I was just on my way to school to work on some homework and I had an encounter with an older guy who seemed foreign. He pulled up next to me in the right lane, but like most streets in Buffalo there were cars parked in the right lane after the light. He obviously wanted to cut me off. Light turns green and he guns it. He has a Buick Rendevous. I never let people do this to me so I shut him down, but he pretty much just swerves at me as he approaches the parked car and I have to go over the yellow line some. I slow down as we are coming to another light and he goes around me on the right and goes straight through a red light. So I figure he is just a crazy huge douche bag. Then he stops directly after the light, parks his car in the street, gets out and pretends to pull out a gun.
I’m just wondering if I could have run him over. He seemed pretty upset. I told him I didn’t do anything wrong and he tried to cut me off and ran a red light. I told him I would get out if he wanted and he got back in his car pretty quickly, I think he realized I easily could have killed him with my bare hands if I was the angry type. He was like mid 50’s so it wouldn’t be like beating up an octagenarian. He even had what I assume was his wife in the car.
Then a few blocks later on hertel he pulled up on the shoulder at a red light so he could pass a few other cars, right in front of a cop. The best part is that hertel has a white shoulder that is never an actual lane. It is strictly for parked cars.
I don’t get why you would get out of your car if you are a fragile old man, what if I just punched him once in the throat? Especially considering he pretended to pull a gun on me.
---------- Post added at 01:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:37 PM ----------
He kept acting like he was trying to find the gun. It was pretty obvious he didn’t have one so I didn’t even react. The best part was when he finally brought his hand out he had his thumb up and his pointer extended like a kid playing cowboy or something.
If you had hit him and i wound up on the jury, and somewhere during the case it came out that you intentionally raced away from the light to block him in like that, I’d vote guilty.
---------- Post added at 02:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 PM ----------
please retitle this thread “if you antagonize someone into pulling a fake gun on you …”
Meh, I believe in karma, he’ll probably get abducted by aliens who’ll give him a boob job using a rusty butter knife and two semen filled water balloons.
If you are going to pull up in the right lane, which is for parked cars, and try and gun it past everyone you have to actually be able to pass them. He wasn’t able to so he figured he woud just change lanes even though I was next to him. It’s not like I even had to go that fast. I just don’t see why I have to sit at a light and let the guy who feels like he can go around everyone pass me. I am suppossed to just wait for him right? I want to start driving when the light turns green. I watch people try and do this everyday. Nothing gives him the “right” to go around everyone on the shoulder, but if his car is faster he has the ability to do it. I accelerated completley reasonably from that light. I did not launch my car. I could have been driving completely normal and just not noticed the guy, at which point he might have just ran into me.
I was in the correct lane. I wasn’t passing anyone in the lane that is for parked cars. I also didn’t run a red light to pull in front of him and act psychotic.
Not saying I wouldn’t have “shut him down” as well but realize that when you act aggressively you’ll get that in return on the same level if not worse. Our society is sketchy and everyone is on edge ready to snap it seems. I try to keep my agro driving to a minimum these days to avoid this unwanted drama. Running someone over will cause you to spend LOADS of time with the police filing paperwork if not in the cell and also cost you to repair the damage to your car assuming you get off.
Just my 2 cents. CHRIST I’m sounding more and more like my old man. LOL
You have the undeniable right to defend yourself. If he ulled a gun and you had no option to get away … Running him over would ahve been the only possible solution .
pitting someone in this situation fixes everything, they get unsafe lane change and since they drove across the front of your car, you get a nice check.
Man reminds me of a few months ago I was in a lane on elmwood that goes straight and the right lane turns. A 40-50yo guy in the right lane tried cutting me off to no avail then followed me to a gas station got out and started bitching. He was across the parking lot so I just called him shitty and fat and laughed at how retarded he was for feeling right. Then as you did said well if you want something to happen fine if not GTFO and he left. I was loling for hours.
first off, you should have let him drive into you while you were in your lane. There are a ton of reasons as to why you should do this but I won’t get into it.
Second, as for running him over, it would be legit if two things were true. 1. he attempted to use deadly physical force against you. 2. You were in fear for your life.
You’d have to be pretty damn convincing of both those in a courtroom or you’re fucked. And the fact that he didn’t actually have a gun, you’d be fucked. You might stand a chance if you were a woman and did this.
Standard answer to this situation that any law enforcement would suggest is getting to saftey (fleeing, running, get the fuck away from this guy by all means cuz after all you’re scared) and call the police. Fuck, if there are witnesses and a bad guy shoots at a cop but then starts running away and the cop shoots him in the back, the cop gets fucked. This country is soft.
Stop trying to be a vigilante. What if this guy was racing to the hospital because a loved one was in trouble? You have never been in a rush and broke the laws of the road before? I would venture to say that 90% of the people on this site have been involved in street racing before, so you have ZERO right to tell other people what they should and should not do on the road. Just let the fucking guy pass you.
Don’t react with harsh consequences until you have seen the weapon. Self-defense cases aren’t always as cut and dry as they might sound. The fact of the matter is that if you don’t have any witnesses, the guy would NEVER admit to pretending to pull a gun on you. So then it basically just looks like a classic road rage/manslaughter case in which you would get ass-fucked for many years in prison over.
The justification for use of deadly force is pretty simple in NY. You need a reasonable fear for the imminent use of unlawful physical force against yourself or a 3rd person.
The key words there are reasonable and imminent. You’re good on imminent since it’s happening right then, but reasonable isn’t looking too good. It’s going to be a tough sell to the police and almost certain grand jury that it was reasonable to run some guy over while you were safely inside your car with means of escape. If he reached in his jacket and actually pulled a gun that all changes, but without seeing that gun you’re almost certainly going to end up in court.
The other catch to NY’s justification defense is that the aggressor’s act cannot be provoked by the defendants illegal use of force. AKA, if you punch someone, who then pulls a knife, and then you shoot them it’s not a justification defense. Your illegal act of punching the person started the whole thing so the justification defense isn’t an option. Get a DA who wants the spotlight (like say the one who was ready to go trial for adultery) and he might be willing to bend your failing to let the person in as the initiating event.
