He meant well, but he’s doing it wrong:

[Ashley] Viola was driving his car on Third Avenue and witnessed a 57-year-old San Mateo woman being assaulted near San Mateo Drive and asked her if she was OK, police said.

She indicated she was OK and then told Viola that the assailant was running down the street, police said.

The Good Samaritan then allegedly caught up to the man, parked his car and confronted the assailant with a firearm.

A witness recounts:

Kiera McKernan, a manager at Edmond’s Plaza Florist at that intersection, said a customer came in screaming for her to call 911. She looked across the street and saw the confrontation happening in front of the U.S. Bank.

“An older gentleman was standing out there and a younger kid pulled a gun on him and was pointing it at him,” she said.

The older man was trying to hide behind a newspaper rack and the gunman was circling the rack trying to get to him, holding a silver gun, McKernan said.

“He was waving it and making it really known that he had a gun,” she said.

From the sounds of it, Mr. Viola was using the gun to detain or threaten or harass or “make a point” or apprehend or “teach a lesson to” or something to the woman’s attacker. It’s hard to say what he was doing, but from the sounds of it his own life was not in imminent danger thus he had no reason to draw his gun. Again, I’m armchairing this because I can only go based upon what the article says.

The key take home: it’s good to help people out. You might even decide on the “beer and tv scale” that to put up chase is worthwhile. Perhaps you can keep tabs on the attacker, get a description, get a picture. Heck, even if you are able to safely subdue and detain the attacker… that’s all up to you. But unless your life or the life of another (based upon your local laws) is in imminent danger, there’s no reason to pull the gun. And in fact, you can see that it might get you in bigger trouble.

Think through these things in your head beforehand. Be clear. Have your plan on how to handle situations figure out ahead of time. Know when it’s right and not right to draw your gun, to use force, to use deadly force. To have more than the one hammer in your toolbox so that every problem doesn’t look like a nail.