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I Agree; Just Where DID Road Rager Get the Stones?? | Print |  E-mail
Friday, 12 February 2010

 

 

 

WIRES

 

road rage jail photo
Photo: Flickr, CC

 

 

Road Rage Karma, Baby
Road rage can be dangerous, especially if the out-of-control driver decides to chase you and you're on on a bicycle. This is exactly what happened to Martin Melvin in Burnley, UK: He was going home on his bike after finishing work for the day when Benjamin Harrison, 18, pulled alongside him, sounded his horn and began to shout loudly: "Get off the road. I will run you off the road. I will kill you. Get off the road." True to his word, he actually tried to run him off the road and kill him...

cyclist car road rage photo
Once again, my apologies for the crappy Photoshop job. Photo: Flickr, CC

 

 

"Nine times he almost mowed down DI Melvin, aiming for him on the pavement, striking his handle-bars, forcing him off his bike into trees, threatening to kill him and hurling stones and coins at him. [...] The victim had no escape route and had no choice but to continue his journey on the almost deserted road," reported the Lancashire Telegraph.

But my question is, where did he find the stones? Was he carrying stones in his car just for the purpose of throwing at cyclists?

Surprise Ending
But the best part about this story is that the victim, Martin Melvin, is a police officer (detective inspector, to be precise). He made a note of his aggressor's license plate, who was later arrested.

At his parents' home, the teen driver asked the police officers who were arresting him: "Can I not just apologise?" Mmm, no.

Guess Not
The judge said that Mr Melvin was a "bit of an unfortunate choice of victim" and "gave him nine months in jail, suspended for two years, with 12 months supervision and 100 hours unpaid work. He was banned from driving for two years and must pay £750 costs." He was lucky to get a suspended sentence and stay out of jail.

Comments (3)add feed
iws124: ...
Can't off duty British officers carry weapons (guns!) off duty? Did the "detective inspector" have a weapon and just used restraint? Perhaps he did not feel threatened? Alot of unknowns in this story, but it would seem force of some kind could have been used against the perp. smilies/undecided.gif
1

February 12, 2010
sjstill: ...
Pretty sure our Brit counterparts aren't allowed off-duty carry. Many restrictions on armed carry on-duty as well. Gotta love enlightened society smilies/undecided.gif
2

February 12, 2010
ExCorrections1: ...
just two years suspension from driving? That's a bit light for what this child thug did.
3

February 20, 2010
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