Strange highway encounter

[El_Duderino]

Originally Posted by The1

if the dude rolled up beside and dropped his window checking to see if you guys were ok, that would be one thing, but pulling up behind and standing by your car, is kinda weird.

He could have just as easily yelled through the window "you guys ok?" but asking you to roll down the window by motioning would make me second guess a bit.

I think you made the right choice for the time of day and how little traffic was around.

My thoughts exactly.

[CollinsE90]

Originally Posted by bmwmike335

please explain your logic. how does the OP being in possession of a loaded and concealed firearm help this situation.

are you saying that because he had a loaded firearm then his ego would be much stronger and he would have handled this situation more like a man (not saying OP didn't)

or are you saying that if he had the firearm then it would have made things better because he would have shot the man in a wife beater walking up to his car?

i don't see how CCW license would help anybody in this situation.
Even if he did get carjacked... be honest with yourself, would you shoot a man for stealing you car? would you be that sure of yourself that shooting this man would also be justified in front of a jury filled with morons when the prosecutors try to slam a involuntary manslaughter on you due to wanton disregard for life? the jury will look at your case and think your a hot headed lunatic for killing a man for a piece of metal (granted an 80K piece of metal lol) but still... and, if you do get popped with that felony, or perhaps a lower conviction of some other assault crime (if said person happened to take a plea bargain) then you could kiss your CCW license goodbye because in CA if you have previous felony or assault convictions you can't purchase or possess a firearm... so you'd be right back to where you were...with no gun at all except the one between your legs. =)

don't want to pick a fight, but just need to clarify and give the other side in case theres 15 16 year old kids in here reading this shit thinking its cool to walk around with a gun and shoot a guy on the freeway due to plain old unexpected fear of "what happens now".

If he is legally carrying, and the guy in the original post put fear of serious injury or death, he has a right to use deadly force. If the potential car-jacker was armed, that would warrant the aforementioned fear of death and the OP having a gun would be beneficial.

[O-cha]

Originally Posted by bmwmike335

please explain your logic. how does the OP being in possession of a loaded and concealed firearm help this situation.

are you saying that because he had a loaded firearm then his ego would be much stronger and he would have handled this situation more like a man (not saying OP didn't)

or are you saying that if he had the firearm then it would have made things better because he would have shot the man in a wife beater walking up to his car?

i don't see how CCW license would help anybody in this situation.
Even if he did get carjacked... be honest with yourself, would you shoot a man for stealing you car? would you be that sure of yourself that shooting this man would also be justified in front of a jury filled with morons when the prosecutors try to slam a involuntary manslaughter on you due to wanton disregard for life? the jury will look at your case and think your a hot headed lunatic for killing a man for a piece of metal (granted an 80K piece of metal lol) but still... and, if you do get popped with that felony, or perhaps a lower conviction of some other assault crime (if said person happened to take a plea bargain) then you could kiss your CCW license goodbye because in CA if you have previous felony or assault convictions you can't purchase or possess a firearm... so you'd be right back to where you were...with no gun at all except the one between your legs. =)

don't want to pick a fight, but just need to clarify and give the other side in case theres 15 16 year old kids in here reading this shit thinking its cool to walk around with a gun and shoot a guy on the freeway due to plain old unexpected fear of "what happens now".

In Florida, legally, if someone tries to steal your car with you in it with ANY force what so ever (that includes opening your unlocked door, or swinging it further open) deadly force is not only allowed, it is presumed reasonable and no persecution is allowed.

NORMALLY deadly force is not allowed in cases of protecting personal property (which unfortunately includes your pets). But in the case of your car which is treated as your home, and robbery is also an exception. Robbery is not simply stealing, it's stealing with or the threat of force. IE jacking your car while your walking to it from the store is not robbery and you would go to jail for shooting the robber; punching you in the face and saying give me your wallet is and you would likely be arrested but not convicted. It boils down to does the jury think that you had a surefire way other the shooting this person to stop what was going on? (exception to situations which fall under castle doctrine like your home and car in which it doesn't matter what anyone things, you are presumed to be reasonable in your fear.)

someone stealing something from you with the threat or use of force rather then just grabbing it and running or stealing it while it's not in your possesion )

[Bimmer84]

Sounds like a lot of scared trigger happy people who could have shot someone just offering help. This guys not going to pull up next to you and ask if you need help. That would require him to stop on a highway in a lane, and risk killing himself, not to mention apparently everyone in here would have shot him anyway.

[O-cha]

Originally Posted by CollinsE90

If he is legally carrying, and the guy in the original post put fear of serious injury or death, he has a right to use deadly force. If the potential car-jacker was armed, that would warrant the aforementioned fear of death and the OP having a gun would be beneficial.

Simply being armed doesn't give him the right to shoot him, he would have to make some sort of threat WHILE being armed to make it justified. IE have a knife and say get out of the car or "I'm going to cut you". Additionally in most cases he would have to be within range to immediately carry out the threat. OP said 4 yards, that's pretty far for someone with a knife but would still probably be ruled as justified, much farther away and he would likely be convicted of something if he shot him, even if he made threats.

Although not required anyway, the appropriate thing to do was drive off, if you can avoid it even if you don't HAVE to, don't shoot someone, this should be common sense. As much as most of us would like to rid the earth of one more scumbag, it's going to cost you dearly.

[Z4-VILLA]

10 ft range Mace....done

[El_Duderino]

Originally Posted by Bimmer84

This guys not going to pull up next to you and ask if you need help. That would require him to stop on a highway in a lane, and risk killing himself, not to mention apparently everyone in here would have shot him anyway.

Right...but standing to the left of my car in the far right highway lane isn't at all dangerous. Perfectly rational behavior, actually

[Bimmer Nerd]

Honestly, i think you over reacted a bit in this situation, but again as you have stated it could have been somebody trying to steal your car/rob you.

But considering that it was the new years and everybody was in the holiday spirit, i doubt a 30 yr old white male tried to rob 3 people? on the side of a highway all by himself. I think he was trying to make sure that you guys were OK.....but again, this is just an assumption

Everything aside, if i saw somebody pulled over on the side of the freeway yesterday night, i would have pulled over and asked them if they needed help. I dont think anybody would be threatened by a 19 yr old 6'4 skinny dude

[El_Duderino]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Nerd

Honestly, i think you over reacted a bit in this situation, but again as you have stated it could have been somebody trying to steal your car/rob you.

But considering that it was the new years and everybody was in the holiday spirit, i doubt a 30 yr old white male tried to rob 3 people? on the side of a highway all by himself. I think he was trying to make sure that you guys were OK.....but again, this is just an assumption

Everything aside, if i saw somebody pulled over on the side of the freeway yesterday night, i would have pulled over and asked them if they needed help. I dont think anybody would be threatened by a 19 yr old 6'4 skinny dude

Possibly right. Nonetheless, better safe than sorry. I'm sure that 30 year old white males have committed felonies on New Years in the past...despite the holiday spirit

[chungdae]

[TroyDeJ]

Im with Bimmer84 on this one. If he was 10ft away you could have lowered your window and see what he wanted. He had 10ft to cover before he could even touch you. If he did something suspicious you could speed away in a second and hes not going to catch you in his beater.

Do you freak out and speed away if someone is walking on the sidewalk by your car when your at a red light? he could car jack you just as easily as this guy could have.

[One128i]

OP did the easiest, right thing.

OP did not need help, and the strange person in question was not known to the OP (so who cares about being rude). I would have done the same thing - it being 3 AM on a highway.

[The1]

Originally Posted by Bimmer84

Sounds like a lot of scared trigger happy people who could have shot someone just offering help. This guys not going to pull up next to you and ask if you need help. That would require him to stop on a highway in a lane, and risk killing himself, not to mention apparently everyone in here would have shot him anyway.

sorry to tell you, but at 3am in a lot of the states, this is a very easy thing to do. There is next to no traffic in a lot of cases.

I've pulled up beside people a few times to see if they are ok, and if they've phoned for help. I never get out of my car, as you never know if they people at the side of the road are setting a trap. In fact, i usally lock my doors as i pull up to see if people need help.

If you're stopping on a highway, it's for a split second after checking your mirrors and blind spots. You obviously don't linger. You have a pretty good idea of what is around you once you've checked all possible scenerios.

crack window, don't open fully, yell across "everything ok?", then people say they are ok, then you floor it out of there.... Job done.

I towed an entire family and their kids basketball team in a Ford E-350 a few years back in the middle of texas as the sun was setting, I wasn't willing to let a bunch of young kids sit in the middle of the plains for a night.

[EmmettBrown]

similar thing happened to a friend and i. his car broke down and we had to stop on the side of the freeway (which was around 12:30am and not the safest thing). his hazard lights were on and some friends were on their way to meet us. we see a car pull up behind us and stop and realize its not our friend but before we realized that my friend stepped out of the car and when the car saw my friend come out, he drove off. wtf?

[The1]

Originally Posted by EmmettBrown

similar thing happened to a friend and i. his car broke down and we had to stop on the side of the freeway (which was around 12:30am and not the safest thing). his hazard lights were on and some friends were on their way to meet us. we see a car pull up behind us and stop and realize its not our friend but before we realized that my friend stepped out of the car and when the car saw my friend come out, he drove off. wtf?

probably some creepo looking for women stuck at the side of the road.

[El_Duderino]

Originally Posted by 2hondas

OP did the easiest, right thing.

OP did not need help, and the strange person in question was not known to the OP (so who cares about being rude). I would have done the same thing - it being 3 AM on a highway.

Exactly. What do I care what some random stranger wants?

[El_Duderino]

Originally Posted by TroyDeJ

Im with Bimmer84 on this one. If he was 10ft away you could have lowered your window and see what he wanted. He had 10ft to cover before he could even touch you. If he did something suspicious you could speed away in a second and hes not going to catch you in his beater.

Do you freak out and speed away if someone is walking on the sidewalk by your car when your at a red light? he could car jack you just as easily as this guy could have.

Yes, I freak out at every stranger walking by my car at a red light. I also freak out at crappy analogies.

[BMWinNorthdakota]

More hippies in OT?

What Ideliv/collins (i think) was trying to say, that if need be... in a life threatening situation.. he could had shot the mother fucker (Assuming he was indeed some deranged crazy man). Chances are, however, that if the dude did try to pull something, a hand gun would had been just a tool of intimidation, reducing/eliminating the risk of something horrible happening, like the guy taking you hostage and chopping off your balls/hand cuffing you to a boiler in his basement for 10 years and stealing your identity.

Like several have stated, we lived in a fuck up world.

There is a cliche' for the OP's thinking (the right thinking here imo)- "Better safe than sorry", or dead for that matter

[tshoww]

haha imagine what was going through that guys head as you took off.

"what the..." lol