How was your day? Mine was unusual to begin...
7:30 his morning, I was driving to the office like any other day. It was snowing lightly. Traffic on Rte 347 westbound was heavy, but not horrendous. I was riding in the center lane as I approached Smithaven Mall, I noticed a dump truck creeping along, loaded to the gills with what looked like broken concrete. One by one, the cars ahead of me moved left or right and passed the truck. I went left. Once clear, I moved back into the center lane. We had good luck, a green light the intersection of Rte 25 and 347. I crossed over 25.
Perhaps 200 yards further, a green Subaru Outback in the left lane slowly begins to encroach into my lane. His rear bumper is alongside my door. I toot the horn, thinking I was in his blind spot. He kept coming. I steered to the right, half on the shoulder. Now, I'm fully alongside the Subaru. I looked at the driver, and man wearing a flat cap. He looked directly at me and swerved at my Jeep. He clearly misjudged the width of the Wrangler. I have 33” tires that are several inches wider than stock, and they protrude about 1” outside of the lower fender. The Subaru bangs off the Jeep, hitting the sidewall of the driver's side back tire. Realizing that he had really screwed up, the man panics, stands on the gas and takes off. I followed, flashing my lights and pointing to the side of the road. The Subaru driver refused to stop. Traffic prevented him from speeding. We drove about a mile west. Up ahead, a third land begins on the right. He jumps into it to floors the gas. However, as we approach the Town Highway Department facility, Several trucks are pulling out, effectively blocking his way. Traffic up ahead was stopped. Perhaps he realized that further running will only make things much worse, he pulls over. I pull behind. The “chase” lasted at least a mile.
Once stopped, I dialed 911.and turned on the warning flashers. The man walks over to my window and is swearing loudly. Meanwhile, I'm talking to the 911 operator. I rolled down the window. The operator hears his swearing and asked who was yelling. I told her it was the other driver.
“Mister, move away from my Jeep. Go stand on the sidewalk', I said.
“F#%& you!”, he yelled. “I'll stand anywhere I want! Who are you calling?”
“I'm speaking to the 911 operator and she can hear everything you're saying. Go stand on the sidewalk.”
“Is he walking away?”, the operator asked.
“Yes”. I replied.
The man walked over and stood on the sidewalk next to his car.
I described our location and the operator told me she was dispatching two cars.
Hanging up the call, I got out of the Jeep to look for damage. Nothing. No marks or scratches. There was a rub mark on my left rear Cooper. That was the extent of evidence that he had hit the Wrangler. I walked around the to the other side of the Jeep, opened the door and took my documents out of the glove box.
The man, best described as late 50s, 5' 10” tall, big pot belly, lousy taste in clothes, began being abusive again. I won't repeat his language, but suffice it to say that it was extremely vulgar.
“Do you kiss your poor old mother with that mouth?”, I asked.
“FU, blah, blah, blah.”
I turned towards him.
“It's time for you to shut up.”
“Why don't you make me shut up, you four-eyed blah, blah, blah.”
"Listen loud mouth, you want to escalate this higher, I'm right here in front of you. If you were going to do something, you would already have tried. So, just shut up."
Turning red faced, he said, "wait til that cop gets here and I tell him you tried to push me off the road."
I just looked at him “you really are stupid, aren't you?”
I held up my phone.
“Don't you realize that everything you say and do is being recorded!”
His volume dropped, but he still muttered.
“So, explain to me why you tried to force me off the road, and hit my Jeep.”
"It's your word against mine", he said.
Pointing inside my Jeep... "Do you see that thing on my dash? It's called a GoPro. It records everything when I drive. So, what you did is on video."
“Bulls__t!”
“You really are dumber than a sack of dead cats, aren't you? Welcome to the 21st century, Buckwheat.
He starts swearing again.
I walked over to examine his Subaru. He starts walking in my direction.
I pointed at him. “You stay right there.”
He stopped.
His Subaru had taken a beating. He contacted my rear tire just behind his right front wheel well. He had the classic Daytona Donuts. Circular rings of black rubber from the back on the front wheel well to the front of the rear wheel well. The plastic door cladding was badly damaged, and partially detached.
“Nice job, probably $3,000 dollars in damage, and for what? Why did you try to run me off the road?”
His face screws up tight and he says, “you think you can do anything you want, you piece of blah, blah.”
“What are you talking about, you mental case? I was just driving along minding my own business.”
The man started to reply, but I interrupted him.
“I'm going to turn my back on you, do not move.”
I walked back to the Jeep and took my paperwork off of the seat and closed the door. I pulled my driver's license, pistol permit and my bother's PBA card from my wallet.
“When is that cop gonna get here?”, the man asked loudly.
“Are you in a hurry to go to jail? They'll be here soon enough.”
No sooner had I said that when two sector cars appeared and pulled up behind my Jeep. The nearest officer got out and asked if anyone was injured.
“No injuries, officer”, I replied. “I never laid a hand on him, though I was sorely tempted.”
The cop smiled and asked the other man if he was okay.
The officer came back to me and asked what had happened. I told him. The second officer spoke with the other driver. Then, they switched. I repeated what happened.
The man made another rude comment, prompting the first officer to tell him to, “stand here and keep your mouth closed.”
I gave my documents to the first officer, the PBA card at the bottom of the pile.
We were each given a witness form to fill out (“between Xs”).
The other driver had his finished in about two minutes. I, on other hand, wrote a detailed report of what happened, the chase and included what occurred after he finally stopped.
Another call came in and the second cop had to leave.
Speaking with the officer, we discussed the man's strange behavior. It was then that the officer said that the man had told each cop a different story, and his signed statement was different yet again. I played a bit of the audio from my phone. “Geez, he's a real loudmouth", the cop noted. "He threatened you twice".
"I wasn't concerned." Lifting my jacket a bit, the officer could see the bottom of my holster.
"Permit?", he asked.
"In with the registration and insurance card."
"Got it."
We continued talking, not about the accident, but about my brother, who he knows from the academy. It was then I mentioned that I had told the man that I had video of the accident. He looked at me.
“Do you?”
“No, but he doesn't know that. Let me go get my, er, "GoPro". I want to see how he reacts. The guy is a technology dunce.”
“Go ahead”, said the officer.
I left the sector car and retrieved my Garmin from the dash. Back to the sector car. I turned it on and when the intro screen came up, I angled it so the other driver could see it (about 50 feet away). I handed it to the officer who could barely restrain a grin. I leaned in the door and we talked some more. The other driver was now pacing around, and finally pulled out his own cell phone. No question, he was very worried. After a few minutes, the officer hands me back the Garmin. He also hands me back all of my documents and said, “you can go to work now. I'll be here a few more minutes with the other driver.”
He got out and we walked to my Jeep, where I opened the door and put my stuff back into the glove box.
The officer walked up to the man.
“Okay, now that I have a better understanding of what actually happened, I want to hear your story again.”
The man went pale.
I walked around the Jeep, checking for anything I may have missed. I watch the officer escort the man to the sector car and seat him in the right rear.
I met him at the back of the Wrangler.
“It appears that he wants to change his story. He admitted trying to prevent you from passing him.”
“He did a lot more than that”. I said. “Did he say anything about why?”
“Something about cars blasting by and driving in some way that made him angry.”
“Clearly, he's a screwball”, I answered.
He nodded. “I've got him admitting to aggressive driving for forcing you off of the road and accidentally hitting your car. He wants to change his statement.”
“A false sworn statement... Compounding his problems.”
The officer nodded.
“Well”, I said, “thanks for your help. It's very much appreciated.”
“You're welcome. I hope the rest of your day is a lot better than the first part.”
"It wasn't so bad..."
I climbed into the Jeep and drove to the office.
The other driver was still sitting in the back of the Crown Vic as I left.
