You can’t hear what they were saying but they were clearly trying to give some sort of instruction??? And NOT threatening???
What I noticed is that the driver didn’t proceed into the crowd until after some asshole(s) sat on his vehicles fender/hood.
You come to a complete stop, there’s a crowd of people passing in front of you, people appear to be tapping on your windows, people appear to be talking at you, some asshole(s) sit on your car. Assuming you’re one of the dozens of people in the universe who’s life doesn’t revolve around Comic Con and therefore have no idea why this crowd is there or why they are dressed in such a bizarre manner, is it possible that a deaf driver, or a hearing (non-deaf) driver, could panic and step on the accelerator to get away from the perceived danger?
No one was hitting his car with force. There was a crowd in a crosswalk. He wanted through the intersection. He wanted them out of his way. When they wouldn’t get out of his way, he plowed through them.
The people were dressed in t-shirts and backpacks, or in one instance a pink sweater. The guy drove right in the middle of the crowd and starting blasting his horn. People gets angry at him. One guy in a blue shirt sat on he hood, in what I'm going to assume was a passive attempt at making sure the driver wouldn't plow through the crowd.
Now, I get becoming homicidally angry at a bunch of annoying nerds making you late. I’m fine with that. I just don’t think that the driver in that video can be portrayed as an innocent, confused victim.
Guy in orange shirt, at drivers door, clearly tries to open door, right before car takes off. That’s a clear threat, driver should take off. But not run over people. Unless they are blocking car, in which case, somebody is trying to enter your car, protect family. .
I’m not sure it’s that cut and dried. There was a crowd in a crosswalk. He wanted through the intersection. He wanted them out of his way. After ten minutes he started honking and inching forward. People then started yelling, banging on the car, and sitting on the hood. He then plowed through the people in front of him.
Orange shirt looks fairly calm Not really trying to open the door at all, more like doing the “roll over the window” gesture. In any case, I think that backing away instead of running over people is a way more reasonable option if he really perceived a threat.
Guy in blue shirt and white pants enters from the left at 0:15.
Blue shirt sits on vehicle at 0:21.
Vehicle moves forward at 0:24.
Blue shirt jumps/falls off vehicle at 0:27.
Maybe the “passive” blue shirt guy should have first explained to the deaf driver exactly what he was going to do and why. Before he attacked the car. :smack:
That might have lead to less confusion, anxiety, fear, and a need to flee from perceived danger.
I don’t feel that sitting in a car can be considered “attacking”. If anything, he was pretty much the less angry and active person surrounding the car that was, you know, trying to force it’s way through a crowd of people. If the guy panicked, blue shirt was pretty much the least of his concerns.
Did you mean “the driver wasn’t being personally attacked”? No, the driver wasn’t being personally attacked. Did the driver believe that his vehicle was being damaged by some nutcase that appeared out of the crowd? Possibly.
Just to make my position clear, this was a horrible, horrible incident. I would never have tried to enter the crosswalk. I would have waited until it became clear that the crowd was not going to let me pass at which point I would have backed up, with the help of an observer if necessary, turned around and found another way to reach my destination.
The driver should never have tried to enter the crosswalk. He’s partially at fault for doing so.
I would hold the guy in the blue shirt and white pants to be a big part of this debacle. Can he be arrested or sued for his wanton stupidity? I certainly hope so.
Which is nothing at all like being attacked. Also, generally speaking, a guy sitting on the hood of a car is going to do a lot less damage than a guy bouncing off your grill as you drive over him.
While the driver has little to stand on in an official defense, plenty in that crowd were being jerks. Some acted in a manner that could be interpreted as threatening. I figure the driver thought he was fleeing rather than plowing through. Doesn’t make him not guilty, nor less of a jerk himself.
I wonder what sort of invincibility the crowd thought they possessed. I don’t care what the law says about right of way, when you’re on foot get the fuck out of the way of cars, especially angry cars. Proving a point to the asshole honking isn’t worth life and limb.