Originally Posted by SchreiberBike
Just clarifying . . . you've said you are allowed to protect yourself. That is true as I understand it. Self defense is a valid reason for stopping someone who is trying to hurt you.
How did the car's window get broken? And how did that stop someone from hurting you?
In the majority of literature I have read about self defense (this may not apply to GA, I will have to look into it some more--the literature being from TX), a person is allowed to attempt to stop a threat to their life by whatever means necessary. The car stopped after/as I came to rest against it, not before. In this case, I could have thrown a water bottle (and you all know how long it takes to do that), started screaming and yelling or, as I did, bang on the car. In no way did I INTEND for the windshield to break--not my fault if Ford can't use decent glass. My actions were simply stopping myself from moving forward, keeping myself from falling, and making the driver aware of my presence.
Boomer, I did stay in touch with the other cyclist and I plan on having him in court with me (if necessary). What are my options when I go to court. I would prefer not to have disorderly conduct on my record for any reason, and I also don't want to make a huge deal of this with lawyers and all. On the other hand, I don't just want to admit to something I didn't do--as in I didn't intentionally break a windshield.
Also, as you mentioned, a police officer usually will not write a ticket if he didn't see the infraction. What is a cyclist supposed to do in the case that they are almost injured/killed by a wreckless driver when there is no police officer around. Reporting the incident certainly does not seem to do much (as I tried this another day and the officers let a (possibly) intoxicated woman ride by in another car moments after she almost hit me)? What are we supposed to do to help to make idiots aware of our presence on the road--wait until one of us is killed and it gets a half second blip on the news? I would like to know how a police officer would like to see these type of situations handled (knowing the most likely answer will be "call us and let us take care of it") but what is there that you will actually take care of????