Feeling threatened on the road and pulling out a gun, how did it end?

It started as another drivers quarrel on the road, until one of them put a gun in the picture.

But the plot in this hallucinatory story only gets more complicated as you delve deeper into it

Keenan Cohen

27/06/2022

Monday, 27 June 2022, 06:01 Updated: 06:10

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

Then the driver waves the gun, how does it end? (Photo: ShutterStock)

The atmosphere of abandonment on the roads and the helplessness against bullying, have in recent years led to road disputes that turn into violent incidents have become a sad and not really rare phenomenon in Israel.

But this case, in which one driver pulled out a gun and waved it in front of the other driver, sets a very problematic precedent in the field.

This story that took place in April 2021 begins when a Jeep driver decides that another driver in a Volkswagen has passed in dangerous proximity to him.

His reaction?

Sticking to the side of the Volkswagen while whistling and a nervous clarifying motion in the hand.

As is customary in such cases that escalate rapidly, the driver of the Volkswagen raises a triple finger towards him and in response the driver of the jeep begins to "cut" the Volkswagen in a way that its driver described as making him feel danger to his life.

More on Walla!

Cuts, clings, threatens: the numbers behind the violence on the Israeli driver's road

To the full article

So far another unnecessary and stupid driver conflict, one that can at best end in tin damage, at worst good in an accident between the two, and at worst involve road users who are inevitably caught up in this motivating conflict.

But here the plot takes a turn, when the Volkswagen driver pulls out a gun at this point, waves it in front of the jeep driver and tells him "Do you want to kill me? Take kill me".

At the sight of the gun the driver of the jeep who realized that this story is no longer an ordinary road rage, cut off contact from Volkswagen while calling the police, reporting the incident and handing over the license plate number of the vehicle.

The police who located the Volkswagen driver detained him for questioning and searching the vehicle, and after the driver's confession in the act was taken for questioning at the police station and later indicted on him for "threatening a passerby with the intent to intimidate or tease him".

Why not about weapons threats?

Well, here it turned out that the gun in question was of the "Airsoft" type.

Tools used for sporty shooting in tactical games and as a hobby, are powered by compressed air, and shoot clay or plastic balls.

Most of them are remarkably accurate replicas of real weapons.

Guns that are incredibly accurate replicas of the real thing (Photo: Israel Police Spokeswoman)

Adv. Omri Leshem, represented the driver (Photo: Nir Kedar)

The Volkswagen driver submitted his preliminary claims to the court through Adv. Omri Leshem, who claimed that during the initial police investigation the detainee was not told his basic rights and that these, including the right to consult a lawyer and remain silent, were told to him only after his initial confession. The driver's defense was that his client presented the air pistol in self-defense, as he felt he was in immediate danger of death due to the wild driving of the jeep driver.

He further argued that not only was no damage caused by the swing of the gun, but on the contrary, heavier damage could have been avoided that could have been caused as a result of the jeep owner’s leadership.

According to the Volkswagen driver, he holds the air pistol for precisely these purposes, as in his work as a driver he encounters on a weekly basis delinquent drivers who vent their frustrations on the road in wild and life-threatening driving.

The ammunition is usually plastic bullets (Photo: Walla! NEWS system, police spokeswoman)

But this is not the end of the story, there is one more twist in the plot, when the driver of the jeep, the one who reportedly reported the case to the police, asked to close the investigation file that was opened after his complaint immediately after his investigation at the trial.

"The complainant dropped out of the matter at once at the end of his interrogation," he tells Walla! Advocate Leshem said. That he deserved to be done here as well, and was not done.

"

Criminal acts are foreign to him. "

Finally, Justice Menachem Mizrahi, vice president of the Ramle Magistrate's Court, who heard the case, confirmed the prosecution's announcement that it would cancel the indictment following the preliminary allegations and ordered the conclusion of the criminal proceedings.

More on Walla!

Documentation: This is what the sting of "pedestrian" accidents looks like

To the full article

Finally, air gun or not the message that emerges from the ruling in this case seems to be very problematic and that is to say the least.

First, even though that was not the crux of the discussion, it was time for violent and bullying driving to be treated severely as if it were an assault or threat of weapons.

But even referring to this particular case, a driver waving a "gun" following a road fight never knows if the driver of the vehicle next to him is armed with a real gun or if an armed passerby may notice the occurrence and intervene using lethal force - one that could easily get uninvolved into this vicious circle .

In the next case of a driver waving an air pistol on the road, will such a forgiving ruling be given?

• vehicle

• Car News

Tags

• gun

• Weapon

• Drivers