My question involves criminal law for the state of: Vermont
I'm in the weight room yesterday and this roided out looking freak is throwing and slamming weights around VERY loudly. I mean louder than almost anyone I've ever seen. He is listening to his headphones, so between that and the loudness I actually thought he might be hard of hearing. I loudly called out "hey" to get his attention. He looks at me and I said "do you mind not slamming the weights please?"
At this point his face contorts into rage and he says "you got a ****ing problem with me? Huh?" He walks all the way across the room in an extremely aggressive manner and stands just a few feet away talking shit. I seriously thought he was going to hit me. He began the initial motions of a punch but did not actually swing. Even though my back was to the wall and the exit was behind him, I didn't want to get in a fight in the ****ing weight room at the YMCA, especially since he honestly looked like he was homicidal, so I grabbed my shit and left the room. He called me a pussy and a little bitch. There were witnesses.
I went upstairs and told the guy at the desk. He told me to fill out an incident report and that he would speak to the douche in question. I was still very agitated and so I left, telling the guy I would return the report later.
What would you have done in this situation. I know that in my state he would be guilty of assault, because this is one of the ways the state defines assault: "attempts by physical menace to put another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury." This was absolutely the case.
Should I have called the cops? Can I still? Would I have had the right to knock him out given how he had me cornered and in reasonable belief that he would hit me?

