Originally Posted by
frantik
this was a random act of a psychopath. It could happen at any time in any city.. the fact it was oakland or at 1am doesn't mean anything.
I do agree that I would recommend getting the fark outta there vs smashing a window, but the victim wasn't even the person who did that..
First of all, while the initial contact was random, what followed wasn't. By then the cyclists knew they were dealing with a crazy person, and could have broken it off safely, with nothing worse than riffled feathers. Unfortunately one of they're group couldn't leave bad enough alone, and inflamed the situation by breaking a window. God knows what he was thinking, but, as so often happens in these situations, it's a third person that pays the price.
I'm not defending the driver, who deserves all that he gets and more, but I am saying that discretion is the better part of valor, and right or wrong, regardless of the time, if you find yourself confronted by a crazy person, consider the stakes and think about how it could play out before escalating the situation.