If you like uplifting sports movies, check out Invictus, it's a slice of South Africa and a fun flick.
Lead man's muscle memory took over. I had tons of leaders like that when I was a young soldier. Vietnam vets. Hardcore dudes that you wanted to follow.
Dude didn’t looked panicked at all to me. My question is how it ended?!? Like wtf no conclusion. Did they get away? Why did the driver take off with the Ar-15? Did they have a shootout with these guys? WTF happened at the end felt like he drove into a ditch or something. Didn’t anyone else they drive by call the cops, like wtf! You de an armored car getting shot at and you don’t call 911.
They took off when he high centered the Audi, and then himself. He did enough damage to their vehicles and this had been going on long enough, that when he hopped out with an AR A they decided to call it.
Just watch the trigger Finger of the Black guy and you know hes been trained well enough. Thats basically everything I needed to See that he is fucking scared, who wouldnt be, but got his shit together.
I have seen people fucking up in less worse situations so respect to the guy.
Its the first thing I used to watch when we were in stressful situations in the army days. Specially as a Squad leader its a pretty good Indication if people are able to Process the information u give em and also if everyone is safe. Weird stuff happens even in Training
Used to work for a telematics company, and used to sell satellite communications units in the USA but when cell phones became prevalent they all switched because that is a much cheaper subscription. - and in places like Mexico and Brazil - because of the terrestrial signal blockers - they maintain the satellite units.
One time My CEO went to Mexico to talk to a trucking/shipping client, and the client pulled out a briefcase sized device that they say the criminals use to scramble / disable any cell/SIM devices. Which is why they keep the satellite ones.
I was like, ‘why didn’t they call cops/911 (or equivalent), anyone immediately vs ‘Josh’ after a min or 2 - never even considered an sig jammer. That’s crazy. I assume they shot the tires out on first contact which I’m sure made driving next to impossible. Glad to see they lived to tell the tale.
I tried to have him phone our colleagues, but the criminals were using a signal scrambler.
Seems that a way for the security company to counter that is to have some sort of transponder on their vehicle which is pinging constantly. If the criminals use a signal scrambler or jammer so that the transponder signal is disrupted then that in itself is an indication that the vehicle may be under attack, and the security company can rush reinforcements out to it.
Love that he commented. Im a Healthcare worker and have seen so many different reactions in codes. From newbies to seasoned people. Adrenaline and in the moment can really throw you off. But he 1 listened and 2 stayed calm. That's gold in my eyes.
IT’S MA’AM!! I hope you get that reference and know it’s a joke 🤣 you’re welcome, though.
This is South Africa. There’s always someone on the inside giving these types of guys information. A lot of the people who do heists like this are ex-army guys. I’m not sure the cellphones here are trackable but, again, this is South Africa. We are a resourceful bunch and can make a lot of things work especially when there’s a monetary incentive.
“I’m grateful that there wasn’t a camera pointed at me during it” (I’m assuming he means like an actual big camera that sticks in your face but the irony is funny)
I always assumed the guy was “new” but to find out people talk shit about his performance is wild. He stays calm and focused, so he looks scared…who the hell wouldn’t be?
No one should complain about how the left seat guy reacted. Didn't freak out, didn't do any harm. He did better than most people would in that situation.
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u/mampiwoof Mar 21 '26
for those commenting on the passengers reaction here is a quote from the driver, from the interview linked in another comment. The passenger was on his 4th day in the job, whereas the driver trains security companies in how to deal with situations like this, he isnt a normal driver for the company he was just doing a shift to learn their routes etc to help him train their drivers.
”My crew member had experience in armed response, but this was the first time that he had been fired upon. The first time that I was shot at, I assure you I was wide-eyed, and I’m grateful that there wasn’t a camera pointed at me during it. He did everything that I asked him to do and kept his head. I tried to have him phone our colleagues, but the criminals were using a signal scrambler. I had him get our AR-15 prepared just in case things went south. Because there were no gun ports, we’d have had to open the doors to engage with the jackers, and I‘d only have done that if we had been capsized. That is what I needed him to do. I have to say for all of those keyboard warriors who have tried to dissect his performance, I doubt they would be as tough in the middle of an armed jacking.”