This is by far the worst case of road rage I have personally had thrown at me. Here it goes....

Heading home on the spree-way, left lane is clear for at least 10 cars behind me and nothing up ahead. I signal, move over and proceed to 'cruise' at 70-75 (light traffic, 65mph limit) after I pass 3 cars, the 4th car (blue honda mini-van) decides to pull into th left lane ~ 67 mph. No signal and waited until I was, MAYBE 1/2 (prob less) car lenth behind them. Fine it happens, this person did not do a head check or look in mirrors, whats new right? Well, after she cut me off, she looks in the review and decided I was tail gate'n? Mind you this is .001s after she cut me off, she now brake checks me. Scary. Fine, I back off a couple cars and wait for her to get over. We all know where this is going. Right lane opens back up, she does not get over. I wait, I get over, and slowly go past showing a one finger salute up to my window. Ooops. As I roll by, I glance over to see her frantically waving a badge at me. I digest what I just did. Think for a second, then decide, to hell with it. Here is an officer, that did not signal, cut me off, brake checked me, then proceded to 'hang' in the left lane. So I looked back, and gave the bird again, so she knew EXACTLY how I felt about her actions, badge or no badge, cop or not, she was being an ass and was in the wrong.

I now notice she is really really tailgating me. And she is talking on a cell phone. Now scared she is calling in some sort of 'report', I decide to call 911 to protect myself. Explain what happened, did my best to give her plate #, (was backwards in mirror, and I had to keep speeding up to be able to see her plate) driving 70mph, talking to 911, being tailgated by a crazy cop was alot to keep track of. I even went down to 40mph, she would not pass, she stayed on my bumper. Being she was a cop, I really did not feel like doing the 'see if you will go as fast as me game' to loose her. So I just hung in the right lane and waited for my exit - expecting her to follow. Nope, I get over, she speeds up and starts yelling my name to me out her window! OMFG Scary stuff. Now - Do I - Go file some report so if she decides to 'hunt' me down and do something it is loged officially somewhere? Do I 'let it go' and hope she is not as crazy as she seemed? This all happened on my way home from work. I know what entrance to the spree-way she used, do I sit by the corner gas station this week and wait to see her go by, and get behind her, get the 100% correct plate # and go from there? Either way, this scared the living hell out of me. This tops the times the mullet white trash freak threatened to run me off the road cause my car was faster, lol, that was scary, but seemed like talk, this women seemed to 'keep it to real' for my tastes.

Edit-Am I alone here? Has anyone else had an off duty officer run in that had a slightly bloated ego?

 

LOL Funny how shes flashes her badge. Is that her excuse to drive like a jackass?

 

That must've been WILD! I would definately get a report filed just to cover your rear. That kind of behavior is unacceptable and if it were a situation where you cut off a cop, we'd be watching the dashboard cam video on Headline News of you getting your a$$ beat by a gang of the men in blue sent to protect and serve you up a fresh can of whoop-a$$. So do the right thing and just file a report.

 

Funny how they forget that we pay their wages.

 

Scary, I would have pissed my pants. I would definately file a report. Some might go as far as calling that police haressment. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Weird stuff man. I'd definitely atleast file a complaint with her department. Good thing she wasn't on duty or in cop car. I bet she would have been a real bitch if she could have pulled you over. Bad thing is that if she's the kind to hold a grudge, she might wait until she's in a cop car and see if she can get you for any stupid thing.


Similar story,

My brother and cousin were cruising home from buying fireworks right before the 4th. They pass a car that was just putting along down a two lane road. Well, that guy decided that he didn't like to be passed so he tailgated them for a while with his high beams. They sped up and tried to just turn off on another road to leave him. Well, he followed them after 5 or 6 turns. After a while, they're tired of this jerk off following them around so they throw some fire crackers out the back of the car hoping he'll just slow down and go away. Turns out this guy was an off duty cop, radioed ahead and my brother and cousin were eventually met with a line of police cars with guns drawn on them. The were arrested and hauled away and they tried to charge them with attempt assault on a police officer. The charges were dropped, but they had to pay large fines. Complete crap b/c some people just think their way is the only way.

 

I hope this cop isn't a Captain or some sort of higher up.

I had a similar situation that you did. I also filed a report. Turns out the cop was a Captain. He essentially said "Get this guy". The next thing you know I had bullshit tickets for failure to use a turn signal (which I proved it took a while from hitting the signal til the bulb lit, was in my MGB. So the cop changes the charge to following too closely), "using a horn on highway when not reasonable and prudent for safety", cops following close behind trying to get me to make a mistake (which I did because I was so nervous) and such.

Now a days, they have some sort of 4-way split screen camera system that was made especially to catch road ragers. It's like $600 or something and you mount a camera on all 4 sides of your vehicle. I saw it on a news report about 5yrs ago or so. I wish I could remember the name of the company that made it, I sure would be interested in getting one.

On a side note, The Sundance Channel is airing the 1971 classic "Duel" about a businessman played by Dennis Weaver being road raged by an out of control trucker. Interesting how it's sooo prevalent in today's society.

 

Man, I haven't seen that movie in years. I remember when he was trying to help the school bus out and was freaking out b/c the kids were climbing on his car. When he saw the truck he quickly told them to jump on his car again so he could break free of the bus he was stuck under.

I guess only in the 70's in the heyday of the trucker could someone figure that you couldn't escape a crazy 18 wheeler.

 

File a report, *AND* call the mayor's office to complain. Nothing like a little heat from several layers above to get this cop to behave.

I serve as a police chaplain here in San Diego, and there's no way any of the watch commanders would let this fly here if they knew about it. SDPD already has a very bad rep and low morale, and cops acting like idiots off duty is taken very seriously. Not sure where you're posting from, but don't let this go without filing complaints with the police department, with internal affairs (make sure you tell them you're concerned about retaliatory actions), and with the mayor.