Had a Gun Pointed at Me

[fredy]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Washington

So, I was driving last night, and upon coming up behind a guy at a stoplight, he proceeds to put his truck in reverse! He gets very close to my front bumper, then stops. As we drive, he continues to stomp on his brakes, swerve and act generally crazy. At some point, I say "I've had it with this crazy person," and pass him. He then gets back in front of me by cutting around within an inch of me at high speed. We're on an entrance ramp to an Interstate highway at this point, where he then proceeds to smash on the brakes extremely hard, attempting to cause me to rear-end him, then when I don't, reverses...again...on an on ramp and hits my front bumper, lightly. I wait, and he finally begins to go, continuing to swerve and act generally insane. As we get up to speed (60 mph), he keeps doing this, constantly staying in front of me when I try to change lanes.

In case you're wondering, I'm not omitting any part of this. I did absolutely NOTHING to provoke this person that I can tell.

I then decide to stop by pulling over to let him continue on his way of mayhem. He does too, and waits about 50 feet in front of me. He then backs up, along the shoulder of an interstate, to get within 2 feet of me.

I call the State Patrol, who advises me to simply exit the freeway, then get back on at a future entrance. So, I take off toward the next exit, and he follows. He AGAIN swerves in front of me, and stays in front as I exit. He keeps trying to stay in front of me at every turn. Finally, we're stopped, and we wait...for about 4 minutes. I start to call the police again, then he begins to back up toward me again. I get out of my car and walk up to his window to see what the hell this person's issue is. Yes, I'm aware this may be dangerous given the obvious psychotic nature of the driver.

As soon as I get to his window, which is already down, I see a 60+ year old white guy, who points a gun in my face and says "I'll ***'in kill you". I manage to talk him down, by saying "hey. I'm not here to fight or argue or anything like that. I just want to know what I did that has obviously irritated you so bad." He says "You were tailgating me!!!" I think to myself "so you reverse into my hood? Obviously some anger issues." I say "why did you back into me?!" He says again "because you were tailgatin' me!!!" I again reassure him I'm not here to fight him, and apologize for whatever tailgating he thinks I did, and get ready to walk back to my car. He's suddenly nervous about having this gun out, and turns to hand the gun to a passenger VERY quickly. He looks around, and then offers his hand for a "let's make up and shake on it", which I do, more to keep from setting off his obviously hairpin temper than because I want to make nice.

After consulting a friend who works at a gun store, he tells me the act of pulling out a weapon in WA State is considered 1st degree assault with a deadly weapon, BUT that perhaps I could be seen partially at fault here, as it appears to the casual observer that I followed him. He tried really hard to keep in front of me and in a way I wanted to know who he was anyway, because I didn't know how much damage had been done to my car with his bump. In addition, he may say he was afraid for his life when I approached him. I'm not sure if that mitigates the circumstance of him drawing a weapon or not.

I had no weapon, and made no sudden moves to attack him, and assured him I wasn't looking for a fight.

My questions are: We're both alive, and inspection of my car reveals a small scuff, but nothing serious (probably not enough to reach my insurance deductible for damage). Does it do me any possible good to report this? Could it potentially do me any harm? Not only from the police interpreting it as a situation I potentially escalated, but because my name may become part of the public record, and I could have a psycho trying to hunt me down forever. It was a little over 24 hrs ago.

Thanks for any advice.
-Fred

[jk]

the bigger question is: what do you want to do?

Based on your presentation, he has committed multiple crimes. I see no defense that would allow him to pull a gun on you. The only problem I see is you have not already reported the incident. Especially since you did call the police to report the situation, not reporting the gun would tend to show a lack of concern over the issue. If you have concerns about the guy hunting you down it would probably be in your best interest to let it go. Remember how Spiderman lost his uncle though.

[Mr. Knowitall]

I expect that he would argue that he has a CCW permit, was lawfully carrying a weapon, and only drew his weapon when he was approached by somebody he thought was a crazy, out-of-control road-raging driver.

In my opinion, drivers are best served by not ever approaching somebody who displays this type of conduct - if you can't escape, call 911 and stay in your car. If he gets out to approach you while you wait for the police, that's an opportunity to leave when he's ill-positioned to again follow you.

[fredy]

Thanks for the advice Mr. Knowitall and jk. I figured the legal situation would be something similar to what you mentioned. I'm starting to think that for the future, I need to install cameras in my car so I actually have evidence when this happens and thereby can report it but not get near the driver. I seem to have this happen more than the average person, although I don't know what I'm possibly doing to provoke it.

-Fred

[jk]

I seem to have this happen more than the average person, although I don't know what I'm possibly doing to provoke it.

-Fred

given that statement, I would do some serious introspection in an effort to attempt to determine what you might be doing to cause such situations.

[PandorasBox]

OK...I'm gonna say this...

Wasn't there a road you could turn onto while the Crazy Person was still ahead of you? And why not take an exit ramp while he was still ahead of you? By the time you do either, he's got little chance of turning around and following you...

Just sayin'....

[aaron]

The best place to drive when you can't get away from a crazy driver who is cutting you off or tailgating you is the parking lot in front of a police station.