Sorry you and your wife encountered one of Sac's finest. It had to be stressful and therefore unhealthy. I used to go to Arden years ago and started seeing changes. They had some neat stores there. I stopped going. It reminded me of a

area I had gotten away from. If I remember correctly, the Good Guys massacre happened right across the street. Old Sacramento can be the

s, too, unfortunately. If the arcade is still there I wouldn't go anywhere near it.
Maybe ten minutes from Arden I spotted a dude on foot weaving his way between cars, heading towards my girlfriend and I in her car. She responded quickly to my warning to get the car started right away. He saw we were on to him and left us alone. I spotted him early enough. This was near a nice grocery store. The lot was nice, good landscaping... but a side lot and we three were the only ones there. Looking back at it, I think the turd chose that place because the mature landscaping cut off lines of sight from the blvd, which was right there. Crazy.
When my parents have to go to certain cities for doctor appointments, etc., I drive and keep an eye on things. Some are just redneck places with lots of tweakers, but we all know tweakers suck. Other places I'm not concerned about and like. Basically, healthy.
I would only punch an aggressor (in the face) hopefully as a last resort because I've smacked someone with a closed fist and cut him and my knuckle. It took care of the problem but I had to worry about disease. I was okay, but you never know.