Drunk Driver threw beer bottles at my car

[Lex_Luthor]

Driving north from downtown on I-25, Saturday night (actually Sunday morning) around 2:00am. Myself, my fiance, her brother and his gf had gone to a couple bars, I was driving so had a single drink at around 11:00 and water the rest of the night. I'm driving in the center lane, a guy cuts me off from the right, narrowly missing a utility truck (the kind with a steel bed and lotsa sharp corners) ahead of me and in the lane to the right of me. I honked lightly and flashed my brights once. He hits his hazards for a couple flashes. I figured he acknowledged and would carry on, hopefully not making any more stupid decisions. Nope. He slows down till I'm next to him, leaning out the window of his silver Nissan Pathfinder or Honda Passport, shouting whatever obscenities. I tried moving over a lane, he swerves over, missing my car by less than a foot and a half. I tell my fiance not to open the window, what does she do? Cracks it and shouts "are you nuts?" He begins chucking empty beer bottles at my car. I was trying to slow down to get away from him. He's still swerving at my car, and throws 2 more bottles. Finally he begins to back off when he notices that my fiance was on the phone with the police. We got plate # and full description of him and his vehicle. The cops gave us a call back around 6am (phone was in the other room, not even going to bother answering it). Returned the call and we were reassured that he had been sent to detox and jail for driving drunk and expired tags. Thank God no one was injured.

Sure makes me think about having my permit to carry and how that would be an asset/liability to those kinds of situations. Was I fearing for my life? A bit, yes, and the lives of 3 other people in my car. Would I escalate the situation and get out of the car? Not unless one of those bottles went through a window and hit my fiance, myself, or one of the other passengers. But it wouldn't be to confront the guy. It would be to administer aid and wait for police to arrive. What if he stopped too, and got out of his car? Then he was getting the ever living shit beat out of him, as long as he didn't pull a gun on me. I still don't think I would have resorted to making it known I was carrying, even if I was.

Overall, I'm just glad I did the right thing and stayed in the car, called the police, and got the hell away from him. Everyone stayed safe, and he will end up paying for his actions, dearly.

[CUatTheEnd]

A simular situation happened to me (long ago, in High School - no cell phones back then), we were in the center lane he pulled up next to me and some of my friends which were in my car (only 18 at the time and not drinking) and he threw his beer bottle out his window (he was probably a college student), which hit my windshield, did nothing, but got our attention, being young and dumb we chased him, he made two short quick turns (a right then a left) and rolled his Truck (smaller toyota) on his top, we passed by, went another block or two, turned around and the cops/ambulance were already there, gave them our story and the rest was history.

Too young to carry at the time, but now more aware of many life experiences since. We've all probably passed across some life experience scenerio about "what if". Glad you, your fiance and friends are safe and were not injured.

[Monky]

Great job on being a good witness..

I had an incident similar when I first turned 21.. While the guy wasn't drunk he did get nailed for quite a few things, as well as being an ass to the detective that went out to speak to him...

3 years probation and a nice lawyer bill is what he ended up with.. It was scheduled for trial and he pleaded out at the last second.

[Clint45]

My last job used to take me into the worst neighborhoods in Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood, going into housing projects and slums on a near daily basis. I interacted with gang members, methheads, and street people fairly regularly and seldom felt in fear for my safety.

What scares me the most is driving around Denver minding my own business and doing nothing wrong on a Friday or Saturday night. Drunk and drugged drivers everywhere, usually with a carload of their friends, and they will attack people with little to no provocation. Sometimes they will even pull over to beat up innocent pedestrians. Road ragers during the evening commute are almost as bad. They are just ready to go off on anyone at any time for no reason. That is why they call it "random violence."

Now, the BEST way to deal with these situations is to do absolutely nothing. Don't say a word, don't make any gestures, don't flash your lights or beep your horn, don't even maintain prolonged eye contact. You do any of those things to the wrong person at the wrong time and they WILL attack you. That is not paranoia talking, I've experienced it over a dozen times and a couple of times firearms were involved. All over NOTHING.

Seriously, move out of the way and let them pass. Do NOT pursue, Do NOT engage in any way. Memorize their tag # and vehicle description and phone it in AFTER they are far enough away that they cannot see you on your cellphone. Some people will attack you if they think you are calling them in.

As a much wiser man than I once said, "If you let them pass by they will be out of your life in moments, but if you take it to the next level they can affect the rest of your life forever." It is not worth it to let aggressive drivers know how you feel about them. It took me YEARS and several close calls before I finally figured that out.

[Monky]

My last job used to take me into the worst neighborhoods in Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood, going into housing projects and slums on a near daily basis. I interacted with gang members, methheads, and street people fairly regularly and seldom felt in fear for my safety.

What scares me the most is driving around Denver minding my own business and doing nothing wrong on a Friday or Saturday night. Drunk and drugged drivers everywhere, usually with a carload of their friends, and they will attack people with little to no provocation. Sometimes they will even pull over to beat up innocent pedestrians. Road ragers during the evening commute are almost as bad. They are just ready to go off on anyone at any time for no reason. That is why they call it "random violence."

Now, the BEST way to deal with these situations is to do absolutely nothing. Don't say a word, don't make any gestures, don't flash your lights or beep your horn, don't even maintain prolonged eye contact. You do any of those things to the wrong person at the wrong time and they WILL attack you. That is not paranoia talking, I've experienced it over a dozen times and a couple of times firearms were involved. All over NOTHING.

Seriously, move out of the way and let them pass. Do NOT pursue, Do NOT engage in any way. Memorize their tag # and vehicle description and phone it in AFTER they are far enough away that they cannot see you on your cellphone. Some people will attack you if they think you are calling them in.

As a much wiser man than I once said, "If you let them pass by they will be out of your life in moments, but if you take it to the next level they can affect the rest of your life forever." It is not worth it to let aggressive drivers know how you feel about them. It took me YEARS and several close calls before I finally figured that out.

Very sound advice.

[cstone]

Glad to hear no one was hurt and the judicial system is grinding away.

This also reminds me of one of our midnight mottos: "Nothing good happens after midnight. Cops, drunks, homeless and criminals rule the world between 2 AM and 6 AM."

Guns work when everything else has failed. That is why you should pick a gun that always works.

[Lex_Luthor]

Good advice Clint, I definitely learned a bit from this one as well. I've had similar confrontations, and I'm pretty confident with my ability to defend myself, but when behind the wheel, the game changes big time. I use my horn a lot. Usually just a short beep, but it's saved me in many situations from people not paying attention or being stupid. Also for calling other drivers' attention to something going on close to them.

[ldmaster]

Never say that you did ANYTHING to escalate or provoke another driver. Honking and flashing lights AFTER the hazard has cleared, gets people angry. It's not about right or wrong, it's about avoiding problems after all. I find swearing a lot without honking works well for my stress, also hones my swearing skills. You certainly had justification to be angry, but will that justification turn a stupid situation into a dangerous one? It almost always does.

When/if you talk to police, you should never admit doing anything - even if you think it's harmless. A lawyer, speaking on behalf of someone, might decide to say:

"My client pulled over because the driver behind them flashed his lights, my client was alarmed and thought there was something wrong with his car. When my client got out of the car, the other driver pulled over too - then pulls a gun on my client and starts swearing at him."

It's actually happened...

Sometimes you just can't avoid the retards, they exist despite Darwin's theories. It's not about being able to defend yourself, it's about keeping one's life uncomplicated. This is something I learned over many decades of being full of adrenaline and loving the feeling that happens in these situations, in my case I became a bouncer for a while and ultimately a cop. . . While the fascination I had with physical confrontations has long since faded, I acknowledge that it's age and wisdom that has led me here, not reasoning!

The last time something "happened" to me, I was, as usual, sticking my opinion in where it didn't belong. Sure I justified it pretty well at the time. It's been a LONG time, so the statute of limitations has long passed... So here it is...

Was at a neighborhood bar in a downtown metro setting. For some reason I had to go outside (can't remember why) and there was this guy bigger than me, holding some keys out of the reach of a woman. They were arguing. His argument was bascially, "I wont give you your keys unless you say you wont break up with me." She just couldn't force him to give the keys up. I watched for a minute and tried to reason with the guy. He outweighed me by about 25 pounds and about five inches. I tried to explain that if the cops came he'd go to jail for being intoxicated, not to mention it just wasn't going to work, that she wasn't going to go home with him. Well, he took a push at me - and I chopped him in the throat. He dropped like a stone, like me was supposed to. I handed her her keys and went back into the bar. I watched the guy eventually have to sit down holding his throat. The girl took off. At some point the police came, the fire department came, etc... The police came in the bar and asked if the person who had fought with the guy was in the place (lots of big windows). Nobody said a word, I know this because the bartender told me, as soon as I saw the cops coming to the door, I went out the back.

Was I justified in doing what I did? Sure I was.
Did she really need my help? She seemed to.
Did I have to bruise his trachea like that? Can't say.

What I used at the time was a technique I had practiced in the dojo thousands of times with a partner, I wont say how it's done, but it has little to no chance of permanently injuring someone.

Oh... for all you monday morning quarterback experts - please insert your opinion here...



Am I ashamed of what I did? No, not really - I wish I hadn't done it, but I'm not ashamed of it. This was a situation I felt I had under control. He was too drunk to realize he was about to get hurt, and drunk people have NO judgement in this area, zero, zilch. I knew he would try something, I almost WISHED for it. He did, then I did.

Right? Wrong?

Again, subjectively speaking, everybody will have an opinion that varies at least slightly from mine. I knew I had superior skills in the use of force, I knew he was drunk, and I KNEW I was "in the right". I hope he learned something from his experience, but I doubt he did - he was a belligerent (insert bad word) who thought his size and strength gave him the right to do whatever he wanted.

What would I do today? You know, I might just do that same thing - but I'd think about more alternatives before escalating things. Back then it was all about the adrenaline and showing off for a girl I didn't even know. Today?

I cannot say that honking and flashing lights was wrong, or right - it happened, that's IT. But knowing what could flow from it, begins the path to wisdom - I try to be in control, so I avoid people that would cause me to lose control. Doesn't always work though!!! On the job, I maintain it. Off the job, it's more difficult.

There is always someone better than you/me. No matter how ready I think I am, or how much I think I'll wina confrontation, I have watched guys with more training, skill and strength get their ass handed to them, just simply amazing how much you dont know about the other guy. It panicks me to think that because I had to fight someone, that my family will suffer for me being, "right". happened to me once already.

Oops, another true story... A few years back a very close friend and I travelled to Durango to do some family business. It was a warm night, and we'd eaten way too much - so we went for a walk down a quiet and unlit dirt country road. A pickup truck passed us with four guys in it, two in the bed of the pickup. They yelled something about "shoot 'em!!" and held up something my night adapted vision could see was a shovel. Both my friend and I stopped and watched the truck roll to a stop maybe 25 yards away, with a lot of bravado about they yelled all kinds of nasty threats.

could have been the worst night of their lives. My friend is an ex pro-football player, so used to pain it's scary, right tackle. He's just so solid you could put a beer can on his pec's and he can fling it a few feet with a flex. No kidding. I was younger and stronger too. We both had our guns (of course) and I always carried a can of large bear spray in my back pocket in that part of durango stray dogs are sometimes problematic. They were unarmed, young, stupid and all kinds of retarded. We turned at started walking towards their truck. Heck, we both LIKED to fight, and figured this would be fun. The driver was looking out through the back of the pickup truck window, and he turned white - they all looked like "oh shit, it didn't work". And they boogied. A stupid prank that could have turned out so bad for them, even if they had a gun. We both carried Glock 20's at the time. To this day I wonder if they realize how close they came to actual mayhem. I'm pretty sure they talked about it later along the lines of, "we sure scared those guys". We knew different - they believed they knew different. No way to know, nothing ever happened.

gosh,all this confessing has gotten me a dry mouth - time to pepsi up!


I hope you carried pepper spray too, it's always a good idea to have something that you can use against someone unarmed who still wants to fight. If you don't have any, contact me, I'll give you one.

[lead_magnet]

This is why I not only carry concealed, but I also carry a 6 pack of empty coors bottles, so I can hurl bottles back these guys. I can quick draw a bottle, throw and reload in less than 3 seconds. If things get real crazy and I have to ditch the six-shooter, I have my long gun (a 40 oz.) in the trunk.

Just poking fun.

What if he was just being nice and throwing full bottles. It was just a freindly gesture like "hey, sorry I cut you off, have a cold one on me", and you called the cops on this up-standing young gentlemen, you should be ashamed of yourself. J/K , glad you all made it out okay.

[OneGuy67]

As much as people on this forum advocate to not call the police, I would say you did the right thing TO CALL the police.

I've answered similar calls over the course of my career and I'm very happy to arrest a drunk and stupid driver for being involved in a road rage situation, called in by a concerned citizen. They are the most dangerous driver's out there; loaded up, angry and behind the wheel of a two thousand pound weapon.

I always appreciated the concerned citizen calling in the 'everyday' drunk driver as well.

My advice? Use your cell phone and be a good witness. Best revenge to an idiot!