Road Rage

[livi]

Crazy. What is motivating such imbecille and hazardous behavior ? Drugs ? Inferior upbringing ? Poor nutrition ? Impotense ? Unfortunate gene combinations ?

Man can be so utterly disappointing.

[MRM]

The problem here is that the other guy got his story in to the cop first. The first story you hear is usually the easiest to believe. If the other guy calmed down, told a nice story, and bonded with the cop over his big 4WD and they had a laugh about the guy in the Porsche, it's not hard to see how the cop fell for it. The truck tells a simple and common story of someone cutting in and getting rear-ended, you tell a complex and unusual story of someone deliberately ramming you.

The case will boil down to your word against his unless you can find some physical evidence to support you. You said that he hit you twice. Is there any way you can preserve the evidence and show two separate hits, one accidental and one intentional, that proves the story as you describe it? I would think that two separate hits will destroy any cover story he can come up with.

[stealthn]

Crappy! Two things come to mind, could you have told the cop you wanted to make a citizens arrest on him for assault with a weapon, and get him cuffed up?

Another thought is people traveling at that time probably do it each day, post a article in the newspaper looking for witnesses, or rent a sign on the side of that road looking for someone who saw the interaction.

Good luck.

[frogger]

Originally Posted by livi

Crazy. What is motivating such imbecille and hazardous behavior ? Drugs ? Inferior upbringing ? Poor nutrition ? Impotense ? Unfortunate gene combinations ?

Man can be so utterly disappointing.

Ford ownership.

[DARISC]

My sympathy goes out to you.

I gotta say though that there are more and more homocidal maniacs on wheels and the number keeps growing.

Scares hell outta me, so if another vehicle gets agressive with me I immediately assume the mindset that the driver is a psychopath, has a gun and wants to kill me, then get the hell far away from that vehicle, even if it means exiting a freeway or turning down a road I really don't want to take.

Life is too short to be further shortened by some sociopath.

[BGCarrera32]

Originally Posted by stealthn

could you have told the cop you wanted to make a citizens arrest on him for assault with a weapon, and get him cuffed up?

No, but he could have had the guy tagged and then offered to sign the ticket- may still have the option to do that. Once you sign the tag you'll go to court, otherwise when the recipient shows up and the complaintant does not, the tag usually gets tossed.

[87911jon]

Yeah, it's a shame. I gave the cop a very detailed description of the whole incident. I showed him in detail of where the first impact happened, the whole kit and kaboodle. The cop very politely refused to give just the other guy a ticket. Said he could not prove more than 51% that I didn't cause the accident as the other guy said. As far as earlier, before the accident. In hindsight I should have pulled over, or taken pictures out of the back window as I was driving, but I figured he was just another redneck trying to intimidate me, and at some point would be gone. So I flipped my rear view up, side mirrors out and continued at 40mph in a line of 20+ cars and trucks.

[Jims5543]

I cannot believe no one pulled over that saw this happen to be a witness!!

I saw a lady run a red light at the end of my street 2 months ago, she then proceeded to run another red light a few blocks later only to side swipe a car in the intersection. I waited for the police and told them what I saw. The red light runner tried to blame the person she side swiped saying they ran the red light. Her only problem was there were 5 witnesses there telling the Police otherwise.

I would be out there in the morning with the car and a sign asking anyone who saw you get hit to please pull over. I do not know if it would help at this point but you need a witness.

*edit* That cop worked you as bad as the redneck in the truck.

[TerryH]

Rent a tank and be waiting for him tomorrow morning....

[Jeff Higgins]

I think the saddest thing I see about the whole thing is that no one stopped to help you out. Whenever I witness an accident, I make it a point to hang out until the cops arrive so I can give a witness report. Or I will give my contact information to the guy that appears to me to have not been at fault and offer to file a statement or testify on his behalf. I've done both. Somebody had to have seen this...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I think the saddest thing I see about the whole thing is that no one stopped to help you out. Whenever I witness an accident, I make it a point to hang out until the cops arrive so I can give a witness report. Or I will give my contact information to the guy that appears to me to have not been at fault and offer to file a statement or testify on his behalf. I've done both. Somebody had to have seen this...

He's in Baltimore, people in big cities are exponentially less likely to stop and offer assistance. Had this been in a small town, you probably would have had a line of witnesses.

Still, it sucks. You know where the guy lives, right?

[Icemaster]

Originally Posted by 87911jon

Nice move keeping the camera handy....

That doesnt exactly look like "He swerved in and punched his brakes, I couldnt stop" territory to me.

[Icemaster]

Oh yeah, and thanks for the license plate.

How would you like this handled? I know a few fellows in your area....

[WolfeMacleod]

Place an ad in the local papers listing timne, date, location. Wanted; Witnesses to traffic incident.

And always carry one of these and and camera to go with it. Record everywhere you go.

[Jims5543]

I have an Archos AV700, it will hold up to 100 hours of video.

I fully plan on putting it in my RX7 when I get it back on the road, its like a moron magnet that car.

Like I said before, that cop hosed you as bad as the redneck did. Go to court. At least now you have all his info. Hows your neck? Did you get a lawyer yet?

[pookie]

Had a road rage incident happen to my wife and I this weekend. Traffic moving slow, I change lanes and get into the passing lane, guy behind me takes offense and gets on my bumper. I normally wouldn't care but when the driving lane opens up he gets over pulls up beside us and starts coming into our lane. Had we been in my Jeep I wouldn't have cared hit me. But we are in my wife's new Mazda so I slide as far as I can over and this d*ck just keeps coming. I end up stratling (sp) the rumble strip on the shoulder, my wife screaming cause she's scared, and finally cock knocker pulls back into his lane. Guy backs way off in the slow lane, I pull in the slow lane and I am going to stop but I honestly didn't want to because I was afraid this dyck would do something crazy. And I hate to be sterotypical but the guy was hispanic so I am guessing he might have been illegal, old mini van, beat up, two and two. When he saw my wife turn around to get his tag he ducked off the interstate recklessly. I mean crossing over the white painted lines and taking the ramp at a bad angle. Anyways I didn't call and make a report because I figured it would be a he said she said story. And I doubt they would do anything about it. But I have the tag and a buddy who can run it for me.....Just kidding, I wouldn't do that but I'd love to.

Yours is totally different though there was an accident and something should have been done about it. What county were you in? Was it a county, city police or highway patrolmen who took the report? Even if he wouldn't write a ticket I can't believe no accident report was done. I hate to say it but the cop sounds like a dyck too.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by frogger

I know this is of no help after the fact, but you really should've called the police early on in the road rage incident. If there was a police record of you reporting him, and then he hit you, it might have lead to the asshat getting arrested. Just my 2 cents. Sorry about your loss.

3 words from personal experience: Cops don't care.

I tried that once, with 9-1-1. I got the response (from someone at the State Police barracks) that I needed to write a letter of complaint to the RMV, and that the LEOs had real crimes to pursue.

[Danny_Ocean]

Road rage? Hah! (Multiple) daily occurance here in SoFLA.

Today I had the pleasure of lifting my shirt and showing some, umm...err..."foreigner", (who was insulted that I had cut him off while merging onto a slow-moving freeway), the CCW I was wearing on my hip. He changed his mind about confronting me while stopped in traffic, greased his way back to his cucaracha sheetmobile and didn't bother looking at me again for the rest of the traffic jam.

I can't wait to move to New Mexico! Little if any traffic and you can wear your pistols on the OUTSIDE of your clothing!

[Superman]

I really hope you find a witness. I would be very tempted to post, or stand and hold, a sign at that location, same time, same day, and see if somebody will stop and recount their observations.

In my way of thinking, this guy needs to have his license suspended for a good long time. I believe that strongly. Minimum. Jail time also seems fair to me, and a law suit. Can you tell I have no tolerance for this kind of "motoring?"

And I agree with Jeff. Sad that several independent motorists were not waiting for the policeman's arrival.

A final thought. I also have concerns about the policeman. Where I come from, if the front of your car hits the rear of someone else's car, you will need better story-telling skills than Aesop in order to avoid the ticket.

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by 87911jon

Failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision.

If you reduced speed any more you would have more damage. Sounds like the cop was an idiot as well as the truck driver.