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I don't post much but I was reading the "i drew my weapon tonight" thread and thought of a similar road rage incident that happened to me recently.. I didn't want to hi-jack his thread so here is my story:

It was a typical Friday afternoon and I waited in the car line and pick up my kiddo from school. We head home on a main thoroughfare that connects to the loop across town that we get on to head home. This road is 4 lanes, 45mph and is 5mi from one end to the other. It does slow to a 20mph school zone and drop to 2 lanes right about in the middle. As I turn onto this 4 lane street I am discussing how my kiddos day at school went and I come up on an SUV with a car in front of them going considerably less than 45. I switch lanes and go around them. About the time I am well around them the said school zone is about to start and the road switches to 2 lanes ahead so I switch lanes back in front of them. Well in front of them (I didn't cut anyone off etc). I notice as I am passing said cars the SUV in the back starts swerving a bit in the lane, honking and flashing headlights. I think nothing of it. Maybe they are upset the car in front of them isn't going fast enough. There was a school bus that had just hit the 20mph zone and I slowed to 20 right behind the bus and followed the bus through the school zone. Again normal breaking no threat to anyone etc. As the school zone is ending I look in the rear-view I notice the SUV that was honking and flashing lights now behind me swerving back and forth on my bumper flashing, honking AND has her iPhone up on the steering wheel while she is driving in a school zone taking pictures of my truck. This continues for the rest of the probably 2 miles to the loop. As we approach the loop there is a stack of traffic waiting to turn onto the loop. I pull over into the dirt and exit the vehicle to look at my rear bumper/tailgate thinking maybe something is hanging off that I need to check. Before I can get to the bed of my crew cab this lady in the SUV pulls up close enough to hit my toes and rolls down her passenger window screaming and yelling like a crazy person that her HUSBAND is a LEO.. I am a pretty calm guy and respond back with a smile "ok so what". She goes on and on how I was going 75 in a school zone about to hit a school bus full of kids. She proceeds to tell me she is going to tell her husband on me... I roll my eyes and get in the truck and drive off. As we turn onto the loop she is behind me on my bumper still. There just happens to be the usual LEO catching speeders on the loop off to the side. She finally backs off.

Can I get some LEO response? Even if I had been drag racing through a school zone is it not hearsay unless an actual LEO pulls me over? What was she planning to accomplish? I know for a fact I was not speeding through any school zone because I was behind the school bus through all of it. I remained behind the bus because it was 2 lanes until I pulled over at the end to check my tailgate.

Since this is a CHL forum yes I was carrying. I did not feel threatened at all and even left my .45 in the console of my vehicle. To top it off I recognize this lady from the PTA at school. She was screaming like this in front of both of our children. What a loon.

I have attached a pic of the road. I drive this twice a day everyday and am well aware of the speed limits and school zone in the middle.

I would suggest a call to the department advising that you were the victim of road rage and provide them the license number (I assume you got it.) They are pretty good about sending letters. If they determine it was one of their officers they may talk to the LEO and tell him to speak with his wife about it.

A citizen can go to the municipal court and swear in a complaint. She would need to know who you are to do this, but if she got photos and/or video she could use any number of public websites to ascertain your ID. It would then be your word vs. her word and whatever proof she may have obtained.

Regardless of what may or may not have happened, if that was my wife I'd her upside the head for being stupid.

"I am going to tell my husband on you".

That is great. There is nothing she can do. And her husband needs to tell her how dangerous to her her actions could be.

I just dropped it because I don't want any issues if I run into the lady at school. The only pictures she may have would show her driving while taking them in a school zone and me behind a bus the whole way. I'm sure the bus has tracking info on board showing its speed if it went that far. My truck that day was the co vehicle so she may get as far as the Fleet manager in purchasing that will inform them there are probably over a 100 vehicles in this area that aren't really assigned to a particular person. I guess if it came to it they could do some research and see who used last used the fuel card. I know a couple of LEOs so I may ask one later. I do have her vehicle info and am certain I can get her name from the school.

I agree if I had been an aggressive person back she and her child could have been rammed off the road or worse. A loon I tell ya.

Any citizen can file charges on you in municipal court, as mentioned. And as mentioned, they need to be able to identify you - not the car, but the driver.

But, just since you mentioned it, I will point out that drag racing on the street is now a class B misdemeanor. Some other offenses about schools are also class B (like passing a school bus). In the case of a class B misdemeanor (well, also true for class C but more likely in worse offenses), an officer may investigate and file charges based on the witness statements. The statements are not hearsay, but the testimony of an eyewitness. Anyone can testify about what they saw. Hearsay, which is generally considered not admissible (though a lot of it can be used), is when a person testifies to something they did not see themselves. This would be something like if the LEO in this case wrote a ticket and then testified that he wrote it because his wife told him that she had seen you speeding.

This is why I have one of these in my truck.

http://www.spytechs.com/Car-Cameras/dual-view-cam.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

howdy wrote:This is why I have one of these in my truck.

http://www.spytechs.com/Car-Cameras/dual-view-cam.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I actually have a single view one of these dash cams in my personal vehicle. Guess I will get another.

A person not trained in speed estimation would not even be used as the basis of charges for speeding, imo. Their testimony would be destroyed.

I would have just walked away and ignored her. I've done it before and boy does it piss them off when you don't acknowledge them.

I actually love doing that to people trying to be threatening. As long as I know they pose no threat to life or limb, I pretend they don't even exist.

chane,

What (other than her being potentially insane) do you think prompted her irrational behavior?

Abraham wrote:chane,

What (other than her being potentially insane) do you think prompted her irrational behavior?

I have no idea. I thought about it after and questioned myself why did I even pull over. Getting out prompted her to pull over also. Maybe she was having a bad day. Maybe she treats everyone with this better than attitude because of her husbands position.

There was a man in Southern California I dealt with in real estate whose wife got sideways with another woman at school, PTA or something like that. This woman happened to be married to a LEO, and they proceeded to make life miserable for this family, constant harassment, restraining orders, surveillance, even this man getting booked into jail on a number of occasions for conduct that nobody would raise an eyebrow over. I haven't heard from him in a long time, and I believe they may have moved out of the area. It was California, of course.

Abraham wrote:chane,

What (other than her being potentially insane) do you think prompted her irrational behavior?

Manic is how I would describe her behavior. People often enternthe child ego state the moment they slip behind the wheel, as well.

She clearly perceived he had wronged her in some way.

JALLEN wrote:There was a man in Southern California I dealt with in real estate whose wife got sideways with another woman at school, PTA or something like that. This woman happened to be married to a LEO, and they proceeded to make life miserable for this family, constant harassment, restraining orders, surveillance, even this man getting booked into jail on a number of occasions for conduct that nobody would raise an eyebrow over. I haven't heard from him in a long time, and I believe they may have moved out of the area. It was California, of course.

I've seen time and time again all walks of life filing bogus civil restraining orders, many against neighbors. I love the ones saying they can't be within 2 feet of each other or "look" at each other wrong , then their attorney would call asking why we didn't make the arrest... well they were 2 feet 2 inches from the person