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In Downers Grove, DuPage County, west of Chicago, today a 44-year-old motorist called the police and asked them to stop him from shooting someone in a road rage incident.

He was charged with felony assault and weapons violations. It is illegal in Illinois to drive around with a loaded weapon or readily accessible firearm. There are many other ways to violate weapons laws there.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 5623.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Remarkable restraint, if you ask me.

- Jim

The police and the DA's office made the decisions on this incident. No judge was involved.

The newspaper account makes it sound bad for the Mercedes guy who chased the other guy, but none of us has all the facts.

I haven't heard anything further about this. Grand juries can take a long time to make a decision, and the newspaper usually does not report misdemeanor cases.

I also have to point out that not everyone who owns a Mercedes or two is wealthy. Some people drive expensive cars as a trade-off between cheaper housing or not having expensive hobbies or going on expensive vacations. Old or beat-up Mercedes models are not that expensive (because they are very expensive to repair).

- Jim

tacticool wrote:... a road rager who chases someone down and threatens the victim with a gun should be charged with a felony.

If that is in fact what happened, maybe that is the appropriate way to handle the case. That decision would be up to the grand jury.

However, all we have is an initial news report. I trust the news report to the extent that the cops and prosecutors could not come up with a charge—not intentional failure to conceal, or even disorderly conduct.

- Jim

Nobody needs a CHL to carry legally in a motor vehicle, carry illegally, give driving or etiquette lessons to strangers, or be a self-appointed hall monitor or so-called sheepdog.

- Jim

Mercedes guy has himself and two witnesses, his wife and adult daughter.

White pickup guy left the scene. If he doesn't show up, the testimony of the available witnesses gains credibility.

This is similar to what they mean when they say the first person to call 911 wins.

Obviously there's enough uncertainty in this situation that the police couldn't find probable cause. That's why they punted to the grand jury.

- Jim

The problem with threatening as an element of an offense is that it requires both intent by the actor and the perception of being threatened by the victim.

In this case, white pickup guy reportedly provoked the incident by acting like a fool. Then Mercedes guy escalated it by following white pickup guy. Then white pickup guy committed an actual assault (throwing the oatmeal on Mercedes guy).

Mercedes guy likely committed a 46.035(a) violation. I don't know that anything more serious could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

- Jim

Y'all are harsh. Aggravated assault is a felony.

Maybe being arrested and having to hire a lawyer will teach him to keep his cool.

No one every got where they were going faster because they shook their fist, honked their horn, waved their fingers, screamed obscenities, or drove aggressively.

- Jim

Let's count the mistakes here:

1. White pickup guy is eating oatmeal while driving.
2. He gets mad at someone's driving for whatever reason on a multi-lane road where he easily could have passed.
3. Mercedes guy chases white pickup guy after white pickup guy disengaged.
4. White pickup guy stops and gets out of his vehicle. This is where white pickup guy could have called 911 and said a lunatic in a Mercedes was following him, thus ruining Mercedes guy's commute.
5. Mercedes guy gets out of his vehicle. This is where Mercedes guy could have regained the high ground by calling 911 and reporting that a lunatic armed with a biohazard was threatening him.
6. White pickup guy assaults Mercedes guy by throwing oatmeal (which at this point probably was not hot enough to cause injury).
7. Mercedes guy pulls his roscoe and gets busted.

White pickup guy may have gotten away with this escapade, unless someone caught his license plate number.

- Jim

In Texas City Monday, a 49-year-old man and his wife were driving north on state highway 146 near loop 197 around 9 a.m. This is a limited-access 4-lane highway with around a speed limit at least 45 MPH (I'm going by memory). Their 20-year-old daughter was driving behind them in a separate vehicle.

The man noticed another man in a pickup truck "too close to his daughter's car," gesticulating and in an "agitated state."

The parent-daughter parties pulled off the road and the driver of the truck kept going.

Then the father "gave chase." The two men stopped and pulled off the road.

Now it gets weird.

The driver of the truck got out with a bowl of oatmeal in his hand. The other driver got out with a pistol. The driver of the truck threw the oatmeal at the other man and "got away."

A constable rolled up and took the pistol away from the man. The man was arrested but not charged and released the same day.

Police confirmed that the man had a concealed handgun permit.

The case will be referred to the grand jury to determine whether charges should be filed.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/241178" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



- Jim

I wrote:Another case: Asheville, North Carolina, [July], midday -- A man was riding a bicycle with his 3-year-old son in a child seat on a busy road. A firefighter who was driving by stopped to admonish the cyclist for putting the child in danger.

The two men argued. The cyclist walked away, and the firefighter allegedly shot him. The bullet penetrated the cyclist's helmet.

Pled guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon, sentenced to four months in prison plus 11 to 23 months of supervision. The sentence was lenient based on the defendant's previously good record.

http://www.mountainx.com/news/2009/112509buzz4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have never seen an explanation of what motivated the shooting.

Cycling enthusiasts wanted the guy hanged, drawn, quartered, and fed to coyotes.

- Jim

I feel sorry for the older guy who will probably have some kind of PTSD for the rest of his life.

Ditto train engineers when some suicide case stops his vehicle on the tracks, and cops when someone commits suicide by cop.

- Jim

In Camarillo, California, a motorcycle rider apparently was annoyed with a motor home that was traveling 55 MPH on U.S. Highway 101. The biker pulled in front of the motor home and slammed on his brakes.

Motorcycles have a much shorter stopping distance than motor homes.

At least it was quick and probably didn't hurt that much.

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-b ... 2692.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

In Oklahoma City last weekend, a 22-year-old woman driver got into an altercation with a passenger in another vehicle while moving. That vehicle overturned, resulting in the death of a baby. The 22-year-old driver was arrested. That night, someone shot at the house of the mother of the arrested driver.

http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-new ... 5740.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

You would think, but the Pennsylvania gym shooter had no criminal record, and many others have cruised under the law-enforcement radar until they committed an atrocity.

- Jim

Wow, here you go.

In Odessa, Florida (Tampa area), yesterday, a man wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with multiple weapons shot a teenage driver "for not pulling his car up far enough at an intersection."

The 34-year-old man then killed himself. He had earlier had a fight with his girlfriend and said he was going out to kill cops.

The teenage victim is expected to survive.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/aug/09 ... -breaking/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim