[DeluxeMoustache]

I have seen on the internet people saying "cigarette butt out the window = punch in the face". Also the above ^

So throwing a butt out the window is wrong. No dispute.

Throwing it back in can be quite dangerous. There are laws for distracted driving, which recognize the danger for what is a self imposed and controllable distraction. I should think that the distraction of something burning in their car could make the driver lose a lot more focus and become much more dangerous in a moving vehicle. It is not something under their control.

So the first thrower (out) did something wrong, the guy who threw it back did something more wrong and much more reckless (assuming that the car outside the Starbucks was in a typical urban area and that concrete jungles are less susceptible to wildfires than, say, forests)

Tragic either way. Too bad the vigilante throwing it in the car wasn't thinking of the potential consequences. Most people if they considered the danger he was creating, would not do so. (and by consequences, I mean the risk at which he put the driver, not suggesting that the escalation is by any means a reasonable consequence.)

Stupid and avoidable from both sides with unfortunately tragic consequences.


Edit: I assumed she was driving and he successfully threw it in the car. If she was out of the car then it is obviously not as dangerous.