Nicked - For Road Rage!

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So I started last Saturday by enjoying a nice picnic with the family at the park. I finished the day in a police cell waiting to be charged with assault.

It all started on our way back to the car. We were waiting to cross the road and a car stopped to let us cross. The driver behind him was unhappy with this and vented his rage on the horn. After we crossed the road, I turned to the second car and informed the driver that he is a 'masterbator'. The driver then swerved his car across the road and went to get out, most likely to vent his rage at me in front of my family. I walked up to his car and held the door closed, informing the driver that he did not want to do this and should drive away now.

After some shoving (he was too puny to get the door open) he took a swipe at my face, ripping my sunglasses from my head and breaking them in the process. I retaliated by punching him through the open window - Bam! Right on the nose. This incident had moved to a new level and I knew there was no way to avoid a confrontation. I then stepped back and told my wife (who was shielding the kids) to phone the police.

The driver ran at me so I tackled him to the ground. We scuffled for a bit and I gave him a good wack on the side of the head and got a couple of fingers in his eye. He too knocked me about and managed to cut my ear and the inside of my cheeks. My wife recalled later that while I was banging his head against the road, he was asking if I'd had enough yet...

After a short while we disentangled ourselves and I took the phone from my wife and began talking to the police controller. The driver also grabbed his phone and made a call. He stood near me and kept spitting blood on me. After I was done with the police I helped my wife get the kids to the car. The driver decided to follow us and my wife told him to back off. He began wailing about what I had done to him - it was really pathetic. She pointed out that he's like a little boy who doesn't wipe his tears away so you can see he's crying.

The police eventually turned up and took our statements. I was asked if I wanted to press charges. I said I was willing to let this go if he was. Shortly after the officer who was interviewing the driver walked over to me and informed me that I was being arrested on grounds of assault. He slapped some cuffs on me and I was bundled into a paddy wagon. I chose to make no further statement but I was surprised to later learn that the driver had been allowed to return home.

I arrived at the police station and was booked in. I got my photo taken, prints done and a DNA swab. They also swabbed the blood the driver had spat on me and took my t-shirt which was also bloodied. Those were to prove I was at the scene of the incident. I was then taken to a cell to await a recorded interview. I asked the Sergeant who doing the paperwork in to inform my wife of where I was being held (as is my right) and I declined a solicitor. They wouldn't have had any useful advise and I was pretty sure I'd get a caution given the circumstances.

The waiting was the worst. I'd already been in the police station for 90 minutes before they finally got the booking done (they couldn't find DNA kits or a spare t-shirt). When I was taken to a cell, I was told I'd be seen to within the hour. Five hours later I finally got my interview. The officer interviewing me was surprised to hear my story varied greatly from the statement they'd been given. It turns out the driver had claimed I called him a 'masterbator', then walked up to his car and hit him through the window without provication. I was asked if I wanted to take this further and I declined. I had had enough and just wanted to get home. I had also spotted the drivers details on the back of his statement and knew I could get my own back if I wanted.

After the interview I waited to see a governor who gave me the caution. Both he and the interviewing officer could see that this was a stupid affair and that I had been hard done by. The interviewing officer informed me that they would be warning the driver about his actions and that he should take it easy in future. I was then released and sent on my merry way.

My wife was very forgiving when I got home. She had been quite worried about what was going to happen to me. The arresting officer had visited our house shortly after I was put in the cell to take a statement from my wife. He told her I'd admitted all fault and was accepting the charges against me. She knew that I wouldn't do anything to incriminate myself without good cause and declined to give a statement. The kids had been pretty upset by the whole affair but they were happy when I said the police had told the naughty man off and that daddy wasn't hurt by him, in fact I was laughing about it.

In reflection, I really should have ignored this jerk when he was on the horn. After he pulled over, I shouldn't have approached him and only smacked him in self defence. In future I'm keeping my head down - I should really count myself lucky he wasn't carrying a knife.

I did pay a visit to his house late on Sunday, just to confirm I had the right address. It's a quite back street and his car (53 reg Audi A4) is parked right outside. If I fancy I could splash some glossy paint over his car or just fill the exhaust with poly filler. Another option is to stuff some dog crap through the letter box or leave a treat under the car door handles. I'm going to wait a few weeks before I choose what to do - just to let my blood cool down and not make any more stupid mistakes.
 
That is VERY bad how the arresting officer did not even listen to your side of the story first and LIED to you wife? I would put it a complaint. As for revenge, well I personally would plan a nasty little number involving brake fluid ;) Just be careful you cover your own back.
 
you cant do anything to him as the police will come striaght back to you with it, instead, get an alibi and pay some local chavs to do it :D j/k

If i was you i would have changed my mind about pressing charges, why should yuo be the only one to suffer, and perhaps if you did then he would have dropped them.
 
Sorry to hear about it mate. You tell a good story if it's any consolation. Very amusing.

I would just let it go if I was you mate. Don't carry out any premeditated revenge plans or you will get in proper trouble. Criminal damage isn't something that you want to be getting interviewed about.
 
Although I don't take any crap from people myself, I think you retaliated far too easily and aggressively..

Just because he swiped at you from within his car, isn't enough to start beating the crap out of him.. I always prefer to 'restrain' such people, and when they've given up struggling, they've usually calmed down enough to stop it going further, only in exterme circumstances have I had to go further, I did Kickboxing for 5 years, just long enough to teach me that restraint is a virtue!

If the boot was on the other foot, and he came upto your car with you in it, and was holding the door shut, you wouldn't have also have lashed out??

As for the Police, I have no respect for them at all in these situations, the lying to your wife is just wrong.. She did the right thing, they always like an 'outcome' to these cases, and if they could easily pin it on you, they would have done..
 
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Demon said:
If the boot was on the other foot, and he came upto your car with you in it, and was holding the door shut, you wouldn't have also have lashed out??

if someone is coming at me aggressively and im fight not flight mode, then the door becomes a weapon before he gets to put any pressure on.
a handy trick if timing is right :]
 
I would see what you could do as far as complaining about the sitchuation, clearly somthings gone wrong and youve recieved the short end of the stick unfairly. I dont think you did anything wrong in beating the guy up a little, but you clearly handled the police wrongly imo.
 
So the bloke was impatient and becuase of that you started a huge fight with him?

Nice. What exactly did you expect him to do if you called him a ******? You'd already seen he was a nutcase by the fact he blasted his horn simply becuase somebody let you cross the road.

Honestly, don't poke wasps nests with sticks and you won't get stung. Plus was there really any need to beat the **** out of him? He was in the wrong, walk away, or bad things happen...

... like spending a night in a cell.

And as for planning 'revenge' on his car, jeez, have you not done enough already?
 
Got no sympathy for you at all, I'm afraid.

You're extremely lucky you got away without serious injury, after you put yourself in the situation.
 
Some big mistakes. Don't blame you for the act, I'd probably have called him a masterbator too (keyboard warrior rar rar rar). What kind of person scolds the car in front for letting a family cross?

He obviously has issues to be honest.

1.) Solicitors always have good advice. You always want one simply because they would have told your wife to say nothing without them present. They like to tell them that you've admitted responsibility (even if you havn't) so they will come clean. If she has no reason to come clean what she says could incriminate you or put you in a bad light. You've not got much defence if you own wife bad mouths you.
2.) Always press charges initially, drop them later on but never say you're willing to drop anything.
3.) Never admit anything without solicitor consultation.
4.) Don't touch the car. Do anything else but the car is a cheap shot ;)
 
The bloke might have been a ****er, but telling him as such was only likely to escalate the situation. I appreciate why you did it, and sometimes things like what he did just get to you, but honestly, its often better just to be the better man and walk away. You know he's an idiot for beeping his horn, everyone else can see he's being unreasonably impatient....so why start the name calling?

There are some right nutters about, I know a guy who (along with his girlfriend) was seriously assaulted by a group of lads who got out of their car after he'd shouted abuse at them for failing to stop on a zebra crossing. In situations like you experienced, its wiser to keep your trap shut, lest the consequences of mouthing off or doing something be a lot worse, as hard as that may be (and I do know its easier to say than do when something winds you up).
 
Obviously a ****** so you got you initial discription of him quite right! :D I would have probably done the same thing, The brain turns off to a certain extent in those situations, still in controll, just cant quite see the whole picture. Hindsight is a wonderfull thing. That situation could have gone a thousand ways a couple involve peole dying, but most of them involve shared words.
I like to think I have the restraint now, as you say he could have had a knife, still waiting for someone to properly test my restraint though! Im sure at some point I'll be telling you all how it goes! :D
 
Ageed! In hindsight I wish I'd just ignored him.

I've had a couple of similar run ins in New Zealand, but over there the police are much more tolerant. Both times both parties were told to walk away and nurse our pride.

I now regret not pressing charges to start with. When the officer arrested me he did ask me if I hit him. What I didn't realise was that the officer believed I hit the guy first (he had a swing at me first). I think I was in a bit of shock when I was cuffed, otherwise I probebly would have been proptesting vocally.

I am really aggrieved about the lying to my wife and the length of time I was kept at the station (I was arrested at 3:30pm and released at 11:40pm). Also the fact that this guy got to go home really disses me off. In my mind he was the aggressor - he was on the horn, he drove across the road (blocked traffic) to get to me and he got out of the car (he was trying to get out of the car before I approached him). Funnily enough - there were a crapload of witnesses and not one of them did anything or gave a statement. Again - in previous incidents I've gotten involved simply breaking up a scrap.

My biggest regret is that the kids saw it all - at least they weren't watching me get my butt kicked.
 
[TW]Fox said:
So the bloke was impatient and becuase of that you started a huge fight with him?

Nice. What exactly did you expect him to do if you called him a ******? You'd already seen he was a nutcase by the fact he blasted his horn simply becuase somebody let you cross the road.

Honestly, don't poke wasps nests with sticks and you won't get stung. Plus was there really any need to beat the **** out of him? He was in the wrong, walk away, or bad things happen...

... like spending a night in a cell.

And as for planning 'revenge' on his car, jeez, have you not done enough already?

Couldn't agree more. Instead of forgetting the guy in the car and walking on, you went and started a fight in front of your family. Don't say it wasn't your fault, you're the one that went up to the car and threatened the guy when you could have walked on. If a stranger came up to my car and held the door closed to prevent me getting out, I'd probably punch him out of self defense.

As if getting arrested wasn't bad enough you're planning to attack the guys car? Grow up, who do you think you're trying to impress? I bet your family wouldn't be impressed by it. Forget about it and let it be a lesson to you. Be the better man and walk away from confrontations, don't encourage hotheads.

The guy was stupid for beeping at you to get you to hurry, but screw him. Walk on and forget about it. From the story you tell I think you were in the wrong for instigating the whole thing when you could have easily avoided it.
 
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