Nearly a Victim of a Road Rager Today . . .

[Noah_Zark]

I've had an LCTF since 1975 and early this afternoon was the first time that I actually cleared leather.

I was driving back to the office from a visit to a client when a white Dodge pickup pulled slowly onto the road from a turnoff to a logging or gas well road. I saw the driver's orange coat and hat through the rear window and assumed it was a hunter.

Since the Dodge driver pulled out into the right lane in a passing zone almost in the middle of a long straight and was not accelerating at all, I signaled left and passed him with plenty of room at between 55 and 60 mph. Since he was doing maybe half that, it seemed as if I shot by him. I gave him plenty of room and signaled my return to the right lane. Not long later, I see the Dodge's grille in my rearview mirror, headlights flashing. By then we were less than a mile from an intersection with a convenience store and since I needed fuel I ignored the Dodge, signaled a turn into the Sheetz parking lot and pulled up to the pump, with my vehicle's right side against the pumps.

The Dodge wheels in to the bay next to my vehicle's left side, the automatic transmission ratchets a bit as the driver slammed the selector into "Park" with the truck still moving. The driver dumps out of the truck and comes around the front of the Dodge, screaming obscenities and making no sense whatsoever. I'm still sitting in my car, and when I saw him exit the truck I reached across my lap to my left hip and took a firm grasp of the butt of my pistol.

The Dodge driver starts pounding on the roof of my car, kicking the plastic cladding at the bottom of the driver's door, and pulling on the door handle (I always keep the doors locked, whether I'm inside or outside). All the time he's cursing a blue streak about idiot Subaru drivers. He smacked the glass with his gloved fist (tan leather; he was taking a helluva chance being in the woods clad head to toe in orange, and wearing tan leather gloves, but I digress -- the things you notice when the adrenaline pumps are at full RPM). I decided that was enough, and quickly drew my pistol and held it on the top of my right leg, in plain view, pointing at the dash. I kept eye contact with him, and saw him glance at my lap -- his eyes got big. At no time did I point it at him.

He held up both hands, palms out, and backed up. Didn't say a word. Backed around the front of the Dodge, and got inside the cab (he had left the door open as he exited moments before). I released my seat belt and unlocked the vehicle's door locks so that I could exit and move if he started to pull out his rifle, or a handgun, but he slammed the driver's door and jammed the still-running Dodge into gear and shot through the parking lot and out onto the cross street.

I sat in the car for a few minutes to see if he was going to return, and to adjust to the effects of the adrenaline kick the incident caused me. When I calmed down I holstered my pistol, got out, and filled the tank. As I ran the pump, the store manager (who I know fairly well) came out and asked if I thought the PD needed the surveillance tape. I said I didn't know, but said I did get the Dodge's plate number. The manager said she'd lock the tape up so that it would be available if I pressed charges with the PD.

My next-door neighbor is a patrolman with the local PD and I spoke to him via cell phone about it. He ran the plate and the Dodge's owner lives outside the PD's jurisdiction, so he's having a mutual PSP trooper friend of ours working nights this week pay the guy a "we know who you are and we know what happened today" courtesy call; sort of jack him up just a little, listen to his lies about me cutting him off or something; see where the Dodge guy goes with it and react accordingly. I expect it will die a quiet death, and that's OK by me. The look I gave him as I held the pistol, he has no question as to where I was ready to take it if he wanted to go there, and I expect no further issue.

Gonna keep the sensors on full power, though.

Noah

[P7hk9]

What the fuck is wrong with people these days? Thank goodness the moron had the good sense to back down.

You handled it better than I would have. + rep

[CHEMICAL]

Glad you didn't have to fire. Some people are just self absorbed, self important idiots. Hope it's squashed and he learned a valuable lesson from all of this.

[Noah_Zark]

What the fuck is wrong with people these days? . . .

Well, for starters he was driving a Mopar . . .

Noah

[steviesterno]

damn man, glad you're alright... and that's why we carry i guess :-/

[ReconLdr]

Well, for starters he was driving a Mopar . . .

Noah

Hey now... why'd you have to go there????

Glad it all worked out in the end. The more people I meet, the more I love my dog....

[Exbiker]

Let the police see the surveillance tape and charge him. He's a moron. When you pull onto a road, entrance ramp or make a right turn on red you are to to impede the flow of traffic. In other words if you were doing the speed limit you should not have had to hit your brakes.

[Truckman]

Well, for starters he was driving a Mopar . . .

Noah

Tee'd me off a bit, reading that. No car but Mopar for me. Then I read your sig, and realized, I have to make allowances!

On the positive side, once again, simply showing a weapon stopped the attack.

[spblademaker]

Thank God the Governer vetoed the Castle Doctrine expansion bill, or I'm sure you would have just "opened-up" on the whole gas station!
All kidding aside, it is good to see that even though one person can act like a complete lunatic, the actions of one level-headed citizen allows him to go on breathing. I hope it takes months for him to get the shit-smell out of his truck.

[Yentl Marmelstein]

Well, for starters he was driving a Mopar . . .

Noah

This coming from a guy who drives a Subaru?