Road rage: Mom says other driver pointed gun at her, 4 children

[undeterred]

The Capital Times madison.com | Posted: Saturday, April 30, 2011 8:55 am The Capital Times madison.com | Posted: Saturday, April 30, 2011 8:55 am

A Sun Prairie mother called police on Friday to report a road rage incident after a male driver reportedly pointed a rifle at her and her four children. According to the Madison Police Department, the incident happened at about 8:40 a.m. Friday near the intersection of Highway 151 and High Crossing Boulevard east of Interstate 39-90-94.

The 31-year-old Sun Prairie mother told police that she was driving into Madison on Highway 151 and believes she may have cut off the other driver, who in a fit of road rage sped up in front of her and slammed on his brakes. As she then passed him on the left, she said, he aimed the gun at her and her children, ages 8, 6, 5 and 2.

The man, dressed in camouflage, angrily mouthed words at her that she could not hear, the woman reported. He then quickly drove away, she said.

He is described as a white man about 30 years old, with a slender build, who was wearing military-style camouflage clothing.

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_e30f81b4-7331-11e0-ae02-001cc4c03286.html

We have an Army National Guard training center on the East side of Madison and an Air National Guard Base- Truax... so I am guessing its somebody from there.

[AndyTiedye]

1. Good Thing Wisconsin Doesn't Have a "The Whole State is My Castle" Law

[GreenStormCloud]

2. Castle Doctrine would not make such an act as this legal.

The other driver committed a felony.

[HopeHoops]

4. PA just joined AZ and TX with that one.

I'm not sure asswipe Corbett has signed it yet, but he will. "He was lookin' at me funny so I shot him".

The bill is a piece of shit anyway. Legitimate self-defense in public has never been a serious issue in PA. All this bill does is give defense attorneys the ability to claim self-defense in pretty much any circumstance, including when the defendant was attempting a robbery. They did throw in a lame "other person is showing a weapon" clause, but all it really means is you have to claim you THOUGHT you saw a weapon.

Disclosure: I own guns, both handguns and a shotgun. They stay in the house.

[GreenStormCloud]

13. FALSE.

Castle Doctrine does NOT change the self defense requirements, except for removing the requirement to retreat. And if the self-defense is legitimate it forbids the attacker or his family from suing the defender. The law has worked well in all the states that have it. No state with it has seen a movement to repeal it.

[jpak]

15. Castle Doctrine - Legalized Murder - it sucks large

and when the full horror and stupidity is experienced - they will be repealed

yup

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. More patent falsehoods from you...you clearly are shameless in your willingness to deceive

[rl6214]

19. More childish shtick

[WatsonT]

28. If CD is legalized murder because it enables people to kill in self-defense then . . .

what do you call laws that disarm people and enable criminals to commit murder more freely?

In a scenario where either the homeowner or the burglar is leaving in a body bag I'd prefer to see the burglar die.

You'd prefer it be the homeowner.

Why?

[cleanhippie]

5. .

[geckosfeet]

3. Why would this be a National Guard person? More likely a wannabe imo.

[undeterred]

7. Well, Madison is such a liberal haven

but on the East side you go into a convenience store and see tons of people in camoflage. They are there for Army National Guard training which is right there. Some live in town and others commute. But they are everywhere. Those are the most likely people to be driving into Madison wearing camoflage on a Friday morning, by a long shot.

If she got a good vehicle description and he is in the Guard, he's going to be very easy to track down.

[onehandle]

6. White guy in camo brandishing a gun? Doesn't sound military.

Sounds like a guy who spends most of his day rocking back and forth in his basement.

[msongs]

9. the open carry poster boy.... nt

[sasha031]

8. what a terrifying experience for this woman and her young children

what has become of this country...

[REP]

10. Pulling guns ain't cool, but neither is negligent driving

"may have" cut someone off? If she had been paying attention, she'd know. Driving like that does kill. Doesn't justify pulling a gun on Ms Minnie Can't Driver, but I know he feels.

[undeterred]

11. Everyone who drives accidently cuts someone off occasionally.

Normal people do not react with that kind of rage to being cut off while driving. We just keep driving and understand that other humans make mistakes.

Anyone whose reacts with that much rage to a common driving mistake should really
1) be in anger management counseling
2) not be carrying a weapon
3) stay off the road, since they are prone to using the vehicle as a weapon

This man could have killed 4 children and their mother deliberately over an accidental driving mistake- which is easy to make with 4 children in the car. I feel no sympathy for him at all, and if he is a member of the Guard, I hope he gets in big trouble.

[AtheistCrusader]

18. Wrong.

I do NOT cut people off in traffic. Sorry.

[undeterred]

24. How can you possibly know that?

If its done "accidentally" then by definition it means you didn't see the vehicle before you moved and you didn't intend to do it.

Everyone has a blind spot, some people are just blind to the fact that they have one.

[AtheistCrusader]

26. Nope.

'Accidentally' doesn't imply unawareness after the fact. If it happened on accident, yes I would be unaware before but NOT after.

It's called Situational Awareness. I am fully aware of my surroundings. I LOOK before I merge into another lane. that means my mirror, over my shoulder, etc. If you actually LOOK, you don't cut people off.
It also helps with not running motorcyclists off the road.

I would only have a blind spot if I was too lazy to LOOK.

[Hangingon]

12. Interesting story. Leaves a lot of questions.

The "bad guy" pointed a rifle at the lady and her children. Then as she passed him on the left, he aimed the "gun" at her. Pointing a rifle out of the left window of a vehicle is not easy. Have to move it around the steering wheel and point it across your chest or transfer to the left hand and have it out the window. All while driving.

He "was wearing military-style camouflage clothing." Was the camo surplus woodlands or old chocolate chip? Was it current pixel? Maybe it was civiliam MossyOak or Realtree cut in a military style?

On the basis of a cursory news report, you indict the National Guard and the Air Guard. Why not the whole military - could have been a service man traveling. Not worth 10 recs.

[jpak]

14. I'm guessing its yer average RW white male militia douchebagger

yup

[rl6214]

21. More juvenile shtick from the master himself

[WatsonT]

23. I hate those types, they're so willing to stereotype and denigrate those they disagree with

also they seem to have one solution for all problems and go on and on about one key issue constantly.

So annoying and childish.

Yup.

[PavePusher]

27. Coffee.... sinuses.... oooowwwwww...... n/t

[BroccoliTowel]

31. probably

probably. Only those guys have such an huge reservoir of repressed anger.

[RSillsbee]

16. What does this anecdotal current events piece have to do with

the mission of this forum or my civil liberties?

[undeterred]

25. Absolutely nothing.

I didn't post it here. I posted it in GD.

[rl6214]

20. Probably her ex husband and she is claiming this to get him arrested.

[LibertyFox]

22. Road rage is what got me to arm in the first place.

Having been a victim of someone else's road rage is what made me want to invest in my first firearm and eventually get my CCW.

A guy blocked my car in a parking lot as I was getting ready to go talk to my employer and accused me of cutting him off. He started pounding on my car window and when I rolled it down to figure out wtf was going on (a really stupid move in hindsight but... hindsight...) he tried to grab me and work the car lock to open the door. To this day I don't know what I did to set him off, I'm not an aggressive person or driver.

I was fortunate that there were enough people that saw him that he gave up and drove off. Nothing violent happened but if I was in that situation again I might not be as lucky.

[slackmaster]

29. Awesome local news story

Please explain why it's posted in the Guns forum.

[BroccoliTowel]

30. not good example

incidents like this do not make a good argument. They are few and far between.

When explaining the issue to people, you need to focus on the systemic issues concerning public trust, risk, and people's expectations stemming from widespread gun-carrying.