OT: Need advice about rediculous court case

[Boone.Msi]

I recieved a letter yesterday(Nov.28th) that i have to appear in court on friday(dec.1st) on accounts of "road rage" and "Disorderly Conduct"

heres the ******** reason why(long)

last Saturday night im heading home on a busy two lane divided hwy. i end up getting behind two cars side by side going 40 in a 55, after a couple minutes of this nonsense i flash the guy in front of me in the left lane expecting him to speed up or get over. im not riding his ass or driving like an idiot im just about a car lenght back. he dosent change the way he's driving so i flash him again, this time he slams on his brakes so hard that the guy behind me had to go off the road (thank god for our excellent brakes!) im pissed but i know this guy is an idiot so i get behind the other car (going 43 now) in the right lane. The guy that slammed on his brakes knows i want to get past him so instead of getting out of the way he stays side by side of the car in front of me for more than 5 miles going 43mph...

once i finally get enough room to pass this asshat(the guy that slammed on his brakes) i roll my window down put my arm outside the window and give him the middle finger as i pass him (the douche is trying to race me now in his pontiac vibe lawls!)

this should have been the end of my story but after all this the guy gets behind me and tails me to the next light. the roads are open now so i change lanes to get him off my ass, he follows me to each lane after i change 3 times. that was enough to push me over the edge, so i get out of my car, walk up to his window and shout "**** off you piece of ****, you dont know who your ****ing with, back off!" im 5'10 230lbs and an ex 5AAAAA state finals football player, so this guy just cowered in his seat. he continues to try to follow me so i lose him.

15 minutes after i get home the cops show up telling me that he called me in on aggressive driving... they dont arrest me but try to intimidate me with the usual spill about going to jail and that the guy may send this to court. so here i am a week later with no lawyer and a court date on friday. help me out guys, wtf are these ******** charges of "road rage" and "Disorderly Conduct"? any insight or advice on my situation?

[Dave M]

Me thinks that as soon as you stop and leave your car to confront him, you're at fault. The details of what was done to provoke and what was said through the window are somewhat insignificant (unless you lie). As you could have ignored the entire thing, starting with the lack of speed, you'll definately be tagged as the instigator. Why folks choose to aggrivate is beyond me, but it never ends up 'good' when you take it personal.

As much as he may have a lack of vertabrae and just wants to get under your skin, you will be under attack if you present this story. You may want to present a more sympathetic side. Maybe tell the judge you were scared of his driving or just asked for directions and hope he doesn't have a witness. Or, present the truth, hope the judge has spent some time behind someone like this on the highway and hope you just get a slap on the wrist.

Hard to say what will happen, maybe someone else has been in this situation,

Dave M

[Jehu]

I see no reason why he isn't perfectly at liberty to exit his own vehicle and walk to the other car.As long as he didn't touch the other guy he can say he was concerned that the person might be intoxicated and was considering making a citizen's arrest because the other guy was driving erratically. The verbal tirade is hearsay and inadmissible, he can adamantly deny ever saying anything of a threatening nature with no other witnesses.Or he could claim the other party was driving erratically and made threatening gestures and he was trying to diffuse the situation.If he has a clean driving record all they'll have to go on is this fruitcakes accusations.I see no way a court can find against him on such unsubstantiated hearsay. It may be a formality like calling 911 and hanging up in some places the cops have to go check it out.

[zman-95-540i]

So he should lie under oath? Isn't that opening up a whole new can of worms?

[Dave M]

He is at liberty to exit his vehicle if the story is manipulated to appear as though he wasn't angry and wanting to kick some a$$. As I said, he has the option to bend the truth, but if the story is presented as is, the complainant may have a point.

You're right though, he didn't touch him, which is a 'bonus'. Not sure what yelling at someobne is worth? I've never been charged with it.

[mikell]

This is the kind of ******* that will try to bully the prosecutor into pursuing the matter if you do not demonstrate the willingness and ability to respond. There is no downside for him. I don't know what the laws or penalties are in your state, but you do not want to blow this off.

Yes, it's a swearing match between you and him, but it's all in the presentation. You do not dare to represent yourself, because you are too emotionally involved - and, you made a direct threat to the guy - or at least that's what he'll say.

It's going to cost you money. Best of luck to you.

[ryan roopnarine]

IANAL

IMHO, the second you got to the other guy's car, you needed a lawyer. people are *******s, certainly. but you aren't a freelance policeman, there was nothing you could do to remedy the other guy's assaholia (reckless driving or otherwise), you weren't in a position to write him a citation, call for a dui testing van, anything to that effect. i'm certainly not trying to belittle your situation by making an aside, but people in tejas (and here in florida) stand on good legal ground to pull a gun on the approachee in that situation. if the trial was scheduled for only 1 or 2 weeks from the issuance of a subpoena, a lawyer versed in this kind of thing should be able to do something for you one one or two days notice if you do something right away. i get the sneaking suspicion that, if they only have a "civillian's" testimony, they are only trying for civil penalties, and they might not have anything (really) to charge you with, but i'm not your lawyer. is it at a criminal court, or a civil one, or an administrative one? at any rate, you need to see a lawyer today.

[Jehu]

If there are no other wittinesses who is to either contradict anything he chooses to say or to substantiate the claims of this busybody who filed a report?I was assuming there were no witnesses and just made the suggestions to show he has as much right to claim whatever he wants as his version of events and if nobody can contradict him he may as well claim innocence as say what he has to us which clearly inculpates him.If you think for him to have a clear conscience he should go and repeat his story above maybe that's best and he can accept the fines ,penalties ,maybe loss of license or even jail time... all for some malignant halfwit.

[632 Regal]

Your Honor,

Last Saturday night I was heading home on a busy two lane divided hwy. I ended up getting behind two cars. side by side going 35~40 in a 55. After a few minutes of this I flashed lights at the guy in front of me in the left lane expecting him to speed up or get over. He was busy talking on what looked like a cell phone and was oblivious that anyone other than himself was on this road. He was impeding traffic, there was not anyone in front of either car and the traffic behind me was piled up.

I was not not riding his bumper or driving like an idiot. I was about 2 car lenghths behind him. He didn't change the way he was driving so I flashed him again, this time he slammed on his brakes so hard that the cars behind me had to go off the road.

I then changed lanes to the right lane, behind the other car (going 43 now) in the right lane. The guy that slammed on his brakes knows I want to get past him so instead of getting out of the way he stays side by side of the car in front of me for more than 5 miles going 43mph.

This should have been the end of my story but after all this the guy gets behind me and tails me to the next light. The roads are open now so I changed lanes to get him off my bumper, he followed me to each lane even after I change 3 times. He eventually turned and this was the end of it.

15 minutes after I get home the cops show up telling me that he called me in on aggressive driving.

[mikell]

The verbal tirade is hearsay and inadmissible, ...I see no way a court can find against him on such unsubstantiated hearsay. It may be a formality like calling 911 and hanging up in some places the cops have to go check it out.

If a party to the proceeding (the defendant or the complainant) said something, it's admissible evidence - called an admission against interest of an adverse party -

In some states there's an offense called "assault by threat" or "terroristic threat". The penalty's not as severe as an actual battery, but it can be more than a fine.

Stay cool out there, O My Brothers and Sisiters.