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Accused Of Making A "Death Threat" In Road Rage Incident

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  • 04-22-2008, 07:55 PM
    dtdall88
    Accused Of Making A "Death Threat" In Road Rage Incident
    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Illinois

    I was on I-80 going in between my town to another town about 20 miles away. While on the highway there was a couple that was tailing me for most of the way, even while going well over the speed limit. i was passing people and there were other cars in front of me and when i slowed down to 70 while passing a truck she flipped me off several times. so i smiled and waved and tried to speed away from her. She comes back trying to pass me on the right side even though i was about to pass people while in the left lane. etc etc, she flips me off more and a similiar pattern continues until i get to my destination.

    i get off the exit and i notice the car is still behind me. so I get a little worried that this person is upset enough to follow me. While driving in the town's main road we come to a stop light and the passenger jumps out, slams his door and appeared to be running towards my vehicle. So i quickly jump into the right turning lane onto a less busy street, do a u-turn and go back to the same intersection on their right side. They pass me when their light turns green. she makes more innappropriate gestures at me and I again smile and wave. i get back onto the main road and now i'm a few cars behind them. they end up going the same route i take when i go to my church. at a right turn only they turn left and begin to turn around, where i stared at them, shook my head while holding my hand up to my neck that they mistook for a slicing motion across my neck.

    me and other friends take that same route while going to taco bell. cops are there and she points me out while in my friend's vehicle.

    they pull us over and arrest me. they didn't read me my rights, though from what i understand they didn't have to.

    i need to know what I can do. they had no right accusing me of disorderly conduct as they were doing simliar things during the entire highway scene and also came running toward my vehicle that made me feel very uneasy.
  • 04-22-2008, 09:29 PM
    usedbranflakes
    Re: Accused Of Making A "death Threat" In Road Rage Incident
    Did you have a witness with you? I certainly hope so as it will be their word (possibly liars) against yours (the kind churchgoer).

    Check with your defense attorney, but the next time this happens to you jam on the brakes really hard. When they rear-end you immediately dial 911 and don't hang up the phone. In many states getting rear-ended is always the fault of the person who rear-ends the other person first.

    I had something similar happen but I did something a bit more stupid. I pulled over and dialed 911 so that I had a recording, exited my vehicle and asked the person if I could help them; they were upset that I passed them on the right (which is legal where I was in WV; it's actually illegal to get passed on the right in some municipalities) and I had f-ing done that to them twice today, cutting them off, and he should kick my ass to teach me a lesson.

    I informed the person that I studied criminal justice and his threats were a felony; if he harmed me I would be forced to defend myself and my hands were lethal weapons and I carried police grade mace. The 911 operator laughed hilariously. He started with the F word and about the 5th word that the person got out (I had hit the speaker phone) the 911 operator said sir - would you like me to dispatch an officer to your location; you take the same road to/from work and class every day and we know where you are. I told him they already had his license plate and we had been on speaker phone as they followed me and I was a criminal justice student and went to school with several of the officers in the city and dated a 911 operator. Needless to say he was about to have a really bad day.

    Being the first one to call 911 in a road rage incident always puts you in the drivers seat, so to speak. Put the phone on speaker as well.

    Needless to say that this guy had a really bad day. We found out that he had been cut off "by my vehicle" earlier in the day through the officer's interview (we learned in class that it's an interview and not an interrogation). Fortunately I had been at work and have given one of the officers a meal that day and it happened to be the arresting officer who knew my exact wherabouts at the time of alleged incident. He put the guy in cuffs and put him in the squad to calm him down, talked to me, talked to him, and informed the guy that at the time that "my vehicle" had cut him off that I was at work and my fiancee was manning the 911 call center and drives her own vehicle.

    My officer buddy, who was not mic'd up, told me that he really didn't want to have to file any arrest paperwork and it was near dinner time and he told me that I didn't want to press charges. I agreed that I was having a good day that day and decided to not press charges. That guy will always remember that day and the officers in class working on their Bachelors would always rib me for not beating down the guy in self defense. They said that they would have backed me up. ...but that's not my style. My fiancee was upset when she heard the tape because she thought I was goading the guy into hitting me; in actuality, I was trying to get him to swing first because I had already seen Mike (the duty officer supervisor in my CJUS 300 class) in the parking lot across the street.

    So, there are two lessons:
    1) Be the first to call 911.
    2) Be really nice to the police officers in your town and get to be friends with them. They have an us versus civilians mentality and it runs deep. If your church supports officers then they view you as one of us.

    Note - I do not wear a badge and because of a DUI am ineligilbe to be an officer for at least 2-3 more years in most cities. ...but still think that I am one of us versus one of you.
  • 04-22-2008, 09:31 PM
    usedbranflakes
    Re: Accused Of Making A "death Threat" In Road Rage Incident
    You are going to need a criminal defense attorney instead of a traffic attorney. Most attorneys specializing in traffic offenses can take this case and win it if you have good evidence but there is a chance the DA will escalate it to Felony "Terroristic Threats."
  • 04-22-2008, 11:12 PM
    dtdall88
    Re: Accused Of Making A "death Threat" In Road Rage Incident
    Quote:

    Quoting usedbranflakes
    View Post
    Did you have a witness with you? I certainly hope so as it will be their word (possibly liars) against yours (the kind churchgoer).

    no but they did. there was a driver and a passenger.
  • 04-23-2008, 11:22 AM
    cyjeff
    Re: Accused Of Making A "death Threat" In Road Rage Incident
    In Georgia, slamming on your brakes to force another car to hit you can be charged as assault and/or assault with a deadly weapon.

    Call 911... but do not force an accident. It is NEVER appropriate to force an accident that may hurt other people.
  • 04-23-2008, 11:59 AM
    Soft_Touch
    Re: Accused Of Making A "death Threat" In Road Rage Incident
    Quote:

    Quoting cyjeff
    View Post
    In Georgia, slamming on your brakes to force another car to hit you can be charged as assault and/or assault with a deadly weapon.

    Call 911... but do not force an accident. It is NEVER appropriate to force an accident that may hurt other people.

    Excellent advice. Especially on a freeway where people are going 80 MPH. Any collision at or around that speed is going to be deadly.
  • 04-23-2008, 04:49 PM
    dtdall88
    Re: Accused Of Making A "Death Threat" In Road Rage Incident
    well i think i handled that part fairly well. i mean i slowed down to make them a little mad and tapped my brakes a bit, and then they flipped me off and I smiled and waved.

    I just want to know where this can go in court.
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