baldeagle wrote:
The threat of force is justified in 9:04. It does not say a defense to prosecution. It says justified.
... Personally, if an officer did that to me, I would sue the department for false arrest as soon as the case is settled in my favor. And I'm pretty sure I would win. And retire.
A little forum lawyering here:
It was pointed out in a thread over on Texas Gun Talk (discussing Matefro's arrest at the Capitol building for carrying a long knife while CHL'ing), that in the Texas Penal Code, unless a "get out of jail free card" is labeled an "exception" with very specific language, then it is treated as a defense to prosecution, regardless of how it is labeled (non-applicable, justification, etc). I don't have it at my fingers, tho, I will try to look it up later. Very important thing to know when reading the law, I think.
Thus you can be lawfully arrested for the general offense, make your case in court that it doesn't really apply to you, and if you convince the court...try to sue the officer if you want because everyone can sue, but very unlikey it will go anywhere. It has to be pretty egregious for an officer to be successfull sued for false arrest, and I don't thing "defense to prosecution" will make it.
A point of view from one of the four-wheel vehicle community on the eternal war between motorcycles and muliple-wheelers:
While it is entirely possible that the OP forgot to include that he was dealing with an accidental crotch fire because he dropped his match while trying to light his stogie while texting his vote into American Idol that he was watching on his iPhone and failed to notice that he veered across six lanes of traffic occupied by motorcycles, I think it is just as likely that the motorcyclist in this case was simply outraged that someone was in the way of his faster, more agile, less protective conveyance when he tried to execute some maneuver that seemed like a good idea to him but perhaps un-noticed by the OP. (Man that's a heckuva sentence).
I tend the think the mind set that says it is a good idea to pound on people's windows at a stop light and throw off all your gear for fight might be the same mindset that says it is a good idea to exceed speed limits by a wide margin, thread-the-needle between vehicles, accelerate and slow at rates unmatched by autos, ride the bumper so one can suddenly pass on the inside of a double-yellow curve, etc. Just my prejudice, perhaps.
I rode a bike myself when younger, and I know people in cars often simply don't see motorcycles (or don't care). But I also know that some motorcyclists, while enjoying the quickness and agility of their machines, put themselves in positions to be "assaulted" by cars, trucks, curb, guardrails, trees, telephone poles, or long pieces of road and berm (I did that once. Once). As a firefighter/medical first responder, I have treated a few biker accidents, and none of them were "cut off" by anyone, they just allowed their bikes to exceed their capabilities as drivers.
As to the actual incident itself -- it might have been tactically wiser to simply drive away when Mr. Motorcycle went into fight-mode, I think the OP was overall justified in handling it the way he did, and glad it came out well for him.
The suggestion to drive to a police station when some knothead is harrassing you is a good one. My Garmin GPS will guide me to the nearest police, fire, or hospital with a couple touches, if you have a GPS that is function you may wish to learn how to use quickly.
