My friend's brother did something similar! He was riding out in the country and a teenage kid flung a soda bottle at him as they drove by. The kids made the mistake of stopping at a convenience store about 3 miles down the road and not leaving before my friend's brother caught up with them. He pulled the bottle thrower out of the car and beat the crap out of him.
Most drivers I encounter and nice and give us proper room. Many come so close you can feel the right side door rear view mirror scrape your elbow as it passes. I have had things thrown at me, cups, cans, water, soda, other stuff. People think it is funny to come up behind a cyclist and hit the horn long and hard. Right, really funny. They scream, yell, cuss, slobber like fools. I have had little old ladies come along honking yelling that I have absolutely no right to ride on the side of the road. Wonder why those bike lane signs are up there on the telephone post?
Basically, like auto drivers, there are inconsiderate cyclists, which in-turn give us all a bad name. I always try to ride on the right side of the solid white line, conditions permitting. Sometimes there is little or no pavement on the right side of the line. Thus, under WA state law, we have a right to ride in the auto lane as both are treated as vehicles, and we must obey all traffic laws as autos do. But, a lot of people out there are simply clueless when it comes to people on bikes.
Each day as I start my little 30-40 mile ride, I say my cyclist prayer to the Good Lord. "God, please watch over me as I ride and provide me the protection of an Abrams tank. Amen."