Met a hot head on the road today

I was leaving my house this morning driving down the main strip in my subdivision to get to the main road this morning when a guy flew past me doing at least 50 in a 25 and almost took the front of my truck off. I have to swerve to miss him. I honked my horn naturally. We met at the stop light and he turns and starts waving a loaded AK 47 mag and pistol mag at me doing the I'LL SHOOT YOU thing with his hands in a threatening manor. I at that point; I started to fear for my safety and pulled my weapon ( no, I didn't brandish or let him know I was armed ) and sat it to my side with the safety off in hand because I started getting a bad feeling and wasn't sure what he was going to do. He kept doing it down the road as I attempted to de-escilate the situation by trying to pass him and move ahead. He kept pulling in front and tried to slow me down and kept showing me his mags and he was fiddling for something in his car. He tried to get me into a gas station parking lot, but I drove past to the Schnucks store and called the police. He sped off at that point. I gave them the description of the vehicle and driver and what happened. I also had to give a separate report to the County police because it started in unincorporated County before Florissant. The police said I did all the right things and were impressed I went the de-escilation route instead of fallowing him. So, yeah, it was an interesting morning.

Some people are seriously retarded and have no business being on the road, or owning firearms. Hope he gets what's coming to him. Sounds like you did the right thing there, probably about what I would do. Good for you for keeping a level head and making ready. Too many aholes just want to pick fights these days.
Stay safe!

You did the right thing Tony....Good Luck.....

I did everything to avoid a possibly violent encounter or possible self defense situation.

Tony4310 said:

I did everything to avoid a possibly violent encounter or possible self defense situation.

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Good job on that part! Wife and kids need ya!!

The theings folks do while driving never cease to amaze!

I am typicly cookin along pretty good, do mostly whatever speed everyone else is ruinning at, I hit the left lane because I am going about 40 miles between exits and if someone is comming up behind me, I move over or pass who ever is next to me and then pull over. But I see HUNDREDS of morons drive in the passing lane constantly and never pull over at all. I understand why some folks cut them off big time, but it is so dangerous to everyone else if the driver freaks I wish they wouldn't. One day the police will actually ticket folks driving like that.

The gu shaking mags at you is indeed a scary thing, he has lost control of himself and no telling what he might do in his rage. I do like you, just try and get away from them, though I have never had the gun mag thing happen. It is just not worth it taking on a nutcase, job well done.

Tony, you seem like a nice guy and you are the 'good guy' in this situation.

However, you're seriously delusional if you think what you did in this story is de-escalation. You played car-tag with this moron. Why not turn right (or left) from a position behind him and get out of the whole scene, even if it was not the right way to your destination.

YOU KEPT the game going by jockying and farting around. You didn't get a license plate. So you failed on two accounts.

Again you were not the bad guy, but you, like many other drivers who think they are 'entitled' fail to realize that simply turning around or going at right angles would have ended this.

Sorry that happened to you.

sawah said:

T
YOU KEPT the game going by jockying and farting around. You didn't get a license plate. So you failed on two accounts.

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+10

Really.. Tried to de-escalate? You did the opposite of that sir, like you were encouraging the behavior.

Likely as not, the moron did Not think that you trying to get ahead of him was "deescalating the situation." He's as aware as anyone else that if someone is going to be forced off the road it's most likely to come from a car that's overtaking and not by one that's increasing the following distance. Slow down, Make a turn, Stop, Back Up if necessary but don't decrease the space between cars by overtaking.

Aside from that one thing, :thumbsup

I wasn't playing car tag as you 2 put it... I'll put a few more facts out here for you 2.

1) Their was no turn lane I could of used too turn away where we were or use as a means of stopping to let him go.
2) Traffic was far too heavy in the other direction to make a safe U turn.
3) Turning on a side street ( all residential ) would of been a bad idea seeing as he could of turned behind me and put me in a position of no escape and possibly forcing a possible deadly confrontation.
4) I went to the nearest public place to call police. Not the gas station he pulled into watching me.
5) I wasn't about to stop and get in a fire fight with someone sporting AK mags or a fire fight period.
6) Every attempt I made to back off ( always safely ) a few cars to give him space and go about my day, he was matching. He would brake fast and get behind me trying to keep up the intimidation ( he was a thug. The cops knew who he was after the description and other information )
7) I maintained my cool and kept driving safely. Never once braking hard or driving erratically.

If you 2 want to think you could of handled it far better. That is perfectly your right. This is why people never share their stories on here a bulk of the time and honestly, who could blame them? People like you think you know how to handle every situation and immediately attack their actions and come off as " PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE US LOOK BAD ". NOTE: I said come off as, not saying you ARE like that. Let that be clear.

And NO, I'm not mad at you 2 for your view point. You stated yours and I stated mine!

I see it this way. No one was hurt. The cops are looking for him. I never broke the law once. I made it to a public place unharmed and never having to point my firearm at him. So all ended very well and life goes on for everyone.

sawah said:

Tony, you seem like a nice guy and you are the 'good guy' in this situation.

However, you're seriously delusional if you think what you did in this story is de-escalation. You played car-tag with this moron. Why not turn right (or left) from a position behind him and get out of the whole scene, even if it was not the right way to your destination.

YOU KEPT the game going by jockying and farting around. You didn't get a license plate. So you failed on two accounts.

Again you were not the bad guy, but you, like many other drivers who think they are 'entitled' fail to realize that simply turning around or going at right angles would have ended this.

Sorry that happened to you.

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When I'm watching him fiddle around with loaded mags and all over the road. Looking at his plate wasn't exactly priority at that second. It was finding the nearest public place and maintaining control of myself and truck in a safe manor. Plus, the police called informing me a witness flagged them down after they and I left with the plate information and confirmed my story

I don't need any other facts to know that you didn't de-escalate the situation. As described what you did was ridiculous.

I attempted to de-escilate the situation by trying to pass him and move ahead

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Seriously?

Yeah, lets get close to the guy who is waving loaded mags at us while making a meany face.

Passing people is generally seen as an aggressive move.

Like tossing rocks at any angry bear.

Otherwise, happy that you are unhurt and ultimately avoided a conflict.

Tony4310 said:

I wasn't playing car tag as you 2 put it... I'll put a few more facts out here for you 2.

1) Their was no turn lane I could of used too turn away where we were or use as a means of stopping to let him go.
2) Traffic was far too heavy in the other direction to make a safe U turn.
3) Turning on a side street ( all residential ) would of been a bad idea seeing as he could of turned behind me and put me in a position of no escape and possibly forcing a possible deadly confrontation.
4) I went to the nearest public place to call police. Not the gas station he pulled into watching me.
5) I wasn't about to stop and get in a fire fight with someone sporting AK mags or a fire fight period.
6) Every attempt I made to back off ( always safely ) a few cars to give him space and go about my day, he was matching. He would brake fast and get behind me trying to keep up the intimidation ( he was a thug. The cops knew who he was after the description and other information )
7) I maintained my cool and kept driving safely. Never once braking hard or driving erratically.

If you 2 want to think you could of handled it far better. That is perfectly your right. This is why people never share their stories on here a bulk of the time and honestly, who could blame them? People like you think you know how to handle every situation and immediately attack their actions and come off as " PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE US LOOK BAD ". NOTE: I said come off as, not saying you ARE like that. Let that be clear.

And NO, I'm not mad at you 2 for your view point. You stated yours and I stated mine!

I see it this way. No one was hurt. The cops are looking for him. I never broke the law once. I made it to a public place unharmed and never having to point my firearm at him. So all ended very well and life goes on for everyone.

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Dude, you posted a story on an internet forum and actually think everyone is gonna agree with you ?

For the record, I'm with the "2" you pointed out, and probably more , that think it could have been handled different. I'll leave it at that so you don't blow a gasket.

VW_Factor said:

I don't need any other facts to know that you didn't de-escalate the situation. As described what you did was ridiculous.



Seriously?

Yeah, lets get close to the guy who is waving loaded mags at us while making a meany face.

Passing people is generally seen as an aggressive move.

Like tossing rocks at any angry bear.

Otherwise, happy that you are unhurt and ultimately avoided a conflict.

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I wasn't aware moving to the next lane of a 4 lane road was aggressive. Well, that is your opinion and I support it even though I disagree. See we can disagree and still be civil. Now, time for dancing fruit! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

He is lucky I wasn't wearing my manthong! :shocker:

Festus_Hagen said:

Dude, you posted a story on an internet forum and actually think everyone is gonna agree with you ?

For the record, I'm with the "2" you pointed out, and probably more , that think it could have been handled different. I'll leave it at that so you don't blow a gasket.

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Festus, you never agree with most people :lol:....... But we love you anyways...

I'm not here to say you did or did not escalate rather than deescalate. But your story is that

He kept doing it down the road as I attempted to de-escilate the situation by trying to pass him and move ahead. He kept pulling in front and tried to slow me down

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If you had stayed begind him and proceeded at a slower speed than what he was driving at, you could either a) let him pull away and forget the whole thing, or b) let him pull away and if he continued tp play games with you see it ahead of time and stop before getting into whatever kill zone he was setting up, or c) at least have the entire engine block as cover while he had to shoot while waving his arm out the window (think cowboy shooting back at the possee as he tries to gallop away).

My personal preference is for road-ragers and speed demons to have their accidents well in front of me. That way I can see when to slow down and pull over before I need to stomp on the brake pedal.

stay safe.

My wife just told me we need to move lol. We do, Florissant is becoming pretty dangerous.

Tony,

I am not sure your description is clear enough, when folks speak of residential they think of two lane roads, not four lane. I do not think they understand he was BESIDE you on a four lane, mirroring your actions. I think they are viewing it as you behind him trying to pass on a two lane etc.

Tony4310 said:

I wasn't aware moving to the next lane of a 4 lane road was aggressive. Well, that is your opinion and I support it even though I disagree.

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You may not blame Festus, He lives in the country, when you said residential, he assumed you were talking about a dual track dirt road!!!!!!!!!

<

I love festus, VW and saw anyways. They just each need a manthong hug!!!!!!!

Like I said. I may disagree with them, but I do respect their opinions and used today as a learning experience. Everyone should use their own experiences as learning experiences. When you don't is when you really get in trouble.

Aw hell .....