On this day, the 12th of August, I got burned.

DEUCE4
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More options Feb 10 1998, 3:00 am
I saw the thread the other day (didn't read them all), so I thought I'd add to
them. The episode related in "A Wrong Turn" happened just last night.
Dano Stories
Some people think Dan Osman is a bit crazy. Master of soloing at the extreme
limit, wild 700 foot bridge and tower rope jumps, and other stuff entailing an
adrenaline surge that would kill most folks, Dan’s always got a glint in his
eye, poised for any kind of wildness.
Dan started working in the A5 prototype division of The North Face last year.
In a few weeks, he picked up the craft of sewing, and has since been designing
packs from scratch in the finest creative manner. Working with Dan allows a
view of his current slice of adventures. One morning he came in from a full
night of dodging cops under a bridge. Another night we climbed a construction
tower in the middle of a city to scope it for a rope jump the next evening.
I’ve gotten to witness a couple of his jumps now, and I can see that he has an
incredible intuitive sense of the mechanics and the dynamics of his jumps, and
can say for sure that no one should ever try them without an advanced awareness
of physics. The reason I can say this for sure is that despite years of
college physics and science, I still had to learn freefall dynamics the hard
way, as my back still aches in the place where I tore some muscle after a 140
footer on two ropes without a chest harness way back in 1986 during some jumps
with Scotty Burke on the Perris Ferry Bridge.
Anyway, Dan’s latest story was so amazing, that I thought I’d write it up for
all:
A WRONG TURN
After a day of designing gear, cutting patterns, and sewing, Dan left the A5
shop minutes after fellow threadworker Jason Smith, whom he was planning to
meet for dinner at the place they were staying. Not knowing the city well, he
took the wrong exit and ended up lost in the central heart of Oakland. Driving
around lost for a while, he eventually stopped at a Kentucky Fried Chicken for
a bit of food. He says now, “Look how life is, one wrong turn and my whole
life was altered”.
When he came out of the fast food joint, he saw three guys running away from
his truck. It took him a moment to realize that they were running away with
his jacket, wallet, car stereo speakers, and two duffel bags full of gear. He
chased them to no avail, got back to his car and surveyed the damage.
Incensed, for the next three to four hours drove around the dark heart of
Oakland looking for his stuff until he finally saw a woman wearing his yellow
North Face Jacket. He jumped out of his rig and chased the woman down.
Cornering the woman and trying to grab his jacket back, he only had moments
before a wall of tough looking guys were bearing down on him with bottles and
steel rods in their hands. He tried to pull the jacket off the woman, but she
bent over clutching it. At the very last moment he let go and at first only a
step or two in front of the tough guys, outran them by jumping over fences,
running through backyards, and dodging dogs (he thought one snarling dog had
him until he heard the chain slap tight just as he leaped away).
Now almost midnight, he wandered around town, and ran into a few police. He
told them his predicament, and they advised him to get the hell out of there,
and gave him directions to where he had been originally trying to get to. They
told him that it was a civil case and would have to be processed later. Dan
shrugged, and told them that if he was found busted up in some dark alley later
that night, they would know the reason why.
Continuing with his search, he saw the woman again, this time in a completely
different part of town. Again he chased her down and grabbed the jacket,
telling her clearly that all he wanted was his jacket back. She refused to
give it up, and tried to pull away. Seeing a cop driving down the street, Dan
double wrapped the cuff of the jacket firmly around one hand so the woman could
not run away without leaving the jacket, and with the other waved the cop down
wildly. The cop continued to drive by, and even after making eye contact with
Dan, turned the corner and was gone. Dan couldn’t believe it. Meanwhile, five
big dark and mean looking guys--what seemed like an army--were now barreling
down on towards Dan, so he again let go of his jacket and booked it, again
through yards and over fences only steps ahead of the chasing thugs. He
reflects, “They would have stabbed and beat me and my head would have been
smashed in if they caught me”.
Back at the truck, Dan paused and planned his next moves. Deciding to seek
information peacefully, he proceeded to walk around town and talk to folks. He
told me he met some really cool people, some who were clueless, and some who
seemed to know the haps. He bribed informants with cigarettes, candy bars,
lighters (with A5 stickers), and spare change as to any information on the
woman. Finding out her name was Niatia, he then moved through town with a
mission. One street person asked him for a smoke, and he bargained with the
guy until he told him more names. “Gimme a smoke, man” Dan: “Not until you
tell me who Niatia hangs out with”. Street: “I dunno no Niatia, just give me a
smoke”. Dan: “No way, man, not until I hear some info.” Street: “denniman”.
Dan: “What?” Street: “Dennis”. Dan: “Cool, man, here’s two smokes”.
Next he found out more about Dennis and Niatia, and even found out what floor
of the house they lived in. It turned out to be a two story house with four or
five separate families living in it. He scoped it out but all the lights were
out, and he couldn’t be sure that it was the right place. He drove around some
more not sure what to do, and was about to call it quits, when he drove by the
house one more time and saw a light on. It was now 5:15 a.m.
He climbed up the slippery shingles of the porch awning to where he could get a
view into the room. Asleep were Dennis and Niatia. He sees his yellow Climb
Light jacket, and a corner of his red duffel through his view into the window.
At this point he got scared, “because he knew he was charging in after it. It
was time for confrontation”.
Next he entered the house, trying to move quietly up the creaking stairs. The
place stank like piss. Going up, he tried the door on the left. Locked, he
knocked and called out, “Hey Dennis, it’s me, gotta talk to you.” A guy from
the door on the right appears, and says, “Haymaan, what chu doin?” Dan
explains, “I’m looking for Dennis, man, I got to talk to him, man” Neighbor:
“Ain’t no Dennis, man, get out of here.”
Dan: “no, man, I gotta talk to Dennis, it’s important” “Okaay”, the neighbor
says, and leaves his door open which led to another entrance to Dennis’s room,
and then disappears into another room (probably he went back to bed). Another
door blocked passage into the room where he had seen the jacket and duffel, and
though there was no handle and the latch were broken, something held the door
from opening. The bottom part of the door was kicked in, so he peered through
the slats, and now he could see that Dennis was using his duffel as a pillow.
As quietly as possible, he pried the slats away, reached up, and pulled out a
knife that was holding the door from opening. It took him about 15 seconds to
decide what to do, and another 5 seconds of visualization as to the location of
his items and his plan of attack, he bust through the door, brandishing the
knife in one hand, while holding his flashlight above his head with the other,
illuminating the knife and making his intentions clear. He said, “Want my
sh#t, man”, and proceeded to grab all he could gather of his possessions strewn
about the room, all the time holding the light in their eyes and holding the
knife out well in front of him.
When he bailed with all he could carry, fearful that the whole house (indeed,
the whole town) would be after him, he escaped, got back to his car, and sped
away, to find that he got his wallet (minus $600 cash) and most of his gear
back. He prayed to God as the sun arose.
As told to John Middendorf 2/9/98