Question about pepper spray

[danfinger]

I carry pepper spray (Sabre 3 in 1)- mostly while riding my bike to/from BART. I've been accosted on more than one occasion by road ragers so I keep it handy. The other day I came very close to using it. I'm riding down the road in a bike lane, Dude speeds past me and cuts me off to make a right turn (a.k.a. "The right hook") no signal etc. I had to slam on my brakes to not run into him. He was so close that I put out my hand to keep myself from slamming into the side of his car. Dude slams on the brakes, gets our and starts screaming at me that I ran into his car. I try to tell him my bike never touched his car and I only touched his car with my hand to prevent me from hitting it. Dude isn't having it, pushes me off my bike and is getting up in my face telling me he's going to kill me etc. - I take a few steps back and pull the pepper spray, I tell him to get back in his car or he's going to get some. Luckily he does just that, after the usual blah blah blah.

So the question: If I had sprayed him, am I under any obligation to report to the police what happened? Can I just leave?

[code_blue]

1. Pushing you off your bike is battery.

2. Threatening to kill you can be considered as criminal threats depending on how you felt and if he had reasonable ability to do harm.

3. You deploying pepper spray means that you felt that your safety was threatened i.e. self defense.

You should request a unit to any of these situations as another human was violating your right to physical safety. Then again, this is the internet and it's all up to you.

[danfinger]

Pushing you off your bike is battery...

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I have no doubt it was definitely a self defense situation, not so much worried about that.
My question is am I required to report it? If I'd sprayed him, and he's rolling around on the ground or whatever. Can I legally just hop on my bike and ride away?

[Oldtimer626]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I have no doubt it was definitely a self defense situation, not so much worried about that.
My question is am I required to report it? If I'd sprayed him, and he's rolling around on the ground or whatever. Can I legally just hop on my bike and ride away?

If you don't report it, what's to stop the other guy from filing an assault charge on you?

[racinjason233]

you have more restraint and patience than I

[code_blue]

To leave the scene? That would depend on if you felt that he would continue to pursue you after the deployment and discharge of the OC. OC has the ability to incapacitate, but many people are capable of fighting through the pain.

I don't believe there is a PC mandating you to report the crime, but from a logical perspective, if one were in fear for their safety, a reasonable person would report the incident once they got to safety, no?

That being said, this is CA. You can be sued for anything on a civil level. Cover yourself criminally.

[P5Ret]

So the question: If I had sprayed him, am I under any obligation to report to the police what happened? Can I just leave?

Which would you rather be the victim, or the person the police are looking for, because you pepper sprayed the guy in the car for no reason? If you do get into a situation where you need to spray someone, make sure if you have to leave that you are on the phone ASAP to PD.

Bicycle rider's have gotten a bit of bad rep, due to some of the antic's played out in SF at critical mass rides. Not saying you necessarily but some of the things that some of them have done, have not put bike rider's in a real good light.

[Hateca]

All I can say, lucky for the guy in the car it was you and not me on the bike.
Once he pushed me and made threats to kill me all bets are off.

[danfinger]

critical mass rides.

I ****ing hate what those jackholes have done to my daily ride. I have nothing to do with them.

I guess my reluctance stems from the handful of times I have called PD for various reasons, mostly calling reports of cars getting broken into or fights on my street. None of which left me with a feeling that they were interested in being of any service to me. The last time was some guy beating the **** out of a woman, I found a cop 2 blocks away to tell him and he refused to go check it out until AFTER he ran my ID. "How do I know you're not wanted?" was his argument. I was super pissed.

As far as having dude call and report me for attacking him, I always have my camera streaming bambuser video while I'm riding. **** like this happens 3 or 4 times per year so I'll have video evidence. I try hard to be as laid back as possible and will always try to defuse if I can.

And yes. I do stop at stop signs/lights.

[oakdalecurtis]

I carry non lethal pepper when I carry CCW, but not for the reason most would guess. Sure, if I could use the spray to prevent a problem, great, but we all know PS is pretty weak in a life or death situation. Rather, if you, God forbid, ever use your firearm for self defense, you are likely to end up in a civil suit from the perp's family even if the defense is justifiable. And in that lawsuit, the litigant's attorney will try to make you look "gun happy", regardless of the circumstances. If you had a non lethal option available, you can talk about how you looked at the circumstances, thought about using non lethal spray, but elevated to lethal force due to the situation. This option allows you to describe your thinking as a stepwise elevation of force, even if you never tried to use the non lethal option. I am not an attorney, but this legal defense seems better than going from no defense to lethal force in one step. Any thoughts on this approach?

[hotrail]

I carry non lethal pepper when I carry CCW, but not for the reason most would guess. Sure, if I could use the spray to prevent a problem, great, but we all know PS is pretty weak in a life or death situation. Rather, if you, God forbid, ever use your firearm for self defense, you are likely to end up in a civil suit from the perp's family even if the defense is justifiable. And in that lawsuit, the litigant's attorney will try to make you look "gun happy", regardless of the circumstances. If you had a non lethal option available, you can talk about how you looked at the circumstances, thought about using non lethal spray, but elevated to lethal force due to the situation. This option allows you to describe your thinking as a stepwise elevation of force, even if you never tried to use the non lethal option. I am not an attorney, but this legal defense seems better than going from no defense to lethal force in one step. Any thoughts on this approach?

That is an interesting question and the case you make is entirely hypothetical. One could also see someone making the argument "why did you go straight to the gun, when you could have just used the pepper spray you had in your pocket?" Probably more important than the fact you had non-lethal PS available is a good fact set supporting why you had to go to lethal force, together with your ability to explain why you had to escalate.

[Alamedak9]

Just fyi......pepper spray is much more effective when they don't see it coming. Don't warn, just spray

[Ron-Solo]

Just fyi......pepper spray is much more effective when they don't see it coming. Don't warn, just spray

Best advice of the day!