Need some advise on any thing I could do better.

Are you looking for validation and a slap on the back? Or genuine feedback. You presented the scenario and opened it up for discussion by asking "is there anything I should have done different?"

You said that you were ready to fire. At what? Ask yourself what exactly were you aiming at? What would you have hit, if you made your shot? And, what would you have hit if you missed. I wasn't there. You were. Were you just going to put a hole in the body of his truck somewhere? What would that have done?

See, the problem I have is the fact that you were ready to take a shot at a moving vehicle with some kind of handgun. If this is true, you had no idea what you were going to hit. And, no reasonable chance of stopping the truck or the driver. Now you are a few less bullets and have some very angry people who now know you are armed and possibly looking for more revenge.

Analyzing scenarios like these are good - it permits us to apply critical thinking to determine what we might do in the same situation. But, that requires that we dig into and mull over the facts and the effectiveness of the tactics used - pros and cons. I can honestly say that I would not have pulled my gun on a moving vehicle. To me, it's pointless and fuel to the wrong police officer to arrest you. If I was broken down in the median of the road, I would have crossed over to the far side of the road, with my cell phone, my wallet and my concealed gun. I would have looked for cover. The truck is going to be at a disadvantage once it leaves the road and if the individual(s) meant me harm, they would have parked the vehicle and exited the truck. I would be ready for that, and if the cops still hadn't shown up, I would be in a better position to stop the threat - if it went that far.
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actually I am looking for feed back! That was indeed pretty good feed back. I apricate the fact that you had the guts to say it like you see it on a forum like this. While I like the slaps on the back I am glad that there are people that will give honest feed back. It is about growing and getting better. While I am not sure how much I have improved since then I have practiced much more since the incident. I wish there was an easy way to practice staying calm under a stressful situation. I have ran the situation through my head thousands of times. I dont know if I could of stopped him. But at the time I felt like I had no other option. Hind sight is 20/20 as they say.

thanks again for the honest feed back!

p.s. this is a rural road there is no median. Its just 2 lanes. It is also pretty curvy so we are not talking free way speeds but still a truck can move pretty fast. The Side of the road I was on has a very fast moving river on it. The other side is very steep and tree covered. But I could have moved up it if I had thought of that at the time.

The driver was on my side the last time. He was driving toward me and crossed in to the lane that goes the other direction.
 
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OP I'm glad you made it, the truck drive sounds like a real ****.

I think you did most things right, I would have personally used the car as cover to create some distance after the first pass.
 
Sounds like everything worked out, so I'd call it a win.
However, I do agree that retreating across the ditch and getting the tags (or a picture) might have been an even better way to go.

If the truck driver had decided you were going to shoot him and that running you over was his only chance things might have ended sad.
And, like someone else said, of you'd shot him his friend would have almost certainly backed up his side of the story.
"He swerved at us, so we went back to yell at him, but then saw he has a flat so we turned around again to help him with the tie and apologize, but when we pulled over he shot Bubba".
" Bubba" turns into a hardworking guy with lots of family and potential, and you turn into the bad guy.

They follow you across ditch, that's a harder line to sell.


That being said - in the heat of the moment - I'm not sure I would have done anything different than you. I can't say that I have a plan for side of the road altercations.
It's probably something worth thinking about more than I have.
 
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Posted by CCCLVII:
But I was afraid for my life. As far as leaving the road the dispatch lady told me to stay with the car. When you are afraid you dont always reason things out well.
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The problem is, if you do not have a basis for a reasonable belief that your life was in immediate danger under those circumstances, and that the use of a firearm had been necessary, the presentation of the firearm was unlawful. And you would need evidence to show others that you had such a basis.

Fortunately the police agreed with me.
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They are not the decision makers.

I did call back yesterday as a follow up and they have not seen or heard from the truck. Obviously the guy did not feel the need to call the police even though he had a pistol drawn on him. That should tell you some thing.
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It tells me nothing.

You were very lucky.

Marc MacYoung explains how what many people truly believe constituted lawful acts of self defense can end up depriving them of their clean records, their fortunes, and their personal freedom.

Read this.

It's long, but it is worth the effort.
 
I'm not sure if this is any better...

I might have tried to wave him toward me, hoping to explain that my car's aberrant behavior was the result of a blow-out, and by no means any malicious intent on my part. In a large majority of would-be confrontations, when I had the presence of mind to remain calm and explain quietly, civilly and deliberately, what the problem is (a behavior for which I am NOT Universally known), the confrontation evaporated.

On the other hand, every time the guy drove by, I would THINK it was obvious to him that you'd had mechanical difficulty of SOME kind. If he can't put that together with your inadvertent swerve, then he sounds too dumb to live in an armed and free (well MOSTLY, anyway) society. If he DID put it together with your inadvertent swerve, and simply did not care, then HE IS too dumb (and hostile) to live in an armed and free society.

If you DO get him out of the vehicle and he is still belligerent, then at least he's separated from the passenger, if he endangers your life in a way requiring a lethal response from you. I say that this is what I'd LIKE TO THINK I WOULD DO, but who can be sure until they're there? PERSONALLY, I don't see a lot wrong with how you handled it. You tried ignoring him, then tolerating him, then warning him that you would defend yourself. Were you supposed to TEXT an explanation to him? I don't see how.

Anyway, may all of your most troublesome times be no more troublesome than that time.
 
I have no real criticism, there are many ways to handle this situation but if you are asking...

dont second guess yourself.. if its bad enough that you are calling 911 then follow though and request help.

I would not have continued changing the tire after they swerved at me the first time. I would have got myself off the road, called 911 again and tell them to step-it-up.
 
There's always a better way to do things in retrospect.

Based on the OP, my guess is that the hot-head had pulled over further up ahead in order to "discuss the issue". Not having his quarrel come to him he got back in and went looking for it.

A smart person would have remembered the swerve and seen the flat and put 2 and 2 together.
In fact a smart person would not have gone back looking for trouble in the first place, unless they had reason to assume the other person had crashed or something.

All in all, I agree with the "get the car between you and the aggressor" ethos. I also think that reporting it to the police after the first drive-by was a good call. Calling them back and asking for assistance was also a good call. I perhaps would not have drawn, but would have been ready to, particularly if my own vehicle was acting as a buffer zone between us.

Bottom-line is that the OP is unharmed and did not need to take extreme action to stay that way. That can't be a bad thing.

Some people are just socially maladjusted. That drive seemed to be one of them.
 
. Unless he lives in a "stand your ground" state, he may not have that right.
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"stand your ground" laws don't exist. It's a term made up by the media to make the self defense laws that are found in every state sound more controversial in order to boost ratings.

Seeing as how the conflict was resolved, no one got hurt, the victim wasn't arrested, and the police said that he did nothing wrong, I think it's safe to say that he did everything correctly.
 
This reminds me of a bad 1970s horror movie.
They always escalated because the victims had no way to defend themselves.
Glad you came through it safe!
 
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