Rock through the window

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Sky

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You are coming back to Houston, Tx late at night and out of the corner of your eye the hi-beams illuminate someone who looks like a homeless guy with matted hair and filthy clothes. You start to change lanes to get as far from the shoulder where he stands as possible. This is happening at 70mph. As you move over you see this guy raise his hand and throw a fist size rock at your car......window shatters and rock ends up somewhere in the back of your car.

(1) You are armed there is absolutely no one around for miles

(2) You have your cell phone but the closest town is at least 40 miles away.

(3) What would you honestly do?

(1a) lock and load; rid the world of wasted space? After all he just tried to kill you.

(2a) Try to continue driving with a spider-ed up windshield while calling on your cell phone for assistance?

(3a) Drive away and call your insurance right after your 911 call?









THINK NO PEEK!













All are answers that some would consider......
Lets say you stop..Chamber a round...and exit your once beautiful car to see what to Golly Gee is going on!

As you exit the lunatic is running toward you as fast as he can!!

You order him in the best Marine Corp voice, "HALT!! I am armed"! He barely slows until maybe 10 feet away from you. He has the wildest look on his face like he is totally berserk......1a 2a 3a?














"Sir, thank God you are all Right!"

"I was asleep with the kids and my wife was driving and she must have fallen asleep for we went off the road into the bayou. Our cell phones got wet and won't work! Your are the third car in the last hour; no one would stop! I am so sorry but my family is trapped and can't get them out of the car! Help me please"!




Just think about it........:eek:
 
For one the rock would not go through the window its laminated glass it would crack but thats about it would probly be pissed and just call it in and report it to my insurance no reason to get into a life threting situation over a windshield.
 
"Officer, the rock hitting my window startled me, I lost control and ran him over by accident!".
 
I would have tried to continue and call for assistance. If I had stopped to check the damage and the guy came running up on me he would not have gotten 10 feet from me once I told him to stop. There are far better ways to get my attention and let me know your in trouble and need assitance than smashing my windshield and then charging at me looking like a mad man.

It would have been an unfortunate situation but it's a lot to ask of you. To allow someone who just attacked you while driving to come running up on you and disregard your verbal challenges seems to disregard your own well being.
 
Eh. It takes a lot bigger than a fist sized rock to get through your windshield... I had a friend get an ostrich egg-sized rock fall out of a truck in front of him and penetrate the windshield but not break through. The broken glass cut him up but his life went on.

Now, if someone had intentionally, somehow, launched this 40 pound rock it would certainly justify bodily harm. The grand jury would be hard pressed if to find you guilty if: you spun out after the incident, had a *** moment and exited the vehicle, and someone was then charging you.

If a rock is big enough to actually pass through the windshield it is more than capable of crushing your ribcage or skull.

HH
 
A rock that size would go through your windshield at 70 with no problem.

I guy here was killed by a trailer hitch ball that fell out of a truck bounced up off the ground and went through his windshield killing him instantly.

Also some murderer a few years ago was doing just this from a passing car, throwing a rock out the window through the windshield of the oncoming car. (this was in san diego, ca) I believe he killed two people doing that.

Also Mythbusters did and episode on this but it wasnt a rock it was a slurpie type drink and it also went through the windshield.
 
It isn't hard to come up with "unwinnable" shooting situations. In a case such as this, the guy's very poor decisions in trying to solve his problem would have had a high probability in his dying in a legally justifiable shooting. That doesn't mean that you'd go home happy about it and not live forever with a very painful memory -- or that you wouldn't spend a year in and out of court losing many thousands of dollars in the process. That stuff happens in the big bad world. However, he certainly would have exceeded the "reasonable man" test, just as if he'd put on a ski mask and crawled through your bedroom window late at night -- just to let you know you left your car's lights on. :scrutiny:
 
I thought we were not doing "what ifs" in S & T anymore.

But I will play. Me I am driving on. Nothing good comes from stopping in this situation.

Just my .02.
 
I think i'd just drive on down the road a ways (far enough away so rock-thrower isn't going to rush me) and then pull over, call 911 and wait for the sheriff/trooper/whomever to come along and, 1: See if this guy needs help, if he can even be found. 2: Provide me with some sort of incident report for my insurance comany.
3: Act as a witness or be of assistance if it some sort of tragic accident as was mentioned as a possibility. It seems it at least needs to be called in to 911, the next motorist he throws rocks at may not be so lucky as to just get a broken windshield.
 
For one the rock would not go through the window its laminated glass
Click to expand...

Nope, it could. It just depends on how the stars align that night. Of course it also depends on the type and composition of the rock. There were a few cases of kids tossing fist sized or larger rocks off of an overpass at cars on the interstate near my area. One woman actually died. I pity the guy that needs help, but throwing rocks isn’t the answer. If it does penetrate with force, chances are my girlfriend and son are occupying the passenger and rear seats. Not good.

FWIW, I would have kept going (assuming no one was injured) and called 911. Let the local Sheriff handle that one. I would have regretted not helping his family, but attacking mine in desperation isn’t the best way for him to get help.
 
I am old so in my lifetime I have seen the evening news where some kid throws a brick/rock off an overpass hits car and people are maimed or killed. Depends on mass and velocity.
Yep there are so many unwinnable situations in real life. I can totally understand his frantic attempt to make a car stop.....(wife kids trapped in car in bayou) If he could have found a smaller rock or aimed a little lower.....? Something less of a hazard to the driver would have been nicer....But it is what it is.
We have all heard of someone screaming for help and no one will open a door or render assistance. We fear getting involved in a situation because someone will sue thinking we have money or hassle your time and life so you figure "next time" they can just help themselves. Life's everyday decisions are done mostly on auto-pilot. Bad situations usually come without warning labels.

Car hit culvert, man through windshield, neck was broken. A man who saw the accident renders aid, and for twenty minutes keeps his finger down the guys throat trying to keep air passage open and neck aligned. Man dies anyway.
Relatives threatened to sue him (really good example of lawyers with house payments due) for not being a medical Doctor and possibly killing accident victim. Man died because his brain enlarged so much it tried to come out of his ears!

If I can render aid I like to think I will. A gun gives you the ability to be brave in situations instead of going into the fetal position and crying for your mommie when the Zombies have a hand hold of your coat.

If we chose to shoot a fellow human on American soil even if this individual has sent his momma to the hospital several times with broken bones and bloody nose; been arrested at least once every year since he was 15 you will find.......Momma will swear her sweet baby found religion just the day before and would have been the savior of mankind if you wouldn't have terminated her little darling while he was breaking into your house.

Push a button and make them disappear works in war. One or ten shots will cost more money than than most can imagine. If you are like me I can imagine mucho...Everyone has to live their own life and accept the choices they made.
 
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Some thing is not right with “Rock-Thrower”... Obviously you would not know if it was some type of emergency like posted, mental illness, or just needs to have the rules of society explained to them. I think it is important to call 911 for this type of incident. You would be helping “Rock-Thrower” get whatever type of help he need and you would hopefully save someone else from having rock thrown at them.

I would keep driving up the road a ways to what I felt was a safe distance and call 911 and report the incident. I see no need to directly confront this guy. If you need my help, threatening / attacking me and/or my family will put a severe damper on my nice guy willing to help attitude.

A few years ago I was lot more willing to pull over and help (I can’t count the number of people I have help pull of the ditch in the winter), but now that a lot of time I have my kids with me I will make a call to get them the help they need. I wish I could do more but I’m not as willing to risk the safety of my kids over some stranger on the side of the road.
 
Keep driving, call 911. Meet up with a cop at the nearest populated area if they wanted me to file a report or something, otherwise I'd forget about it and file an insurance claim in the morning.

R
 
No way I'd pull over, it may just what he or 'they' want.

If he's a mental case, you're going to end up having to shoot him when you play into his game, and go broke with lawyers fees. If he's a criminal, he may have other motives.

If I were living in a state where a lot of citizens carried guns, the easy way to arm oneself or pull a robbery, is be the guy on the roadside with a rock. When some John Wayne idiot stops to play self appointed sheriff, your buddy in the bushes with the scatter gun cuts him down, and you divy up what he was carrying in his car and on person.

None of you thought of that, huh?

Don't be so eager to stop. Just because you have a gun, you're not immortal. What you see could be the bait for a bushwack.
 
If someone throws a rock through my window(or any other violent act) aint no way I'd stop.

If someone is sitting or walking on the side of a deserted road I may just stop to see if everything is OK.

If someone is hitchhiking on a deserted road I would probably stop.

If someone is waving their hands above their head in the widely understood motion to get your attention/communicate distress I would feel compelled to stop.
 
Why stop? Perhaps he was one of many, the others under cover of darkness. Then what? Don't take the bait.

OK, so you have stopped. If you were doing 70, you are probably 100+ yards from him. If he is running toward you, get in the car, and LEAVE. Also, keep in mind that if has has accomplices in the darkness, they may have factored in the 100 yards of stopping distance.

Quote: "(1a) lock and load; rid the world of wasted space? After all he just tried to kill you."

Uh, 1A is NOT articulating self-defense! The act of using deadly force may be justified, but your INTENT will be considered. Revenge and anger are not justifiable motives for using deadly force. Texas law does indeed give us quite a bit of latitude in using deadly force, even for property crimes, but 1A does not cut it as justification. Be careful what you say!
 
Okay, let's say you read this thread and sometime later are driving 70 mph to home at night to Houston. All of a sudden some dirty guy throws a rock at your car. You stop and he starts running to you. As you take out your phone to call 911, you are tackled from behind and then several guys proceed to beat you to a pulp and steal your car.
 
You already made your decision when you stopped the car. What were you going to accomplish if he indeed was homeless and crazy? Get him to pay for your windshield? Apologize? Give him a ride?
 
Guns and more said:
You already made your decision when you stopped the car. What were you going to accomplish if he indeed was homeless and crazy? Get him to pay for your windshield? Apologize? Give him a ride?
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Why does it seem like these threads are just about "can I get away with shooting someone I'm really pissed at, or scared of, even if I don't really have to"?

Whether it's having to pay a $100 deductible on your comprehensive, or in another thread, defending your Aunt's rose bushes, the law, both criminally and civilly, takes a dim view of shooting someone when you could have avoided it.
 
If you have a driveable car and there is a dangerous place, you drive away.

Why is this even a question - unless it is bait from a troll.

It is lethal act, BTW.
 
First, I'm pretty sure I would scream some Anglo-Saxon word and slam on the brakes.

Hopefully, I would get myself under control and get myself underway in a few seconds. There is absolutely no way I would get out of the car if it is even barely drivable. I'm sorry about the rock thrower's sad story... but I would never hear it.

He can tell it to the deputy who shows up to investigate the crazy attempted murderer tossing stones back at mile marker 169.
 
Keeping driving if possible , call 911 and call the insurance company in the morning.

I just don't stop anymore unless it is senior citizens; and I am alone. I call 911 or the State of Texas Road side service.

Too many criminals are now playing us to take the chances you would have 20-30 years ago.
 
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