Hit and Run!

FlashBazbo

This is going to be a very unpopular post.

I don't know your local laws but, in most states, he complied with the law. He stopped to check on you. If there were no injuries and no car damage, he was entitled to leave. End of story. (The child seat thing is a violation, but that's not your deal.) He is fully entitled to protect himself by avoiding a confrontation with an uninjured, "seriously pissed" driver whose car isn't damaged.

On the other hand, giving chase and trying to run a guy off the road? I would drop this thing. If the police really do get involved (which I doubt), you'll be the one paying the larger penalty. In most states, you committed at least one misdemeanor and one low-level felony with a dangerous weapon. (Yes, a car is considered a dangerous weapon at law.) At the end of the day, he won't get ticketed for anything (no witnesses but you to the child seat violation) and you'll end up arrested or with a hefty fine or both.

I'm very glad for you that nobody was injured and there was no damage to your car.

(Did I mention that I figured this wouldn't be a popular post?)

Bibimbap

Going after him to get the license = good

Trying to run him off the road = wtf?

There's no reason to confront the driver by doing and/or attempting to run him off the road. Like it was stated above, there could have been repercussions due to negligence. Even worse, he would be able to go after you in court if they see it as you trying to attack him after the incident.

Think before you act man.

wstar

I agree with your general sentiment regarding the inappropriate-ness of the Z driver's response, but I doubt the Impala driver had any way of knowing there was no damage. For that matter, even the Z driver probably doesn't know for sure. Sometimes damage isn't obvious at first. He should pull his bumper off and look underneath to be sure. Running off instead of exchanging DL and Insurance info is a definite no-no. Around here it's common and considered acceptable to not involve the police if both parties agree to settling things between themselves after exchanging valid information, but what the Impala driver did clear qualifies as fleeing the scene of an accident, not to mention the Harbor officer could easily press for vehicular assault on an officer (actually in some states, any assault (threat/attempt) on an officer is automatically upgraded to assault+battery if the officer was in uniform or otherwise clearly identifiable, which gets you into serious felony territory).

The story sounds fishy to me in this regard. After the near-miss on the officer, I would have expected a pretty heavy police response, probably resulting in the driver being pinned down by the several police cars that are usually in the vicinity of any airport these days, which he would have alerted by radio.

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