[tbear]

This happened to me on a Tuesday afternoon.

I was in my truck making a right turn out of my office parking lot on to a busy 4 lane road. Traffic in the right lane was blocked by a city buss about a 1/10 mile providing ample time and space to to turn. As I am making my turn onto the 4 lane road a car comes into my lane, he was right passing other cars in the left lane without signalling. He rolls up on me as if he will scare me by tailgating or what ever aggressive perspective he is entertaining. I make the first right turn 2 doors from my office. His face and middle finger are now pasted near the top of his windshield for me to see as he turns behind me, I am amused and stab the brake mid turn (My Bad). We get to the next light were he pulls alongside me and he is really cranked up now, he is yelling and me he throws something at my truck. I roll down my window expecting him to tell me I'm an @ss or whatever, instead he jumps out of his car and is yelling he is going to break my [email protected] neck, etc, etc.

The scenerio:
I am in my truck I have got vehicles behind me, traffic crossing in front of me from a one way (no safe right turn) he is to my left; effectively I am pinned in.

Actions:
I am able to back-up just enough that I can get his license plate number. This action gets the car behind me honking. The rager is a large man 6'1" or so, guessing 240lbs, white male, light hair, out of an expensive car. He is doing some sort of a gorilla dance outside my window and shounting [email protected], [email protected], I'm gonna break your [email protected] neck. I was unuasually calm and staring him down. I have not said a word, not a word. During his entire tiraid I had him covered with a small framed automatic, just below the truck door window. This lunatic has no idea how close he came to going to his reward. I had mentally drawn a line in the sand at the truck window had he gotten close enough to contact (harm) me, he was going down. He could dance around the truck as long as he liked...

Cars around us are honking and he gets in his car and drives away. Either he came to his senses or realized by my demeanor it was time to go. I arrive at home safely and called in a road rage incident complete with tag number...


After Action Review:
In hindsight I wish I would have called 911 using the Bluetooth speaker phone in my truck while this was happening to record the entire event. Other than that (and maybe not stabbing the brake midturn) I would have done everything the same; this ended about as well as it could have.

This was the first time in more than ten years with a ccw had I ever even considered "breaking leather"

tbear

 

[Red Dawg]

great self control. Just remember you do not have the go ahead to cap his arse unless he enters your vehicle without permission.

 

[Buckley]

I am very relieved you made it through unharmed. Way to stay cool.

 

[Orange Boy]

First of all I'm very glad you kept your cool with this butthead but a few things come to mind. The guy was an a$$. he shouldn't have gotten out or thrown anything...but...unless the guy had a tire iron, golf club etc. and seemed like he was going to smash your window or try to extricate you from the car I can see no reason to use deadly force, after all he was just yelling and cursing. I'm afraid if you shot him there, without probable cause of fear for your life that you would be the one going to jail. Am I missing something here?

 

[tbear]

First of all I'm very glad you kept your cool with this butthead but a few things come to mind. The guy was an a$$. he shouldn't have gotten out or thrown anything...but...unless the guy had a tire iron, golf club etc. and seemed like he was going to smash your window or try to extricate you from the car I can see no reason to use deadly force, after all he was just yelling and cursing. I'm afraid if you shot him there, without probable cause of fear for your life that you would be the one going to jail. Am I missing something here?

I believe you are correct here. I was only going to "stop his attack" had he produced weapon or attempted to extricate me from my locked vehicle. I was ready- physically and mentally for either. I am very greatful this did not escallate to shooting.

Agreed, you can not terminate an : censored because he is annoying....

I wanted to share this event because it had an impact on me for the real life realization, "This is how people get themselves shot"

tbear

 

[OrlandoDriver]

I would say you kept your cool very well,Look at it this way so long as you kept your window closed and all he was doing was yelling and screaming on the outside you were safe. Good Call :thumsup

 

[Timbal]

Another good thread!

Yeah, like many I drive I4 every day to work, and occasionally take the 436 towards the airport from the Altamonte Springs area.

I've seen waaaay too many cases of road rage, but I've become pretty passive in my driving. I've had jerks literally go for miles down I4 holding down their horn at me, but the funny thing is that they're the ones that did something wrong. :rolf

About the only time that I get upset is when someone does a bonehead maneuver that puts me at a big risk of getting hurt. I don't retaliate, but I back off and let the idiot take off and go ruin someone else's day. It's just not worth my life to get in "the last word."

Now with my CWP, I'm even more forgiving, but that doesn't mean that I haven't become far more aware of my surroundings. I make it a point to always have an escape plan or some kind of contingency plan for most common road rage scenarios. I think that planning has helped me in keeping my cool, and highly suggest it. :thumsup

My 2 cents! :drinks

 

[Paladin]

Welcome to the forum tbear.

You did a great job of keeping your cool. You handled things well.

 

[Mac45]

When you choose to arm yourself for self defense, you assume a great deal of responsibility. You exercised that responsibility very well. You took prudent precautions to defend yourself from physical attack [drawing your weapon and having it in a position to bring it into play if necessary], should the situation escalate. As it turned out, you continued on your way with the knowledge and experience that you can respond adequately in a threatening situation and the knowledge of just how close this idiot came to beng a memory.

It is not about your rep, about how cool you appear or even about how you look to others. It is about survival. Your survival. And with as little personal discomfort as possible. You accomplished that nicely.

 

[Glock23-4-Me]

First of all I'm very glad you kept your cool with this butthead but a few things come to mind. The guy was an a$$. he shouldn't have gotten out or thrown anything...but...unless the guy had a tire iron, golf club etc. and seemed like he was going to smash your window or try to extricate you from the car I can see no reason to use deadly force, after all he was just yelling and cursing. I'm afraid if you shot him there, without probable cause of fear for your life that you would be the one going to jail. Am I missing something here?

i agree with you 100%

 

[deadeyedick]

Agreed, you can not terminate an : censored because he is annoying....

Doesn't that just suck?

 

[airhead]

Good on you. Over the years, I've pulled my gun a couple of times in anticipation of the other guy getting overly stupid. Like you, kept it below the door and concealed, but at the ready. At those distances, the reaction time is very small and he could have gone from ranting and raving to trying to yank open the door (locked?) in an instant.

Best bet is always avoid - slow down and let them go or turn off -but only if you know you are not turning off into his dead end.

Over the years, I've come to learn it is just not worth it tangling with someone like that. You'll get angry and upset and your blood pressure goes up, shortening your life, with no effect on them.....

Christ said it best: "Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do."

 

[outrage22]

Funny how an LEO in that situation would be out of the car with the guy on the ground but we have to sit and wait for things to get worse.

Even if the car doors are locked, as mine lock automatically, and they can't get the door open, how long do we wait..until he starts kicking the door or finds a rock to bust the window?

 

[Xbonz]

how long do we wait..until he starts kicking the door or finds a rock to bust the window?

Yep:thumsup

 

[XD-Man]

I was at a light at A1A and Atlantic in Pompano Beach one night, in the right "straight" lane. There was a low-rider on my right, in the turn lane, and I wondered why he wasn't turning. When the light turned green, this guy floors it and nearly runs me into the traffic on my left, as he decides he's not turning right but going straight.

I laid on the horn as he nearly side-swiped my front fender, and then as he flipped me off, I flipped him back. Whoops! The guy slams on his brakes and I nearly rear-end him. There is traffic behind me, which almost rear-ends me, and traffic on my left that leaves me no way out or around.

Now the guy gets out of his car and storms back to my truck, driver-side. I think he was shocked when I rolled down my window partially and asked him WTF he wanted. So he reaches in through the window and grabs me by my collar.

This was way before I had a carry permit. As it was, I grabbed his arm and pulled his face into the upper door jamb of my truck - several times. I then rolled up the window enough to cut off the circulation to his arm, and started backing up. I can see his nose is bleeding and he is panicking and losing his balance. I swing the wheel to the left and start to pull out into traffic, and now all this guy wants is to get his arm out of my truck. He had some buds in his car, and now all of them are yelling at me to let him go.

As I passed their car, I opened the window and he fell down in the middle of the road. I nearly run over the guy's legs. My wife, who was getting all of this down, got the tag number of the car, and we pulled into a 7-11 a block away and called the police. They caught the guys a few blocks away, and brought the driver back to the 7-11 for an ID, then asked me if I wanted to press charges.

As it was, all of them were drunk, and the assailant got busted for DUI, so I told the cops to forget the assault charges.

Nowadays, I wonder what I would have done had I been armed. When the guy reached into my truck and grabbed me, I probably had cause to shoot him. And I don't like the idea of "brandishing" my gun to warn someone off...if I pull that XD-40, I'm going to start shooting.

 

[Paladin]

Man, I wondered if you meant business with all of those "No Soliciting" signs you have on your front door. Now I know you are on emeand dude.

Pretty cool way to have handled the road rage without shooting anyone. I guess if this happened again the outcome would be different.

 

[MiklColt45]

This happened to me on a Tuesday afternoon.

I was in my truck making a right turn out of my office parking lot on to a busy 4 lane road. Traffic in the right lane was blocked by a city buss about a 1/10 mile providing ample time and space to to turn. As I am making my turn onto the 4 lane road a car comes into my lane, he was right passing other cars in the left lane without signalling. He rolls up on me as if he will scare me by tailgating or what ever aggressive perspective he is entertaining. I make the first right turn 2 doors from my office. His face and middle finger are now pasted near the top of his windshield for me to see as he turns behind me, I am amused and stab the brake mid turn (My Bad). We get to the next light were he pulls alongside me and he is really cranked up now, he is yelling and me he throws something at my truck. I roll down my window expecting him to tell me I'm an @ss or whatever, instead he jumps out of his car and is yelling he is going to break my [email protected] neck, etc, etc.

The scenerio:
I am in my truck I have got vehicles behind me, traffic crossing in front of me from a one way (no safe right turn) he is to my left; effectively I am pinned in.

After Action Review:
In hindsight I wish I would have called 911 using the Bluetooth speaker phone...

No tapping brakes. You already realized that.
Calling 911 immediately. You already know that.
The only thing I would add: try to always leave a way out.
When I pull up to other vehicles in line at an intersection, I try to put myself in the situation so I can drive out of trouble. It is not ALWAYS possible, but it is often possible. Leave extra room. Put yourself in an outside lane, not the center, etc.

Overall, you did good and held your temper. Would not be easy, I suspect.

 

[XD-Man]

I will tell you that I was full of adrenaline and not really thinking when all of that went down. My wife was the cool one, getting the make of the car, the tag number and even getting a good look at the other guys in the car. When I pulled into that 7-11 I was wondering what the hell had happened, and I even wondered if we had been in an accident, what with all the traffic.

It was the typical "flight or fight" incident, and I couldn't get away so I was just defending myself. And I was just lucky. Had the other guys in the car decided to get involved, it might have really gotten ugly.