Posted on 11/20/2002 12:39:49 PM PST by NewHampshireDuo
NEW GLOUCESTER A motorist who almost collided with a pickup backing onto Route 231 Monday night pulled a gun on the truck driver during the confrontation that followed, authorities said. Subsequently, the owner of the pickup, who had been plowing a driveway, responded by driving after the other car, dropping his plow and slamming into the car until it rolled over and went off the road, said Capt. Kevin Joyce, of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.
Deane Storey, 49, of Yarmouth, was driving south in a Ford Contour when he had to swerve suddenly to avoid hitting a Chevrolet pickup, which Thomas Michael Brady, 48, of Pownal, was backing out of a driveway he had been plowing, Joyce said.
The two yelled challenges at each other and when Brady approached the car, Storey pulled a .380 Walther PPK handgun and pointed it at Brady.
As Storey drove off, Brady climbed back into his pickup and chased after him, at one point lowering his plow and ramming the rear of the Contour three times, Joyce said.
The car was pushed off the road and rolled over, though Storey was not injured. Brady also was not hurt, nor was his 8-year-old son who was in the cab with him, Joyce said.
Deputies charged Storey with criminal threatening with a firearm and charged Brady with reckless conduct with a motor vehicle.
Joyce said that following winter storms, motorists should keep alert for the amber flashing lights plows typically display and plows need to make sure there is no approaching traffic before backing out of a driveway. Both precautions will become more important as snowbanks are piled higher, diminishing visibility.
Poor kid, some role model he has for a father.
Dyslexia...it's not just for tsafkaerb anymore.
The idiot pulling the gun just gives "ammo" to the controllers.
Think he'd taste like chicken once you got 'im home?
Yeah, I agree. Road Rage Ed takes valuable time from teachin' kids to inform on their parents!
Frankly, it isn't a good idea to bring a .380 to a gunfight. That said, this case definately supports the case that two wrongs don't make a right. I've exchanged words a time or two with motorists in my younger years, but I'd never let it escalate to this.
And with that in mind, I can fully understand the truck driver's rage. He was wrong to "attack" but I understand his rage after having a gun pointed at him with his 8 year old son in the cab. In another time, there would have been a fistfight and all would have been solved.
Jezz, it was 88 degrees with a warm breeze in California today......Tomorrow is suppose to chill down to about 79......
or that plow man didn't have one of these:
I say the fact that he later ran him off the road, speaks less about him being pissed for having a gun pointed at him, and more to the fact that that same mentality was purposefully approaching the ford guy.
I don't think you should be charged for brandishing a weapon if your changing the mind of some viscious snow-plower, than you should if your a woman chaning the mind of a would-be mugger/rapist.
However, you might be able to accomplish the same response merely by pulling it out at your side.
But then again, there's the logic, that if you feel the need to pull it out in the first place, you should be ready to shoot to defend yourself. The mindset that you can just use your gun for show in a truly threatening situation could be more dangerous than good.
just my thoughts, kind of murky facts though, I'll admit.
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