Flipped off, driver flips out - Also, Bush-Cheney bumper sticker road rage

St. Petersburg Times ^ | March 12, 2005 | SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER

[Cincinatus' Wife]

TAMPA - It has been just three days since a Tampa Democrat was arrested amid allegations he used his Nissan to go after a George W. Bush-supporting motorist and her two children.

Now comes the arrest of a Davis Islands businessman in another recent case of road rage. This time, the alleged victim is a 27-year-old woman seven months pregnant with her first child.

Police said politics weren't an issue.

But as in the case from earlier this week, the accused driver told officers he got angry because the woman in the other car made an obscene gesture.

"He said he was "infuriated' by the fact that she would flip him off," said Tampa police Detective Paul Mumford.

Robert D. Weiss, a 55-year-old West Point graduate, met with Mumford on Friday morning.

He admitted his part in the road rage incident and was booked into the county jail on one count each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless driving, Mumford said. The assault charge is a third-degree felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. Reckless driving is a misdemeanor.

Weiss, who lives with his wife in a $1.5-million home overlooking Hillsborough Bay, posted a $2,250 bail several hours after his arrest and was released. Police say the confrontation between Weiss and Sarah Daniel started at 3 p.m. March 1.

Daniel, who hangs X-rays for a medical office, was leaving Tampa General Hospital. She tried to merge into traffic as she left the Davis Islands ramp going toward Platt Street, but her stomach has grown so big, she couldn't turn back to get a clear view of oncoming traffic.

So she stopped and waited.

"I heard a horn honking," Daniel told reporters. "Someone behind me was very anxious to go."

As soon as she started moving, Weiss swerved around her and stopped his 2003 Dodge minivan in front of her Ford Bronco, she told police.

"He tried to open my door, he told me to roll my window down," Daniel said. "I pointed to my belly and said, "I'm pregnant. I'm not going to pull into traffic when you want me to.'

"I was scared to death, and I probably did (use an obscene gesture)," she said, rubbing her belly as her voice broke. "My main concern was for my baby. My husband and I tried for two years to have this baby."

Daniel said Weiss got back into his minivan, and she thought the encounter was done.

But at Channelside Drive and Franklin Street, he backed his vehicle toward her Bronco, according to police. Mumford said Weiss admitted to putting his car in reverse. Daniel reversed the Bronco to avoid a collision, she said.

"All I could think of was the air bag deploying and me being pregnant," she said. Both drivers proceeded onto Florida Avenue through downtown, Daniel hanging back to avoid another confrontation. But Weiss veered into Daniel's lane three times, forcing her to swerve to avoid a collision, Mumford said. When they got to Scott Street, Weiss turned in the opposite direction from Daniel.

She said she was so terrified, she didn't call police right away. She talked to her husband, who was away on business, and she talked to her lawyer. When she called police, an employee told her to come into the station to file a report. She went in on March 6 and filed a report - which included the other driver's tag number: ARMY 71.

Mumford traced the tag to Weiss and called him. He agreed to come into the station Friday morning.

Weiss has no criminal history, and his driving record is clean. Corporate records show that over the years, he and his wife have owned several companies operated from their Davis Islands home. Among them: Black Knight Ventures Inc., Athena Tire & Waste Oil Recovery, Academy Merchandising Inc. and Wall Street Farm Inc.

"My husband is West Point graduate," Lisa Weiss said Friday morning from their home at 86 Ladoga Ave. "He is a gentle, kind, giving person who just wouldn't harm anybody. I am dumbfounded."

Tuesday, Tampa police arrested 31-year-old Nathan Alan Winkler at his home on Cleveland Street near Hyde Park.

Police say he chased Michelle Fernandez, 35, for miles - cursing at her and pointing at her Bush-Cheney '04 bumper sticker as he held up an anti-Bush sign and tried to run her off the road.

Officers booked him into the county jail on one count of aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony punishable by as much as five years in prison. He posted $2,000 bail and was released early Wednesday.

Meanwhile, sheriff's investigators are sifting through forensic evidence and six dozen phone tips trying to figure out who shot David Neel as he drove south on Interstate 75 on his way to Plant City. The Wesley Chapel security guard died Sunday afternoon when a bullet from a large-caliber handgun pierced the driver's side door of his pickup and hit him in the chest.

With so much violence on Tampa Bay roads these past couple of weeks, Daniel said she now takes precautions when she drives. She locks all her doors, even during the day. And she keeps her cell phone in her cup holder.

Just in case.

"People," she said, "need to be much nicer."

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

GUARDING AGAINST ROAD RAGE Police offer these tips for motorists who encounter aggressive drivers.

Don't provoke an aggressive driver.

If one is menacing you, call 911 on a cell phone.

Try to get the tag number.

If the driver follows you, don't stop until you're at a location where there are lots of people.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That's why Hillary wants them to get voting privileges back.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Be sure to work on your sense of humor.

[queenkathy]

Seems to me that the Florida laws are crazy when they set bond at prob cash. Usually means 10% doesn't it. With his means they should have known he would have no problem getting out. As far as the Bush/Cheney car, has anyone read DU lately? They are so fringe there I wouldn't doubt if this person who went crazy reads it.

[demkicker]

I love your sign!

[blanknoone]

Would any time frame on her part, have justified his behavior?

Not this particular behavior, but if someone parks in front of me on the on ramp for an hour and a half, I'd be pretty hot under the collar. I hope I wouldn't react this way, but I'd react. Given his inexcusable behavior, is there any behavior by her you would not excuse? (rhetorical question, reversing your argument)

[martin_fierro]

It's not my sign, but it IS beautifully succinct, innit.

Get the t-shirt here.

[Thermalseeker]

What would make a man chase a pregnant woman with children for 35 miles! That shows some pretty poor judgement on his part!

My next door neighbor had a guy pull along side her on her way home from work last week. He waved at her to get her attention and when she looked over he was whacking his peepee. He followed her for 10-12 miles at speeds in excess of 90 mph. She reported it to the police and they said they had several complaints about the guy doing this, including one woman in her 80's. He used a magnetic tag mount and would take his tag off when he would do this. They finally caught the guy and she and the others ID'd him in a line up.

Seems like there are more and more creeps in this world every day.

[battlegearboat]

I'll be thinking of you when I watch "Gladiator" on TNT tonight.

[XXXXX88XXXXX]

Don't provoke an aggressive driver.

Sounds like good advice. Maybe if she handn't flipped the aggressive driver off and ignored him, the incident might have ended at the horn-honking stage ... maybe.

[Al Gator]

My sentiments exactly. People do really dumb stuff when driving that upsets everyone around.

In my travels I have noticed that a preponderance of women never admit to their mistakes, but are super fast to throw an obscene jesture. Just an observation from the road. (as a percentage, women are more likely to cut off or left turn a biker, then throw the bird when you blow your horn at them, really stupid)

This story has more angles than we know. But since MSM is always biased toward the female, I don't think we'll get it.

[jwpjr]

re: but are super fast to throw an obscene jesture.

My wife and I have had some pretty heated arguments about this. I contend that women, especially attractive women, feel safe doing things that would get me, as a large hairy man, beaten senseless. Regardless of the sex of the driver involved it's simply a matter of people getting away with aggressive and hostile driving patterns. There is practically no enforcement of traffic laws in Tampa. Drivers routinely speed, disregard traffic signals, follow too closely, etc. and the only time they get a ticket is when their behavior results in a traffic accident. Running red lights has become pandemic in this area. Two or three cars will make the turn from a left turn lane after the light has turned red rather than wait through another cycle. Others have learned that if they charge a stop sign they can bluff the other driver into slowing down and letting them make their turn. And it's only going to get worse. It's human nature for us to press the envelope and every time we get away with running a red light or a stop sign without penalty it just encourages them to do it again.

[calex59]

does this show good judgement on her part?

I think so. Do you think it would have been better if she had pulled into traffic and gotten hit by vehicle?

[battlegearboat]

My point: Why was she driving at all when she couldn't perform the most fundamental of tasks that a licensed driver is required to do?

[rockrr]

A co-worker and I were talking about road "manners" just yesterday. He remarked about a recent incident where he was cut off by a female driver and then "rewarded" for the near-collision with her flipping HIM off.

It has only been five months since a female, entering the freeway, crossed the on-ramp apron, three lanes of traffic, and cut me off, all in order to utilize the HOV lane. I noted that she had a carseat in the passenger seat.

Typical....

[jimboster]

She was scared to death- so she gave him the finger.

She was terrified- so she called her lawyer before she notified police.

The woman's an idiot as well.

[ByDesign]

"As long as you stay in the right lanes you should not have any trouble. Try driving slower than traffic in the left lane and you might as well post a target on your back."

You're obviously not in California - people tailgate here relentlessly, no matter what lane it is, driving conditions, traffic congestion, even on surface streets. The worst violators? Yuppie Liberal Maggots with their BMWs and SUVs with Kerry stickers. They're simply more important than YOU, and you have to get out of THEIR way - and they'll flip you off while doing it.

I watch it daily. Someone is doing 90 in the fast lane, Liberal Maggot comes flying up behind them (usually with driver on the phone), the car going 90 can't merge over due to traffic in the right lane (and most times traffic in front), so the Maggot veers over 3 or 4 lanes - without signaling - cutting everyone off, and tailgates the cars in the slow lanes so they can get by - then they cut off 3 or 4 lanes of traffic to get one car length ahead in the fast lane, rinse, repeat.

I've seen elderly women in the slow lanes burst into tears from this behavior. It's out of control and it's literally killing people, I've seen more accidents in the last couple of years that were fatalities from this kind of driving than ever before. Too many Californians have this attitude that NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY is going to be faster than THEM, no matter how unsafe it makes it for everyone else, it's quasi-passive-aggresive Yuppie machismo BS, and it's making it unsafe for us all.

Next worst offenders are the kiddies in their "Fast N' Furious" mobiles, who think a fart can on the exhaust and a off-market set of rim makes them stunt drivers and their cars capable of high speed maneuvering, but that's a whole new thread on it's own.

I drive according to the flow of traffic (and the absence of CHP). If the road's clear, driving conditions are clear, I'll get the 'Stang up in the mid 80's and cruise. But no matter what, no matter where I am, no matter what lane, some sh*thead Yuppie will be on my ass, trying to out-'tude me behind his or her $400 sunglasses, tailgating me or cutting me off to get around someone going 1/2 mile slower than he/she is.

Of course, I have my own tactics that deal with THAT safely and legally, nothing makes my day like making a Liberal Maggot lose it - most of them are cowards, and since I'm neither female or pregnant, the most they'll do is give me the finger or swear at me.

[Jeff Gordon]

California freeway life really sucks for you. I can feel your pain.

I do live in California. I do travel our freeways daily. Most often I run the freeways on a motorcycle. I am the guy who is lane splitting past you while you are creeping along at 15 mph. :-)

[mlmr]

Seems like there are more and more creeps in this world every day

I know this is a technical detail, but I get hung up on details...how could she see what he was doing??? I mean car windows come up to one's armpit when we are sitting in them.

[JSloth]

Over 6 billion people in this world...wouldn't bother me one bit to get rid of all the a$$ho1es like this one!

[Boardwalk]

This has happened to me as well, twice. There I am driving down the highway, minding my own business when I sense a car next to me going the exact same speed, I look over, and sure enough, the guy was whacking off. Talk about getting off at the next exit!