LORRY DRIVER ATTACKED AFTER RAMMING 12 CARS

This is Bristol ^ | 11:00 - 29 December 2004 | JOHN LE COUTEUR

[insider_uk]

A Lorry driver was kicked unconscious and more than a dozen cars wrecked in a road rage confrontation in a narrow Bristol street. People living in Hinton Road, Greenbank, watched in horror as a flat-bed lorry twice rammed a Fiat car after the drivers of both vehicles were involved in a stand-off, neither willing to back up and make room to let the other pass.

Witnesses said three men in the Fiat attacked the lorry driver after he tried to run away.

Some 12 residents' cars that had been parked at the side of the street were hit during the incident, with some so badly damaged they are likely to be insurance write-offs.

Police arrested the lorry driver after he was taken to the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

[insider_uk]

If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns.

[Hegemony Cricket]

What, are you opposed to "the right to die"? :-)

But seriously folks, although life is an inalienable God-given right, it is a right that can be forfeited, just as liberty and the pursuit of happines (along with property). Do stupid stuff, and you gotta know that you may very well pay the ultimate price...

[Frank_2001]

It's not the size of the Fiat in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the Fiat!;)

[AdamSelene235]

If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns.

Why do you say that?

You can only legally fire on someone who is threatening you with grievous bodily harm.

Ramming cars probably doesn't justify deadly force. (although ramming people certainly would).

I recently saw a large truck shove a car out of its way here in Colorado where its legal to carry concealed weapons in one's vehicle. Despite having, oh, 3 firearms at my disposal, I merely wrote down the license plate number.

[AnAmericanMother]

Not necessarily.

Most folks in a blind rage are extremely bad shots.

You don't have to be a particularly good shot to squash someone with a lorry in a narrow street.

If this fellow had been intent on killing someone, there would have been deaths by lorry.

If you're interested, you may investigate the lady who ran her car up a crowded sidewalk in Las Vegas a number of years ago. Killed many, maimed many more.

[patton]

horse hocky. bull pucks, even.

[GovernmentShrinker]

More likely, some bystander with a gun would have pointed it at the men perpetrating the violence, fired a warning shot into the ground to get their attention, and shouted "Stop or I'll shoot YOU". This approach generally refocuses the attention of violent perps, and causes them to cease their violent activities and flee.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns.

More likely if this had occurred in the U.S. the real possibility of "deaths by guns" would have constrained the actors to exercise a little courtesy and common sense, ingredients conspicuously absent the entire affair.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I'd like to think that I'd shoot if I saw someone being kicked unconscious -- though I'd certainly try a warning shot into the ground first. When only property damage is underway, taking notes and calling the police is appropriate, but if somebody's getting their skull kicked in, there's no time to wait for police.

[douglas1]

MES thinks it happened in RENO, on VIRGINIA street this woman backed her car up a couple times to make sure her victims were dead ,and she is still sitting in one of our prisons.

[AnAmericanMother]

My bad, I was working from memory.

"Always verify your references."

A friend of mine was there when it happened. He was a pretty tough customer (used to be a blackjack dealer) but he turned pale talking about it.

[Who dat?]

If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns.

Nah. I was delivering fuel in a truck and trailer in one of those little towns that have narrow streets. The main street through town splits into one-way streets so to deliver I had to go down a few blocks and cut through to the street the station was on.

Truck and trailer is 86 feet long from bumper to bumper so I take up most of the road turning. I pull up slow and easy and the street I’m turning into is clear. I’m about three-quarters of the way into my turn when some old fart in a Catalina that had been parked at the curb decides he’s going to pull out.

So he won’t move and I can’t go around and I’m certainly not going to try backing blind into the street I was just on. So I just throw on the flashers and set the brake and start taking care of my paperwork. I’m getting paid by the hour and I assume he isn’t so we just sit a while. He finally backed out when he figured out I wasn’t going anywhere.

No gunplay.

[jjbrouwer]

"If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns"

I'm not entirely sure this is true. Yanks aren't as hot on road rage as we are. All they usually do is honk their horns and swear at each other.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

"Ramming cars probably doesn't justify deadly force."

Try ramming a cop's car, you won't walk away. If its good enough for the cops, its good enough for the great unwashed.

[AdamSelene235]

If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns.

A person who withholds lethal force under threatening but not deadly circumstances is a self-disciplined mature adult. The only sort of person capable of living in a free society.

A person who can not use deadly force in defense of life, liberty or property due to his mental and physical subjugation to the State has more in common with a domesticated pet or barnyard animal than a free man.

Molon Labe.

[mtbopfuyn]

It's probably a good thing I didn't have mine with me the other day. Just last week, I followed a dump truck for over a mile only to be laughed at by a couple of contractors when they purposefully blocked me off at their destination so I had to back around the block only to find they'd parked other equipment in the middle of the road so there was only room for one vehicle. They decided at the moment I pulled up the back way that they needed to leave and tried to ram me as I was dropping kids off. HELLO, you do NOT threaten kids with a mad Texas mama around! I jumped out and stood in the 1 foot space between their truck and my NEW CHRISTMAS SUV (you just knew there was a SUV in this story!) daring the jerks to move another inch and cussed them a blue streak starting with their mothers. Sure, it could have ended badly, but I sufficiently scared them enough that the driver gave up leaving his partner and their truck in the road.

Don't mess with Texas!

[AdamSelene235]

If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns.

At his New York City shop, Maj. Anthony Fiala (l.), of the American Committee For Defense of British Homes, crates .45-70 trapdoor carbines, as chairman Cutting watches. Committee efforts led to more than 25,000 guns and two million rounds of ammunition being sent to defend Britain against Nazi invasion.

As World War II ended, the British government did what it could to prevent the men who had risked their lives in defense of freedom and Britain from holding onto guns acquired during the war. Troop ships returning to England were searched for souvenir or captured rifles, and men caught attempting to bring firearms home were punished. Guns that had been donated by American civilians were collected from the Home Guard and destroyed by the British government.

[Felis_irritable]

"A Lorry driver was kicked unconscious..."

Detached retinas. Inner ear damage resulting in permanent total deafness. Brain damage. Will that do it for you? A "mere fistfight" can be a destructive event, depending on the circumstances, but we don't look at it that way, do we?

While ramming 12 vehicles is a stunning display of stupidity, I've been in more than one stupidity inspired wreck in my life, and I've always called the cops. And I live in Texas and carry a loaded Glock .40 and an extra magazine almost everywhere I go.

I suggest you disregard your UK media when they write about firearms, especially as they relate to us in the Colonies, since they don't know jack about it.

[Professional Engineer]

If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns.

Riiiiiight.

[Bon mots]

If this was in the US, there would have been deaths by guns.

If this were in the US, there wouldn't have been a lorry.