Community Update

I am Ian Tucker and after reading what was written here, I feel the need to set the record straight. I had lived in Bay Tree for 13 years. With extensive construction to Highway 17 in Mt Pleasant, there were several newly laid asphalt sections that were left like a small shelf or precipice where the stopped the paving strips and failed to properly blend them into the existing road surface. I drove over one at night and broke the thrust arm bushing on the offside front suspension of my BMW. I had been connecting with Coleman Blvd, to avoid further damage. While travelling down Cottingham Dr somewhere near midday, I came upon a white Acura driving about 10 mph in a 20 mph zone. The driver tried to slam on brakes several times to cause me to rear end him. I later found out that it was his wife's car. His windows were tinted in a black out shade. As we approached each speed hump he slowed down to under 1 mph and crawled across them as if he were transporting explosives. None of this bothered me in the least bit. In fact, I have always had a great amount of pity for people who think they have the right to use their car as some sort of opportunity to educate people like some sort of captive lab experiment. The are three stop signs on that road. After stopping behind the white SUV, I allowed him approximately 40 yards of distance before continuing along. It had already taken me 15 mins to get 4 blocks from my house. After turning onto Peltzer, he had slowed down to less than 1 mph, so I decided to pass him at the next speed hump. When I pulled into the left lane to pass, he swerved into my lane, clipped my offside fender, and drove me off the road into a gravel driveway where I came slidding to a stop. He continued to drive away an never tried to remain at the scene of the accident, knowing he'd caused what could have been a catastrophic accident. I turned around continued to stop light, where I pulled up next to the Acura. He rolled down his window and began to scream at me, telling me that I had no right to use his neighbourhood as a cut through and that he would teach me a lesson for driving through there, because he was defending the children of neighbourhood, where I had lived since he was a teenager and lived with his parents. Since he had already used his vehicle to attack and it was clear that he was not going to stop damaging my property. I pulled out the pepper spray I carried in my haversack, ever since I was attacked in a dark alley while conducting a ghost tour for a group of 3rd graders. I showed it to him, in hopes that this would end the conflict, without having to use it. Rather than roll up his window, he picked up his phone and screamed, "I'm calling the cops." I attempted to spray him through his passenger window from the driver's seat of my car, but I missed. I quickly turned right onto Coleman Blvd. He chased me through neighborhoods and after a tire screeching 360 he did on Coleman that nearly flipped his SUV. I finally stopped at the corner of Shannon and Savage Rd, so I could take a picture of his license plate. He yelled from his window that, "I had hit a kid back there, pointing his thumb to the road behind him". Since his child, which I was unaware of at that time, was not crying or making any sound at all. I assumed that he had run over a child in that neighbourhood while chasing me and was announcing that he had already reported to the police that I had hi the child. I decided at that point, to drive directly to the Mt Pleasant Police Department for help. When I arrived there with the Acura right on my tail, I barged into the help and begged for help. Officers sat me down and left me sitting in the lobby while they went outside to the SUV. I suddenly realized that a 1 year old child had been in the back seat, right side, the entire time. The officers huddled around the child. One if them came back inside and immediately arrested me with out so much as a single word. I exercised my right to have an attorney present for questioning. They never called an attorney and questioned me anyway. I was never allowed to make a formal statement and the entire report submitted was perjury, because the driver of the Acura never mentioned the fact that he had hit my car, run me off the road, and left the scene of the accident while recklessly endangering the life of his baby. I was never allowed to press counter charges, denied the right to an attorney, and treated like a second class citizen, even though I had never been convicted of a crime before in my life. The next morning two criminal charges appeared on my record just in time for my PR bond. One of the charges was dismissed in 1996 and the other was a wake zone ticket from DNR eight years before. I have a commercial driver's license with passenger endorsement, my car was p tag registered, and my tour company was registered to my house. I was on my way to give a history tour downtown. By the way, the traffic/speeding tickets were against a motorcycle permit, where the only one in harms way was me. You can tell the truth, defend your rights, and beg for justice in Mt Pleasant, but they will still send you for jail based on the perjury of the person who calls 911 first. That's why I no longer live in Mt Pleasant.