Encounter with a road rager

[4X4]

Originally posted by FireFly+Aug 7 2005, 08:37 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (FireFly @ Aug 7 2005, 08:37 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Rubber Ducky@Aug 7 2005, 08:42 AM
I'm curious - a few posters have said it's a good thing that 4X4 didn't hit the guy. I can see the logic in this, but...

didn't the guy chest-bump you first? Couldn't you have given him a two-handed shove and knocked him on his ass to think about things for a bit?

I probably would've done the same as you, but it seems this guy had it coming to him.

It's good because with no witnesses around, the old guy coulda charged 4x with assault. [/b][/quote]
Oh, there were witnesses. For you northern folks, 14th st S and Southland Dr. is the equivalant of John Laurie & Nose Hill Dr... Its a pretty busy intersection. 14th st is busy anywhere in the city, but in the south end, its a major thoroughfare.

If I'd have tuned this guy, I'm sure that there would have been a few heros that would have jumped out of their cars to stop me from going too far. On the other hand, I'm sure there were enough people that saw enough of the intersection incident that wanted to take their own swing at the guy.





Ah, Icarus... Its so true about "shinguard, I can't wait to post this beauty of a story"...




The cops showed up about 8:00 last night. They were pretty ticked off at me because I popped the dent out with a rubber mallet. I told them that I wasn't too concerned about having the guy reimburse me for the hood. (I think he's got enough problems) But even so, they told me I had "tampered with evidence" :unsure: .

After telling them the story, they had three questions:

-HOW old did you say this guy is???

-HOW big (or little, for that matter) did you say he is???

-He had his kids with him & he told YOU that YOU are a bad influence???



Yeah, the one cop found the story pretty funny. The other cop was a really serious kind of guy, and I got the 'road rage is dangerous' spiel.
I was polite & I listened to all the reasons why I should have kept driving, not flipped the bird, not gotten out of the car...
After he was done, he assured me that the other guy was going to get the same talk. I said "kinda funny that you're warning the young guy about the old guy"
Then the cop says something to the effect of 'he's pretty lucky that you're not a gun or knife wielding punk. In fact he's downright crazy for pushing this issue beyond the bird flipping stage. I've never heard of an old fellah going haywire on a young guy like you. Its ALWAYS the other way around, and usually the older person is wise enough to just stay in his car and call the police, or just drive to a police station.'.



This story was a hit last night. We had a fire at a friend's place and once I told the story to one person, it was 'oh man, tell him the story, tell her the story'. I've told this story about 30 times in the last 24 hours & am still surprised by it.


My forgiveness only goes so far. I told the cops that I didn't want to pursue anything because th eguy has enough problems. I promise you this, if that guy tries to charge me or anything, I will withdraw my forgiveness and do whatever I can to make his life suck. The cops said this guy could be charged with an assortment of traffic violations & crimes, not to mention the property damage thing.
I hope, for the sake of his wife & kids, that this guys shuts the fata up & drops this issue. He does not want to p*ss me off again. :angry:

[Incinerator]

Originally posted by Eddie Bronze+Aug 7 2005, 04:20 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Eddie Bronze @ Aug 7 2005, 04:20 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

It's good because with no witnesses around, the old guy coulda charged 4x with assault.

Not to mention the risk you take when resorting to physical violence. Forget aggravated assault. How many cases have we heard about where a guy gets punched, falls the wrong way and the next thing you know, the guy that hit him is up on homicide charges. I'd like to hope that is the first thing that pops into my mind if someone attacked me, but you'd like to think if self-defence were necessary, the result of any injuries to the instigator would be overlooked. Somehow I doubt it though. [/b][/quote]
The laws of this country always protects the bad guys rather than the victims, how many times have you heard some fataer who mowed down a family while drinking and driving gets off with a one year licence suspension and a $5000 fine with 6 months of community service?

Also back on topic the law is especially restrictive regarding the use of force. It is definitely not as simple and cut-and-dry as that it is justifiable under self-defence. Remember if and when you decide to employ physical force, the onus is on YOU to justify that it was a)reasonable and b) the minimum necessary in self defence, not what the other person did to provoke it in the first place. If the guy gives you a chest bump and you give him a concussion or even just to knock out his front teeth with a punch in the face it is VERY LIKELY that YOU will be the one who's screwed before the law.

This is why it is not at all surprising when you see something like that case serveral months ago, when that guy who was allegedly intoxicated and causing troubles threatening to sue the Chinook Centre security for tackling him. Now I don't know both sides of the story completely, but I can tell you that it is very unlikely for the mall security to tackle a guy unless it was absolutely necessary to do so, considering the whole heap of justification they will need to come up with after the fact such as in this case.

[REDVAN]

This happened to me a few months back, similar situation. Driving down Anderson the guy got out of his car at a light and punched me in the face. I had cut him off, but that's no excuse for a punch to the face.

The cops came to my house, and the officer said he would just have a talk with the guy (I had his info and so on) and then get back to me. He never got back to me.

The reason I didn't wanna file a formal complaint was because the cop would then investigate the incident fully. Meaning, that I basically had to admit to driving dangeriously in order to get this guy charged with assulting me. I wasn't willing to do that, because I didn't feel like what I did was too bad.

Point is, be careful that you explain everything clearly. Think baout what you want to happen and what you're willing to do about it. The cop will explain things though, no doubt. There might be nothing to cop can do if you got out of the car and bumped chests with the guy. That would be considered a "consensual" fight. But the damage to your vehicle, that is definatley a criminal offence.

[Patek23]

Originally posted by REDVAN@Aug 7 2005, 10:24 PM
This happened to me a few months back, similar situation. Driving down Anderson the guy got out of his car at a light and punched me in the face. I had cut him off, but that's no excuse for a punch to the face.

The cops came to my house, and the officer said he would just have a talk with the guy (I had his info and so on) and then get back to me. He never got back to me.

The reason I didn't wanna file a formal complaint was because the cop would then investigate the incident fully. Meaning, that I basically had to admit to driving dangeriously in order to get this guy charged with assulting me. I wasn't willing to do that, because I didn't feel like what I did was too bad.

Point is, be careful that you explain everything clearly. Think baout what you want to happen and what you're willing to do about it. The cop will explain things though, no doubt. There might be nothing to cop can do if you got out of the car and bumped chests with the guy. That would be considered a "consensual" fight. But the damage to your vehicle, that is definatley a criminal offence.

What kind of vehicle did he have? I live by a guy who was yappin' about hitting some guy who cut him off, he was p*ss drunk and talking real loud on his deck.