Well, since it’s your word against the attacker or the word of the police who saw you standing over the body with a smoking gun, this produces reasonable doubt in the court of law. (at least in the U.S)
(I’m not implying in any way, shape, or form that our justice system always works out that way, however.)
As others have said, don’t be in that situation in the first place. If you’re that physically inferior to your proposed assailant, then you should run. Do not fight. When I taught TKD, I always told my students to run away first, especially if the dude is that much bigger than them. If you can’t run, cover up and protect, and run at your first opportunity.
I was taught to “hit something soft with something hard”. If you’re really close (which obviously shouldn’t be your first choice), a quick elbow to the throat or nose will temporarily incapacitate most people.
I agree, to a point. If you’re walking along and someone jumps out and grabs you, running is not always your first option. You may have to actually engage the attacker to break free so you can then run to beat hell. The problem is, not all attacks on the innocent are the same. If someone just runs up and asks for your money, then, yeah, throw them your money (don’t hand it to them) then run. But if are grabbed, you have no idea what the scumbag’s intentions are. You do whatever it takes to get out of the situation.
Pop-quiz for those of you against guns. Same situation, only you without a gun -
You are dead and the attacker has all your stuff.
How is this an improvement?
Not trying to start a fight, but I found that pop-quiz to be incredibly condescending. Maybe I’ll survive the charges because I have a clean record. So clean, in fact, that the state trusts me to carry a concealed weapon. Odds are that the attacker can’t say the same.
Seriously tho, the OP lives in a shall-issue state and a permit will set you back about $300. The state also has specific laws on the books about self defense so blazing away at a scary-looking fella in an alley will put you behind bars for a long time. If you have no self control, do all of us a favor and do NOT own a gun.
Get some basic training, practice practice practice, read Massad Ayoob , and practice some more. Number one thing all the training will tell you is to stay out of those situations if possible, if not - give up your money/valuables & try to diffuse the situation, do anything you can to avoid using the gun because a trial will cost more than your fancy watch. Number two, you can’t defend yourself in court if you are dead. You can’t defend your family if you’re dead.
Learn the laws and look for extra training if you’re not already comfortable with firearms.
I said I wasn’t going to get involved. For four days I’ve been not posting in this thread, but then I went ahead and did it.
The tricks I posted were shown to me by someone who really knew his business.
He was a WWII friend of my uncle. Incidentally he never talked about his experiences, but my uncle and aunt told me a few stories.
I should clarify a few points.
The ‘wimp’s trick’ is intended for sorting out someone who is trying to strangle you.
The original version of the nasal slap was to hit them with a fist /under/ their nose, the intention is to drive their nose into their brain, however that relies on considerable accuracy, risks damaging ones knuckles and leaves you exposed if you don’t get it right.
Another trick from the same stable is to jab two fingers in the assailant’s eyes, but that is easily countered by holding your ‘weak’ hand vertically in front of your face.
I think the reason why he showed me those tricks was to give me sufficient confidence to avoid trouble - if you look mean people tend to cross the street - a combination of mean, respectable and moderately friendly seems to work.
A side effect is that you tend to attract people of a similar type, the ones that don’t like talking to people who don’t understand, but think that they recognize someone from a similar background.
I am not sure where I first learnt about /not/ using your fists, I think it was in the early 1980’s from an ex naval officer who did a tour in Northern Ireland (that takes some working out).
Odd as that sounds, I once met a young Rhodesian naval engineer, whose nerves were shot from town and bush patrol (they must have been low on manpower). He told me that shop windows were good for watching your back.
Another thing that comes to mind, for the ladies, is a lass I knew who was a flight attendant on a Middle Eastern airline. She carried a bag containing a small umbrella - the handle was a heavy wooden parrot head.
Just to round things off, I have heard from a number of sources, including my brother who did karate for 20 years, that martial arts are not that reliable. Something very minor can put you off balance. I suspect that they are taught that to make them cautious.
I’ve only once been involved in a serious street fight, foolishly I verbally intervened in a domestic dispute in an alley. The guy ceased hitting his girl, hit me, so I floored him, apparently it was good enough for a ‘wrap’. Trouble was she then attacked me, he got up and it just went on.
When you are in close it is amazing how much punishment you can take and how hard it is to immobilize someone. For a number of reasons I did not want to hurt him, self defence is actually harder than ‘offence’, eventually in desperation I started throttling him.
Fortunately the police arrived - after initially misjudging the situation, they became deferential.
I think what I am trying to communicate is that even if you know filthy tricks, it is not easy to use them. Better avoid looking vulnerable.
I’ll keep that in mind if I am ever attacked by Moe from The Three Stooges.
My grandfather used to tell me self defense tricks from WWII. It mostly involved bayonetting, shooting people with Tommyguns and throwing hand grenades at them.
Unfortunately this method of self defense is only available in South Central Los Angeles.
I can’t believe this thread has been allowed to go on this long and not been either moved or locked by some extension of the “no asking for medical advice” rule.
I think that would only apply if he were actually being attacked as he posted the OP, and was asking for specific advice on what course of action he would take. 
His scenario is quite realistic. The reason may not be to kill you because you’ve seen his face, he just may want to stomp the shit out of somebody and you’re it.
Don’t punch with a closed fist to someone’s head. You’ll break your knuckles and not hurt him that much. Go for the gouge to the eyes, and make sure that you get a good quantity of skin under your fingernails for DNA evidence.
Yell “FIRE!!” repeatedly. No one will come if you yell “HELP!”. And yell like a banshee on speed, loudly. It will attract attention and the bad guy doesn’t want that.
Most importantly, control your environment. Don’t be in a dark alley in the first place.
“Don’t be in a dark alley” is super in theory.
What about those of us who live on the other side of a dark alley?
(There’s no answer to this. I just wanted to vent and let people know that altering your route isn’t always an option.)
But I just bought the book you introduced me to so it was good you broke your silence.