Having outstanding warrants is not unexpected in conjunction with the behavior described.sjlong wrote:First let me thank everyone who responded to my post.
I tried to post as accurately as possible what my wife reported to me. Yes, it certainly does seem rather stupid of the individual to have given identifying information, and to supposedly have insurance, but a suspended license, and then threaten with a drawn knife. But this is what she reported to me. She said she did report this to the police when they arrived at the scene, and gave them the identifying information. She also said that the individual has outstanding warrants, which, I believe, she learned after the cops ran a check on his ID. Needless to say, they were very interested in pursuing this individual.
As to what to do if you are the victim in this scenario, if I read my Texas law code correctly, you are justified in using deadly force if you are being assaulted, and assaulted means that you are receiving, or are in immediate fear of receiving, bodily harm or death, from another person. Further, that assault is aggravated if the other person is using a deadly weapon. Seems to me that under these circumstances, if you just shot the guy and he died by the time the cops arrived, they would find him there with his knife, blade exposed, in his hand, and your prints are nowhere on his person or the knife. A knife with an exposed blade is a deadly weapon for sure, so it would seem to me to be the end of the story: I can't see how a grand jury would indict under those circumstances and under the Texas law code. If it would be argued that you used excessive force, or over-reacted, what is the difference if the perpetrator took out a pistol and showed it to you, threatening you if you reported to the police? Both the knife and the gun are deadly weapons, and I can't imagine anyone arguing that you would not be justified in shooting the perp if he took out a gun and threatened you.
My main concern, as I stated in my original post, is that there are thousands of people in Texas, maybe even millions, who are driving illegally, or who have outstanding warrants, who might very well pull this on you in a similar situation, and that if they get a free pass to threaten victims with knives on the roads not to report to the police, aren't we just enabling this and letting them get away with it? Maybe somebody needs to send the message that you cannot threaten someone with a weapon and not get shot?
This clearly wasn't the first time he'd done something stupid.