Posted on 10/17/2006 8:20:16 AM PDT by DCBryan1
Road rage builds on I-630 until arrow hits Camaro
Road rage took a decidedly medieval turn Sunday when a Little Rock man was arrested after police said he attempted to settle a traffic dispute with a crossbow.
Police said Wayne Allen Dierks Jr., 26, of 300 Walnut St. in Little Rock fired a crossbow at a motorist who had made an obscene gesture at him. Dierks was charged with committing a terroristic act, possession of an instrument of crime, driving while intoxicated and driving on a suspended driver’s license.
“It was a drive-by crossbow shooting,” said Steve Gilgenbach, a University of Arkansas Little Rock student who was driving the Camaro police said Dierks shot at. “I’ve never been shot at by a crossbow before.”
Gilgenbach, a pitcher on the UALR baseball team, said he was on his way to his west Little Rock apartment after practice and was pulling onto Interstate 630 at Fair Park Boulevard when the trouble began.
“I was merging on the highway and I had to get in, so I cut the guy off,” Gilgenbach admitted. “He started following me, cursing at me and yelling for me to pull over.”
According to a police report, Gilgenbach admitted he had made an obscene gesture at Dierks, who was driving a Ford Explorer. On Monday, though, Gilgenbach said he couldn’t remember gesturing at Dierks.
The pursuit continued for several miles to the end of Interstate 630 and onto Financial Centre Parkway. “We stopped at several stoplights and he was trying to get me to stop because he wanted to fight me,” Gilgenbach said.
As the two drivers neared the Bowman Road intersection, Dierks made the next move.
(Excerpt) Read more at arkansasonline.com ...
snowballs, acorns, rocks, dirt clods, various toys, articles of clothing, green apples, tomatoes, hangers, leg weights, BB gun, pellet rifle, various sporting balls (tennis, baseball, etc), dodge balls, 1 bullet (freeway incident)...
That's all I can think of. I guess a list isn't out of the ordinare - more so for some than others.
Thanks for the eddication. I did't know it was legal.
As for a new coinage, how about "Really really bad terrorism with knobs on" or, alternatively "Some KIND o' terr'ism I tell yew WHUT!"
Wow, I'm a new Blackstone, or blackwatch or whatever ....
I have a pistol crossbow, 50-lb. pull. The bow proper is metal, the stock plastic, yer basic cheap made in China jobbie. You can find 'em all over the 'Net for about $10. It's pretty accurate within 10 or 20 yards, and fun to shoot. Plus, it's silent, so it won't wake the neighbors.
I've actually thought about putting some bolts into a drill press and running a hole down the middle in case I feel the need to rapidly deflate a tire at a distance.
ping
Shooting or brandishing a crossbow at someone clearly is an effort to make them fear you, and if you're actually trying to kill them- even if too drunk to hit them- then it's attempted murder.
If he was merging onto the highway it was Mr. Crossbow who failed to yield if there was no yield sign on the on ramp, which there probably wasn't. I don't think Arkansas is like southern Alabama where the yield sign or even a stop sign is on the ramp... I've only seen one or two of those wacko intersections there. Odds are this was a cloverleaf type system and Crossbow guy in the right lane should have slowed down and permitted the guy on the ramp to speed up and merge into traffic. Instead the guys in the right lane were probably all tailgating one another to prevent the merge.
In Alabama folks who stop on an on ramp instead of speed up are taking their life into their hands - they always stop even if it says yield. They are constantly getting rear-ended by midwesterners who are used to cloverleaf intesections where onramp traffic has the right of way.
Is Camaro season here already?
I think that's one of the new options for the 2007 Lexus.
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/10/17/angry-driver-allegedly-fires-crossbow/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msnbc.msn.com%2Fid%2F15302476%2Ffrom%2FRS.5%2F&frame=true
". . . Archery-crossbow hunting seasons for deer, bear and turkey began Oct. 1 so it is not extraordinary that someone might be carrying a crossbow in their vehicle this time of year. . ."
It's a catchall so if a person uses a common object as a weapon, they can be charged with using a weapon in a crime. If a person uses a beer bottle, screwdriver, baseball bat, etc., they can be charged with a more serious offense. I also like it because when the state admits that some other object can be used as a dangerous weapon, they set the stage to justify the use of deadly force as a defense against such an attack.
This is what's known as stacking charges. If you say "I'm gonna shoot you," that's terroristic threats. Possibly menacing, harassment, or stalking, if you do it more than once. If you then point a gun, that's assault. If you then fire, that's assault with intent, possibly attempted murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. If your shot hits, that's felony battery. If the victim dies, it's felony murder.
Prosecutors routinely charge all of the above in such cases, so if they can't prove one to a jury's satisfaction, they have others to fall back on.
I'd go with the ballista. It's easier to aim in traffic.
I wonder if Tonto ever suffered from road rage?
I understand your concern, but I believe it is merely a legal term that found it's way into laws before the present "High Profile" meaning the term has.
Teaxas and other states have similarly titled laws. The one in TX deals with acts against both and individuals and entities. I don't remember the date it wsa enacted off hand.
Probably. "Kemo Sabe" is Apache for "paleface idiot in mask who never stops to ask for directions."
I'll sometimes wave like I've just seen an old friend, if someone honks at me. People love that.
LOL!
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