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Wow. What a F’ing idiot! I hope he goes to jail for a good while.
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So, if you were being shot at, you would just sit back and be shot? Apparently the other driver was the aggressor and what he thought was a shot turned out to be a water bottle. I am in no way stating that what he did was right, but unless you are there at that moment, can you seriously know what was going through his mind? He clearly was concerned enough to draw his firearm before his vehicle was struck by what he thought was gunfire.
He was an idiot. Looks to me like he waited for the car to come up from behind, with the gun already in his lap, and as the other car came up alongside he started firing.
Jail, for a long time, and much deserved. You also don’t start firing because you THINK someone fired at you. Heck, I had a tractor trailer blow a tire next to me on I75 once and for a split second thought it was a cannon. I sure as heck did’t start firing at thev truck.
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He was part of the road rage. He slammed on his brakes, thus escalating the situation. Not a good thing in a shooting. If you escalate, hard to prove it was self defense.
So yeah, he was an idiot. Not to mention the spray and pray shooting, and serious risk to innocent people.
I am not excusing the other person.
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It sure seems like the driver in the video
- Cut someone off
- Dangerously and aggressively, intentionally brake checked the car behind him
- Waited for the car to pull alongside/pass, premeditating shots fired
- Blasted away pretty indiscriminately at a guy who…threw a water bottle?
BTW: IF you elite USCCA folks watch through the ask an attorney series, you’ll find advice very strongly against this, in every way. Don’t start crap, don’t escalate or continue crap, don’t brake check anybody, don’t go for your gun first, don’t shoot and drive.
Even if he thought he was being shot at, two hands on the wheel and drive the car to get away, is the best way to avoid getting shot…probably
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I did not state I agreed with what he did, only that I could understand that if he thought he was threatened/targeted and thought he was being shot at, that I could understand his reaction. I have also experienced a truck blow-out a tire on the highway - so what?
When one is dealing with an idiot on the road, it is difficult to claim he escalated the incident. There are few options while driving down the highway. I had driver several years ago that was apparently high, drunk or whatever while coming home at night. He was accelerating, weaving in and out of traffic/lanes, slowing down, driving very erratically. I had my wife call the police. Eventually he/she caught up to us and passed us. After about a half-hour or so, we got to our exit, but we could still see the vehicle, not that far in front of us. The police never showed-up during that entire time.
The point being, when there is an idiot on the road, you do what you can to protect yourself. You may not agree with what he did, and I did not state that I do, either. Clearly he was concerned enough to draw his firearm.
I generally coast for awhile, no brakes, no brake lights, let the idiot pass and continue on my way. Saves ammo.
No defense for this clown. Video of himself on top of it…yeah, idiot.
Hears a pop, immediately decides he’s under attack…he can have your six, seeing as you feel his response was justified.
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I hate to say never, but, brake checking the guy behind you is never the correct action
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He brake checked him, which could cause an accident. He is on camera doing it. That is escalating it. He had no reason to hit the brakes other than to mess with the guy behind him.
"I was so afraid for my life. So, I slammed on the brakes, intentionally trying to irritate the person I was in fear of. Then he tried to pass me, I heard a bang, and then started sprayin’ and prayin’! And my camera recorded me.
Just saying, I don’t want to be trying to use that in court.
Not necessarily on this forum, but I have seen a LOT of folks saying personalizing your gun, or changing the trigger or disabling a safety might be used against you in court. Just saying, the guy’s video is pretty damning for him.
That is not likely to look good in court. Well, unless you are the prosecutor.
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So you would do what? The guy behind him was already a problem. Trying to get him off your rear is an option. “Spraying and praying”? Have any reality to discuss or just tossing sh-t to see what sticks?
I did not state I agreed with the situation, but when you are on a highway, your options are limited. I know I was probably the most concerned I have ever been dealing with that erratic driver for over one-half hour, and I have had at least several instances that were perilous. For example, driving home from work late at night, the highway turned from slush to ice; I was not able to slow down without the vehicle losing traction. As I was getting closer to my exit, the road was getting worse and worse. I finally just let off the gas and tried to control the vehicle as best I could. Applying the gas did not recover the slide. I hit the snowbank and plowed through several feet of snow, narrowly missing a huge highway road sign. I came to a stop about 100 feet from the highway with the car resting on top of several feet of snow. With only an ice scraper, I was able to dig my drive wheels out enough to begin rocking back and forth. When I was finally able to move my car, I was facing this large wall of plowed snow. I had to estimate how fast I needed to go to not crash the car, but still get through the wall of snow. That was when I was young. No cell phones and at least 10 miles from anywhere in sub-freezing weather. Neither could I readily afford a tow truck, though due to distance, getting one was not really an option.
I have no clue what that has to do with brake checking someone on the highway, on purpose, on video…
Granted, your options are limited, as you are on the road. But, there are smart things to do, not so smart things, and downright stupid things you can do.
1 Like
I see you have not stated what you would have done.
Simple. Slow down to the speed limit. (not a brake check). Get in the right lane, hopefully they will flip me off and pass. If that does not work, take an exit, if they follow, call 911.
Don’t get me wrong, I get road rage. It is easy to get angry, my car seems to attract tailgaters… But, you have to realize, you have only seconds to react to a situation, the prosecution has weeks, or even months to make a case against you. Don’t make it easy on them! Keep yourself safe. NOTHING I saw in that video was him trying to disengage or deescalate the situation. If you are mad enough to brake check someone, and possibly cause a wreck on the interstate, you might not be in the right state of mind to know when to use a weapon in self defense.
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What would I have done?
- Do my best not to cut someone off. If that happened by mistake, proceed to below
- Not brake check the guy behind me. I have never in my life done that and do not intend to.
- Drive a nice even pace with both hands on the wheel in the middle of my lane, smoothly, and as soon as the person behind me moves to pull along side or pass, I slow down more so that they go past me.
- Continue to drive slowly so they stay ahead of me.
- If they try to get in front of me and brake check me or block me of whatever, I stay behind them and call 911 while doing what I can to move to the right most lane
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His intent to shoot didn’t start with the thrown bottle.
It was way before that.
The other driver who threw the water bottle turned out to be the smarter guy, coming out of the incident alive and not behind bars.
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I don’t get angry while driving, not worth it. In reality anger is not part of my life, regardless.
Good luck with 911. One would have thought a likely drunk/high driver driving erratically, speeding, weaving through traffic, etc., late at night, would have been of enough concern to get the police to respond. Fortunately for us and everyone else on the road, he did not cause an accident. I would believe someone just driving aggressively is even lower down on their list. I also did not see where he “brake checked”, but I don’t see where that would matter.
You guys are convicting him without knowing the circumstances. Reminds me of all the ones that convicted Kyle Rittenhouse in posts because he “should not have been there”. We only have a video showing him readying his firearm and shooting. I tend to believe most people are reasonable. I stated that I did not agree with what this driver did, but we do not know what that other driver was doing. It would seem that he must have been in fear of his life to have pulled his firearm. I am quite sure that most of us would not just start shooting just for the h-ll of it. Why would you believe he did?
I was the victim of road rage many years ago - before cell phones. This occurred in town on the main four-lane road, at about dusk, just before one would need headlights. The guy began honking and flashing his headlights while driving right behind me. Due to the traffic, I was stuck with him behind me. I could see he was quite angry. As we were getting to the next traffic light that just turned red, I was the lead car in the right lane. He maneuvered into the left lane next to me. He rolled down his passenger side window, and began yelling. He then began to wedge his vehicle in front of mine.
I am not sure exactly what he intended to do, but it appeared he was trying to block my egress. I made a quick right turn in front of the cross traffic that had just begun to enter the intersection and accelerated as quickly as I could to try to get distance. He followed me shortly after, cutting off cars that were proceeding through the intersection. I made several quick turns, then after turning onto another side street, I down-shifted hard while using the emergency brake, so as to not light my brakes, then came to a stop on the side of the street between several other cars.
He drove past that road several times. After waiting about five minutes or more, I proceeded home. I am not sure what he would have done if he caught me. If I was on the highway, I would not have been able to do what I did then.
Yes…get as far away as you can!
I’m not suggesting that you did agree with his actions, I’m just stating my opinion that he was a complete idiot. Yes, do what is required to protect yourself, get as far away from the incident as you can. The video suggests that the shooter did not need to wait for this car to come up alongside and then start shooting, he could, and should, just have drove away. Again, it appears this way, it is just a short snippet and I don’t have all the details. From all appearances the man acted EXTREMELY poorly and irresponsibly endangering not only the vehicle in question but everyone else around him as well. Avoidance is still the best defence strategy and option we have.
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Very true. As to driving away, he was on the road. Where could he gone to? My understanding is this occurred on a highway.