QuestionMan
100 W
- Joined
- May 10, 2013
- Messages
- 266
I just had a pretty bad confrontation with a pedestrian that could have ended badly. I was wondering if any of you had any issues with pedestrians that could have led to violence?
In this particular incident I really did not think I did anything wrong. This was in a federal park where bikes are allowed and many people ride bikes through here. I passed a guy and a dog, I made sure to slow down and go as far to the right of him as I could on a concrete path or more a street path as cops drive down it but I think cars are not allowed to drive there.
I passed this guy maybe doing probably 15MPH, maybe 20MPH tops but I doubt it. It was a steep uphill and I made sure to drive past him slowly. Now I forget the amount of time that passed but I was going to go down this road in the opposite direction and this guy yells out to me to stop he wants to talk with me. I do not like speaking with pedestrians on my ebike and again I forget the situation but I think he was probably a bit aggressive. As I continued to drive forward he walked directly in front of my bike to stop me. Guy was about 45, white, tall 180-200 lbs, skinny build. Guy was bigger than I was and would most likely win a fight do to his weight advantage.
This is where it gets bad as I do not like people trying to stop me and block my path for obvious reasons. He starts yelling saying that I passed him fast and did not give him any warning, I told him that I slowed down and stayed all the way to his right. It got into a yelling match and he was getting more aggressive and I was also getting aggressive as I told him to not block my path and not let me go on my way. He was very aggressive in my face only a few feet away. He had dog shit in a bag and said that if I passed him again he was going to sling the dog shit on me. He did mention that I had a motorized bike and he never expected anyone to pass him so quickly on this steep uphill. He also mentioned that his dog was like one of his kids.
As it was getting worse and I was not sure where it was going I decided that I would try and secretly take out my pepper spray and keep it in my hand behind me for fast use. I have it in a velcrow holster on my belt and while I was doing this he asked what I was doing, so I stopped. Finally I turned the bike around and drove away and while doing this out of anger I yelled "I should kick your F*&king ass" he then started to run at me, which was stupid as he could never catch me.
As I rode away I just could not believe this guy would do all this as I specifically slowed down to pass him and stayed far to his right. I think because I ride here sometimes I didn't want to worry about this guy again I decided from a distance to tell him again that I didn't think he should be so upset under the circumstances. Anyway he approached him and after a few minutes of yelling at each other we spoke for about 20 minutes.
Couple of things I learned. He said he was an army vet back and hurt from Afghanistan. There is army housing very close to the area so this was probably true.
He considered it a threat after he blocked my path and finally after I was riding away from him and about 30 feet away (and while still riding away) he thought I yelled "I am going to kick your ass. Probably purposely leaving out the words "I should". I wanted to point out how aggressive people will use anything they can to give them a reason to fight and attack you. Obviously when someone is running away from you and even if I yelled I am going to kick your ass, that constitutes no threat.
He later asked what I was going for in my holster, he thought it may have been a cell phone, anyway he told me that if he saw me pull pepper spray he would have jumped me while I was on my bike, kocked me down and use the bike to pin me down and elbow me in the face. Just pointing this out that if any of you have weapons, only pull them if you are going to immediately use them. And if you can, best to step off your bike and lay it down and walk back some feet before pulling any weapons.
He considered his dog as one of his kids. I learned from experience that if you see kids you need to drive at a snails pace or parents get really defensive. So I guess some dog owners could be the same way with their dogs. My advice is to take caution with dog owners thinking your going to hit their dog.
I think anyone of you can be put into a situation like this as I was not driving aggressive nor riding in a bike prohibited area. Some people out there obviously just want a confrontation. This guy I would never have thought would be the type to be confrontational like this. He had a non-aggressive appearance. I do not meet many army people so I am not sure if army people are aggressive like this for obvious reasons. This could have gone really bad especially if this guy had combat experience from being in the army, which I asked him and he said he did.
Maybe I should have given some signal before passing him but bikers in general do not do this in my area so I just do not. I probably should have not been so confrontational when he was blocking my bike but to me I consider this a form of kidnapping and an attack on my freedoms. Maybe next time I will try and remain more calm and try and pacify the person as anyone who is going to block your path is obviously looking for a fight.
So I would like to hear form any of you who had confrontations while riding and how you would deal with someone who blocked your path and was screaming aggressively at you. I honestly think its a matter of time before this happens to many of you especially if you drive in a big city. Do you think a helmet cam is a good idea and can help calm down a situation because people will know they are being recorded?
In this particular incident I really did not think I did anything wrong. This was in a federal park where bikes are allowed and many people ride bikes through here. I passed a guy and a dog, I made sure to slow down and go as far to the right of him as I could on a concrete path or more a street path as cops drive down it but I think cars are not allowed to drive there.
I passed this guy maybe doing probably 15MPH, maybe 20MPH tops but I doubt it. It was a steep uphill and I made sure to drive past him slowly. Now I forget the amount of time that passed but I was going to go down this road in the opposite direction and this guy yells out to me to stop he wants to talk with me. I do not like speaking with pedestrians on my ebike and again I forget the situation but I think he was probably a bit aggressive. As I continued to drive forward he walked directly in front of my bike to stop me. Guy was about 45, white, tall 180-200 lbs, skinny build. Guy was bigger than I was and would most likely win a fight do to his weight advantage.
This is where it gets bad as I do not like people trying to stop me and block my path for obvious reasons. He starts yelling saying that I passed him fast and did not give him any warning, I told him that I slowed down and stayed all the way to his right. It got into a yelling match and he was getting more aggressive and I was also getting aggressive as I told him to not block my path and not let me go on my way. He was very aggressive in my face only a few feet away. He had dog shit in a bag and said that if I passed him again he was going to sling the dog shit on me. He did mention that I had a motorized bike and he never expected anyone to pass him so quickly on this steep uphill. He also mentioned that his dog was like one of his kids.
As it was getting worse and I was not sure where it was going I decided that I would try and secretly take out my pepper spray and keep it in my hand behind me for fast use. I have it in a velcrow holster on my belt and while I was doing this he asked what I was doing, so I stopped. Finally I turned the bike around and drove away and while doing this out of anger I yelled "I should kick your F*&king ass" he then started to run at me, which was stupid as he could never catch me.
As I rode away I just could not believe this guy would do all this as I specifically slowed down to pass him and stayed far to his right. I think because I ride here sometimes I didn't want to worry about this guy again I decided from a distance to tell him again that I didn't think he should be so upset under the circumstances. Anyway he approached him and after a few minutes of yelling at each other we spoke for about 20 minutes.
Couple of things I learned. He said he was an army vet back and hurt from Afghanistan. There is army housing very close to the area so this was probably true.
He considered it a threat after he blocked my path and finally after I was riding away from him and about 30 feet away (and while still riding away) he thought I yelled "I am going to kick your ass. Probably purposely leaving out the words "I should". I wanted to point out how aggressive people will use anything they can to give them a reason to fight and attack you. Obviously when someone is running away from you and even if I yelled I am going to kick your ass, that constitutes no threat.
He later asked what I was going for in my holster, he thought it may have been a cell phone, anyway he told me that if he saw me pull pepper spray he would have jumped me while I was on my bike, kocked me down and use the bike to pin me down and elbow me in the face. Just pointing this out that if any of you have weapons, only pull them if you are going to immediately use them. And if you can, best to step off your bike and lay it down and walk back some feet before pulling any weapons.
He considered his dog as one of his kids. I learned from experience that if you see kids you need to drive at a snails pace or parents get really defensive. So I guess some dog owners could be the same way with their dogs. My advice is to take caution with dog owners thinking your going to hit their dog.
I think anyone of you can be put into a situation like this as I was not driving aggressive nor riding in a bike prohibited area. Some people out there obviously just want a confrontation. This guy I would never have thought would be the type to be confrontational like this. He had a non-aggressive appearance. I do not meet many army people so I am not sure if army people are aggressive like this for obvious reasons. This could have gone really bad especially if this guy had combat experience from being in the army, which I asked him and he said he did.
Maybe I should have given some signal before passing him but bikers in general do not do this in my area so I just do not. I probably should have not been so confrontational when he was blocking my bike but to me I consider this a form of kidnapping and an attack on my freedoms. Maybe next time I will try and remain more calm and try and pacify the person as anyone who is going to block your path is obviously looking for a fight.
So I would like to hear form any of you who had confrontations while riding and how you would deal with someone who blocked your path and was screaming aggressively at you. I honestly think its a matter of time before this happens to many of you especially if you drive in a big city. Do you think a helmet cam is a good idea and can help calm down a situation because people will know they are being recorded?