I agree that the use of Deadly Force was not justified when the guy got out of the vehicle. But I belive the use force was justified as the OP was physically assaulted by a motor vehicle and the agressor was exiting with unknown intent (could you consider this a threat of force and therefore use of force?).Excaliber wrote: Forcing the bike off to the curb with a full size vehicle was a very dangerous maneuver and certainly placed the OP in extreme jeopardy. The fact that the driver then exited his vehicle and approached the OP confirmed additional aggressive intent, but the extent of the intended aggression (verbal / physical force / deadly force) was unclear and the aggressor's ability to deliver deadly force once he had exited his vehicle was not clearly established by the facts as provided. It worked out well for everyone that the aggressor had enough working brain cells left to back off before the OP was forced to make a fire / don't fire decision at close range.
Immediately calling the police was definitely the right thing to do to establish the OP as the good guy and the other driver as the aggressor.
After reading the clarifications on vehicle positioning and the input from other bike riders (which I am not) I agree that asleepatthereel made the best available decision under the circumstances by drawing, even though it is arguable whether or not actual use of DF would have been justified at that point. It's another one of those murky situations (like the ATM situation in another recent post) that gives us a terrific opportunity to explore and critique options and improve our own decision making for the future.
This incident was very well handled under extremely challenging circumstances - kudos to asleepatthereel for keeping his cool, thinking his way through changing situation, making good decisions, and acting on them.
As to use of Deadly force - it was not justified since the agressor retreated with the OP's use of Force.
If the Agressor did not get back in the car and retreat - We would likely be discussing the justification for the OP's use of Deadly Force.
Asleep - I think you handled it just fine