Road rage often leads to verbal insults, yelling, and sometimes even physical threats or violence.
Even though most people associate road rage with driving an automobile, a bicycle can be all it takes to send someone into a fit of rage.
A Florida man with a military-style knife caused one little boy to have a scary bicycle ride that he will never forget.
Consumer Affairs defines road rage as “the term used to describe aggressive and dangerous driving behaviors.”
Anyone who drives a vehicle long enough will eventually experience or witness an incidence of road rage.
According to the vehicle insurance website, The Zebra, 92% of drivers saw at least one act of road rage in 2023.
Research from SafeMotorist found that “12,610 injuries and 218 murders have been attributed to road rage over a seven-year period in the United States.”
But it is not just automobiles that lead to road rage.
Even bicycles sometimes lead to road rage.
And one little boy in Winter Springs, Florida, recently learned this truth the hard way.
The Winter Springs Police Department received a disturbance report about an incident that took place in the afternoon.
A young boy was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk instead of in the bicycle lane, which apparently infuriated a man named Richard Shafer.
According to the 5th grade boy, Shafer stopped him, pulled out a military-style knife, and pointed it directly at his chest.
The boy immediately put his hands in the air and apologized to Shafer for riding on the sidewalk instead of the bicycle lane.
“When police arrived, they spoke to the child victim, who said a man, later identified as Shafer, stopped him as he was riding his bike home,” Fox News reported. “When Shafer stopped the boy, he told police, Shafer pulled out a military-style knife and pointed it at him because he was riding his bike on a sidewalk and not in the bike lane,” Fox News continued. “He told police he apologized to Shafer before riding his bike home.”
The boy’s mother called the police upon learning of the terrifying incident.
“He told me when he got home that he thought he was going to die,” his mother told WESH.
Apparently, Shafer was angry because the child was not in the bicycle lane and thought he was going to hit him.
However, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk is legal in Winter Springs.
“And he said a gentleman was yelling at him and he stopped, scared, and the gentleman pulled out a large hunting knife, pointed toward my son’s chest and yelled at him to get off the sidewalk,” his mother said. “And he just put his hands up and said, ‘I’m so sorry.’”
“He was obviously terrified,” she added.
Police arrested Shafer and charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Thankfully, the boy was not physically harmed during the incident.
But it is certainly one bicycle ride home that he will never forget.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
