Those 5 words were all it took to add a little excitement to my day. Here's what happened.
My girlfriend I were driving through a shopping center parking lot in an aisle that is a one-way lane, clearly denoted with arrows on the pavement. As we're approaching the corner to turn right, another car turns down the aisle, going the wrong way. He would have hit me head on had I not seen him coming and maneuvered out of the way. I was annoyed, but not angry. I've had it happen to me a few times in that same lot. As the guy passed me I simply mouthed "You're going the wrong way!" through my closed window. I shook my head at his lack of awareness and went on my way. Or so I thought.
My girlfriend then notices the guy kept staring at us as we passed. I didn't think much of it. I pulled into a parking spot and that's when I see the guy turn his car around, drive over and stop right in front of where I was parked. He starts yelling at me through his open window, telling me to get out of the car, and generally egging me on to get out and fight him.
Since I have more than an ounce of sense, I stayed in the car. He then gets out of the car, and approaches my window, shouting obscenities and threats as he comes. I told him to get back in his car, and something along the lines of "You were going the wrong way, you idiot!" mostly because I couldn't believe somebody would be so enraged over such a minor act of pointing out his mistake. He keeps demanding that I get out of the car...
...and then punches my window. It didn't break, but it seemed like he hit it with pretty decent force. He then walks away and says "I'm going to kill you!"
I couldn't believe it. I was feeling a mix of shock and anger. Shock that someone would get so pissed off over basically nothing, and anger that the fucker just hit my car and threatened my life.
I called local PD, and watched as the guy drove off...and parked back over where everything started...and walked into the pizza shop. I gave the police a run down of what happened, a description of my car, his car and his plate number and parked over nearby. The guy came out of the pizza place and proceeded to chat with a friend, smoke a cigarette and basically act like nothing had happened.
As the police arrive, the dude starts walking back into the pizza shop. I got out, pointed to the guy and let the cop know "that's him" The officer called the guy over and asked for us to explain what happened, one at a time, no interruptions. I recount the story to exact detail. The officer then asks for the guy's side of it...he says "pretty much that...except I didn't punch his window. There's no way you can prove that." In a way, its too bad the window didn't break because then I'd have some pretty damning evidence that he did in fact punch the car. However, either Honda glass is strong or this guy has a weak ass punch... The guy then pulls the innocence card by saying "I'm just a teenager, you're a grown ass man" as if that has *anything* to do with what happened.
Long story short, since there was no damage and the cop took no effort to confer with the numerous witnesses who saw everything (even after I pointed this fact out to the officer) the guy got to go back to work (he works AT the pizza shop). The officer totally belittled the situation, making it out to be more about me pointing out that the guy drove the wrong way over the fact that he assaulted my property and threatened my life. He told me that even he sometimes drives the wrong way down the lane, and its just something that happens. He seemed to have no concern over whether or not the guy really did make threats and hit my car and I was made to feel like I wasted his time by calling. He then told me that people make mistakes and sometimes you should just let it go...
Now I have half a mind to call the pizza shop and complain about the guy. I don't know his name but I know what he drives, and that he has a sore punching hand. I'm not sure what good it would do, but it would make me feel like *something* was done about this jackass.
Anyway, did I do the right thing? Was is unnecessary to call the cops as the officer seems to have thought, or did the cop totally drop the ball on it?
My girlfriend I were driving through a shopping center parking lot in an aisle that is a one-way lane, clearly denoted with arrows on the pavement. As we're approaching the corner to turn right, another car turns down the aisle, going the wrong way. He would have hit me head on had I not seen him coming and maneuvered out of the way. I was annoyed, but not angry. I've had it happen to me a few times in that same lot. As the guy passed me I simply mouthed "You're going the wrong way!" through my closed window. I shook my head at his lack of awareness and went on my way. Or so I thought.
My girlfriend then notices the guy kept staring at us as we passed. I didn't think much of it. I pulled into a parking spot and that's when I see the guy turn his car around, drive over and stop right in front of where I was parked. He starts yelling at me through his open window, telling me to get out of the car, and generally egging me on to get out and fight him.
Since I have more than an ounce of sense, I stayed in the car. He then gets out of the car, and approaches my window, shouting obscenities and threats as he comes. I told him to get back in his car, and something along the lines of "You were going the wrong way, you idiot!" mostly because I couldn't believe somebody would be so enraged over such a minor act of pointing out his mistake. He keeps demanding that I get out of the car...
...and then punches my window. It didn't break, but it seemed like he hit it with pretty decent force. He then walks away and says "I'm going to kill you!"
I couldn't believe it. I was feeling a mix of shock and anger. Shock that someone would get so pissed off over basically nothing, and anger that the fucker just hit my car and threatened my life.
I called local PD, and watched as the guy drove off...and parked back over where everything started...and walked into the pizza shop. I gave the police a run down of what happened, a description of my car, his car and his plate number and parked over nearby. The guy came out of the pizza place and proceeded to chat with a friend, smoke a cigarette and basically act like nothing had happened.
As the police arrive, the dude starts walking back into the pizza shop. I got out, pointed to the guy and let the cop know "that's him" The officer called the guy over and asked for us to explain what happened, one at a time, no interruptions. I recount the story to exact detail. The officer then asks for the guy's side of it...he says "pretty much that...except I didn't punch his window. There's no way you can prove that." In a way, its too bad the window didn't break because then I'd have some pretty damning evidence that he did in fact punch the car. However, either Honda glass is strong or this guy has a weak ass punch... The guy then pulls the innocence card by saying "I'm just a teenager, you're a grown ass man" as if that has *anything* to do with what happened.
Long story short, since there was no damage and the cop took no effort to confer with the numerous witnesses who saw everything (even after I pointed this fact out to the officer) the guy got to go back to work (he works AT the pizza shop). The officer totally belittled the situation, making it out to be more about me pointing out that the guy drove the wrong way over the fact that he assaulted my property and threatened my life. He told me that even he sometimes drives the wrong way down the lane, and its just something that happens. He seemed to have no concern over whether or not the guy really did make threats and hit my car and I was made to feel like I wasted his time by calling. He then told me that people make mistakes and sometimes you should just let it go...
Now I have half a mind to call the pizza shop and complain about the guy. I don't know his name but I know what he drives, and that he has a sore punching hand. I'm not sure what good it would do, but it would make me feel like *something* was done about this jackass.
Anyway, did I do the right thing? Was is unnecessary to call the cops as the officer seems to have thought, or did the cop totally drop the ball on it?
