Ok, I was going to move on from posting this experience, maybe it's best to share, for what it's worth.
About a month ago I was heading home, I drive all day and average 200 mile's daily. I cover the front range here in CO. and see alot on the road's here.
I was close to home and thinking how smooth the day had gone when I came up on a slowdown on a normally fast paced street, 8th ave, runs east and west, one lane in each direction and rush hour about 4:30 p.m.
The slowdown is a group of four on bike's peddling slowly in the middle of the east bound lane, the car immediately behind them was falling way back "tolerating" them while other car's began honking and crossing the double yellow into on coming traffic to get around these bicyclists.
Three of the bike's got over toward the shoulder while the guy in front stayed in the middle of the lane and began the double flip-off. He held up both arm's flipping off the people behind him, the one's making it around him and on coming traffic!
Now people are slowing down to say a few things as they pass him and oncoming traffic is having to yield to them. It took about a mile for me and my turn to tell this jerk to get the **** out of the road
as I went around him. Now once clear I had about another half mile to go before my left turn onto my street and I'm about eight blocks from home....
When I got an opening for my turn I glanced in my left side mirror and there is this punk poising to take out my mirror with his foot! I veered out of the turn and pulled over to curb and was out of the car quick!
This clown knew what he was about to do but immediately had his phone in my face, filming, telling me to explain why I should be pissed at him for riding on the street. Never mind him being in the middle of the lane flipping off traffic!!
Now as I'm saying to him to mention into the camera what he was doing, other people are now slowing down and circling back around the block with their phones out the window filming this altercation.
As the shouting match continued I realized how this has gotten way out of hand and told this clown on film how I wished I could have smeared him into the pavement with my car, and meant it!
He was literally in my face with his phone, I wanted to smash him but I got in my car and turned to my right in the seat to buckle-up when this ****** punk circled around, got a little momentum and hacked a loogie in my face....
I'm shaking as I type this.
I was out of the car and caught him as he tried to ride against traffic to get away.
At 6'2",237, in great shape and fueled by adrenaline, rage and disbelief I tackled him and the bike.
I pulled his head so far backward by his little foam helmet that his mouth was wide open in a scream while I spit right down his throat.
His trusty phone had slid out into the traffic lane, I heard a female voice screaming "stop it your going to kill him".I was instantly out of my rage and now thinking to just get the **** out of here when this ***** is back in my face with his phone shouting"tell the police what you've done to me"
I again lost control and plowed him right in the mouth....it, the release, felt GOOD!!
Now Im back in my car, his friends on their bikes are there screaming whatever and all I could think is Assault Charge, witnesses, cell phone footage and nothing to corroborate or justify my story.
I live just a half mile away and was home in minutes but had to change and go to another job. I decided to head back that way, now in my truck and couldn't believe what I saw. This punk was whaling, even after the half hour or so it took me to get back there with all the other bikers and people in cars pulled over comforting him, what a crime scene!
I knew I was in trouble and decided to head back home, there was a police suburban out front of my house, I rolled right by and he pulled into traffic right behind me. He must have been to my door but didn't know this truck was me and just faded back once we began to head east on colfax.
I needed to pick up some argon gas but could hardly think, before I knew it I was at Gases parking lot.
I got a call from the Denver police as I was getting out if my truck, he said who he was, thanked me for answering and asked for my story after reminding me twice that I didnt have to talk to them and that we could do this a different way, I know what that meant and was glad to talk, even relieved to tell him what had happened in what seemed to be flash of time. I also knew he knew the detail's per the witnesses.
As I spoke I could here myself on a speaker, I asked if they were recording me and he said no and that he had me on car speaker so his partner could here me, she introduced herself and I continued in my audibly shaking voice, the adrenaline returned when I got to the part where the coward had spit in my face.
In a previous life I have had many contacts with police, me guilty every time... This was a much different procedure. The officer explained his and my options, theirs being a citation or them needing to take me into custody for assault , asked me my location and told me to stay put and that they needed to here from officers still at the scene, the ambulance crew for the victims condition, I thought,WHAT, the VICTIM!!!
The officer did finally call me back, by now Gases was closed, I didn't get the argon nor did I realize how much time had elapsed. He told me that in no way were they going to simply write me a citation for this altercation and let that hang in the air for what seemed forever
The female officer came on speaker and said that a resident had also had her phone filming from her backyard and was the ONLY witness to corroborate my side of this story.
The officer was a Sargent and had the prerogative to cite or take me or both of us (the victim) into custody. Because this victim and the witnesses were less than honest with their side of the story, punk never said a word about attempting to break my mirror or spitting in my face,
the Sargent made the decision to drop it right away but asked if he could give me "a lecture".
I welcomed it ! The Sargent explained that this punk could still come after me civilly for his injuries for something that I totally had the discretion to let go as just a few idiots on bikes.
I am 57, that punk was 26, I would have liked to think Id know better. I do know this could have turned out very bad. Pause when agitated, think twice, play the tape, whatever. I wont let this happen again.
We have a transportation czar here in Denver that has said openly that she plans to make driving an
Inconvenience which is putting both cyclists and drivers in danger with her bike lane choices, reductions in speed limits and traffic lanes in favor of "alternate" mode transportation. While pot is now legal, we are thinking of decriminalizing mushrooms and allowing "safe injection sites" for our road going public. What then are the chances of there being people like I had the altercation with, riding in the middle of the street giving everybody the bird, being routinely DUI or BUI? Still ther is no excuse for someone like me,supposedly sober and in a sane frame of mind to be making the stupid choice I made over some clown on his bike......