This did not happen to me or anyone I know. The account is re-posted from reddit.com:
On Monday, January 24th 2011, I was on my way to work at approximately 7:30am. I was on a stretch of interstate that was 4 lanes wide, going north. If the lanes were labeled |1|2|3|4| then I was in lane 2. Directly beside me in lane 1 was a truck with a connected trailer full of lawn equipment. In the cab of the truck were 3 Mexican men. Directly beside me in lane 3 was a woman applying her makeup and singing aloud. Traffic was moving about 30 MPH. At one point, the truck in lane 1 started changing lanes into MY lane (2). I had nowhere to go because of the lady in lane 3, so I leaned on my horn in hopes of getting the driver of the truck’s attention so they wouldn’t hit me or knock me into the other lady, etc.
Thankfully, the truck’s driver did hear the horn and swerved back into his lane before squashing me. The truck was about half a car’s length ahead of me, so I must have been in a blind spot when all this happened.
Anyway, I was just relieved that the accident had been avoided. Suddenly, the Mexican fellow closest to the passenger window started staring back at me, mouthing something. Then he started flipping me the bird, gesturing wildly, and obviously shouting something (that I couldn’t hear because the windows were up). The middle passenger in the truck soon joins in. I just look at them confused and give a shrug like “what are you mad about – I was only honking to prevent an accident, which I did!”
The only way to describe how they started acting after that is “ape shit”. I tried to ignore them for what seemed like an hour, but was actually probably about a minute. Then the thing I feared most happened – traffic came to a complete stop, with this truck right still in the lane beside me, but about a full car length ahead. Sure enough, the passenger door opened and man #1 got out.
I reached in to my glove box, retrieved my Glock, and put it on the seat beside me. Man #1 started punching his fist into his other hand and took a step towards me. I’m no young man now, but when I was I was a fighter. I don’t fear an ass whooping, but I’m not going to take a beating from 3 men for absolutely no reason.
At this point, here is my thinking… if one guy comes at me and wants to fight, I’ll fight if I must. If his friends join in, I’ll send them back to their truck by drawing my pistol.
By the time man #1 took a second step, I opened my car door and got out, moving my pistol to the driver’s seat. I got out because I didn’t want to get attacked while still sitting in my car – it’s hard to defend yourself from that position. But as I got out, the middle passenger slide out onto the interstate, clearly about to head my way. I wasn’t even completely upright from getting out of the car yet, so I grabbed my pistol and put it behind my back.
At this point it was obvious to me that these 2 guys, and possibly the 3rd as well, were going to attack me so I just looked at them and said, “you don’t want to do this – get back in your truck.” Man #1 looked at man #2 and started laughing, then turned to me and said how they were gonna fuck me up so bad I’ll wish I was dead. I then said, “all I did was honk to keep you from hitting me. I haven’t done anything to you. Just get back in your truck and let’s be on our way.”
At this time, man #3 – the driver – gets out and starts walking my way carrying a baseball bat. He isn’t talking – he seems to be all business. At that point I pulled my pistol, worked the slide to chamber a round, and aimed it directly at man #1 (closest) and repeated, “get back in your truck.” I wasn’t crazy-eyed, I wasn’t shaking, my voice wasn’t cracking – I was calm and steady. Man #1 froze in his tracks. Man # 2 started walking backwards toward the truck. Man #3 kept advancing, although more slowly.
With a slight pivot, I trained the gun on man #3 and told him if he took one more step towards me with that bat I would kill him. Man #3 froze, and it appeared that he just then noticed that I had a gun. Man #1 apologized over and over and went back to the truck. Now it was me and the driver.
I said to him, “all I did was honk my horn so you wouldn’t run into me when you were changing lanes and THIS is what happened. All because you and your boys wanted to fuck with someone. Get back in your car and get the fuck out of here before someone dies today.” He thanked me for the warning honk and walked backwards to his car.
As unlikely as it seems, I haven’t heard from the police or anyone about this yet. We were stopped on a very busy interstate and there had to be at least 20 people in plain sight of all this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it appeared on or something.
But I can tell you this: if it weren’t for my gun I would have gotten the ass beating of a lifetime that day. Maybe I handle the first guy, but no way I handle 3 of them, one with a baseball bat. My gun saved my ass that day. It may have even saved my life. Without it, maybe the guy hits me just right in the head and I die. Who knows?