I guess I am just oblivious. I was not aware that race was any factor at all, in fact until I came here today, I did not know the race of either the woman or the man. Guess I have not been paying attention. Even so, I don't see why that is relevant except that some have made it so.
Regardless, it does not change my opinion, that in her place, I don't know what I would have done. I have been the victim of bullies before and the object of their haressment, even to the point of once fearing for my life, but even then, I don't think I would have had the presense of mind to reach under the seat for my gun. Course, that was 28 years ago, and I have changed. I do think I would have ran over his bike as opposed to shooting, but who really knows. Maybe I would have reached for my gun as well.
I do think that based on what I have read and seen on the news that she is guilty of attempted manslaughter at the least and it appears to me that he is guilty of intent to assault. And clearly both are in desperate need of anger management counciling. Neither behaved as responsible adults and in her case, it would appear that the next generation (her son) is off to a poor start.

Based solely on what we know so far....

I know some won't agree, but I have to say this guy has no free ticket to bully anyone. Clearly, his goal in harassing her while driving, blocking her exit, getting off his bike and coming towards her was to be intimidating and cause fear. Congrats biker dude, it worked.

Fleeing?? She should have kept running? No, she has rights too. Once he's off his motorcycle the nature of self-defense changes. His hands are now free to draw a weapon if he's carrying one and guessing wrong in this setting could be fatal to yourself.

There are two sets of behavior which have to be looked at and determined if they were "reasonable". If everyone agrees his behavior was WAY beyond reasonable (chasing her, cutting her off, blocker her exit, getting off his bike and approaching her car quickly), then it doesn't seem that unreasonable that she might be in fear of her safety.

As for trash talking the guy once he's shot? If I beat the snot out of some guy who just tried to attack me, I'd probably do a little trash talking too. There's no law against standing up to a bully, and that's exactly the position the motorcyclist put this woman in.

Merely showing the gun, or pointing at him, will only work if there's a fair distance between you an the attacker. If he's closing ground quickly or right on top of you, NOT pulling the trigger then becomes a situation where your attacker might have the opportunity to wrestle it from you.

I'm guessing nobody would fault her if she shot him after he dragged her from the car and started kicking her in the head. Fortunately, the laws allow potential victims the ability to not have to wait until that happens. If you choose to do otherwise, that's a decision you may, or may not, be able to live with.

Will be interesting to see how this goes.

Interesting summary, Canon.... I can see your points, but must also confess to being a bit tainted by the woman's recent past in dealing with road rage. But you present things quite clearly.

Canon,

I don't think she should have kept running. And further, I don't think he was the only aggressor that whole mile. I think they BOTH played a part in that!

As for simply pointing the gun at him...no one is suggesting she wait until he dragged her out of the car. But it didn't appear that she took any preventative measures before she simply shot either. 1) Rolled up the windows; 2) locked her car doors 3) pointed the gun and gave him the opportunity to back off. Trust me...she didn't show him that gun AS HE APPROACHED or he would have backed off.

I am in no way trying to place all the blame on the shooter. However, there are so many questions as to why she didn't take any preventative measures, why she and her son got out and proceeded to curse and kick him AFTER he was shot and why she simply showed the gun in March road rage incident but not this time.

Hopefully they'll get a better idea of what happened if they can clear up that tape and once he gives his side. However, you know as well as I do that the one will blame the other so it truly will come down to witness statements and God willing, that tape, because if she shot before she even gave him a chance, then yes, I'd pick out an orange jumpsuit for her.

quote:

Originally posted by ZOO:
Interesting summary, Canon.... I can see your points, but must also confess to being a bit tainted by the woman's recent past in dealing with road rage. But you present things quite clearly.

Thanks.


Maybe I'm biased in this too tho. I've been taking self-defense courses for the last 2 years, brutal stuff too (had my arm broke while blocking a round kick). A couple of the instructors are police, and we hear stories about how dangerous it is to allow your attacker to get that close to you etc. Scary stuff. You have no idea what the motives are, if drugs are affecting their decision making, or what they're capable of doing based on their history. In the context of what transpired, I think it's safe to say he wasn't wanting to ask for directions.

I can't help but point out, neither of their pasts affect how I see this being played out. Had it been my wife, (or mother for that matter) in the car and being put in that position, I feel they would have been justified in feeling threatened. The same benefit of doubt has to be extended to the woman in this case imo whether she's a hothead or not. HIS actions were the catalyst which forced the perception that self-defense was needed... the driver of the SUV could have been anyone.

I'll be the first to change my opinion should something come out which shows this guy had some legal right to go around intimidating people like he did... but I just don't think that will happen.