Road rage victim: Man with bat threatened to kill us
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RALEIGH HILLS, Ore. - Washington County Sheriff's Deputies took a man into custody Thursday after they said he rammed a vehicle and then took a baseball to it in a frightening road rage incident.
Deputies said the incident began at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday when they got a call about a hit-and run-crash at SW Scholls Ferry Road north of the Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.
Deputies said the suspect vehicle was seen being driven in a reckless manner prior to the crash.
They also said witnesses told them the suspect driver, identified as Ryan Thomas, 22, threatened the occupants of the other vehicle with a baseball bat before fleeing the scene.
At the scene, investigators found a 2008 Chevy Impala with damage to a taillight - and "a four-inch dent in the left side rear door that appeared to have been recently struck with a blunt object."
Eugen Tanase, the driver of the Impala, said he'd never seen someone as angry as the man with the bat, even though he had been a commercial truck driver for 30 years and "saw a lot of things."
Tanase said Thomas hit his car with the bat four or five times after Thomas closely followed him and then hit his car as he went to make a left turn.
Witnesses told deputies that the driver of the suspect vehicle, a 2000 Ford Expedition, "intentionally rammed the Impala as it was in a left turn lane attempting to turn left" after it passed the Expedition near an intersection.
Tanase said Thomas hit his car "like a police maneuver."
At that point, witness told deputies Thomas got out of the Expedition with a baseball bat and started "yelling and cursing loudly" while swinging the bat. Deputies said it appears the suspect hit the Impala with the bat at least once.
Tanase said Thomas was enraged and "starts to yell at me "I kill you, I’m going to kill you." To my wife to me."
Tanase got out of his car to check the damage and that's when he came face-face-face with Thomas. But Tanase did not back down and said he tried to calm Thomas down. "Calm down, man calm down. It’s ok," he said he told Thomas. But that didn't work.
"It happened so fast and the guy was so, so, so angry," he said.
He said Thomas then got back in his Expedition and drove away "like being in Daytona [500]."
Asked why he would get out of his car and confront an angry man swinging a bat, Tanase said someone with a baseball bat "doesn't impress me" and he was trying to protect his wife. "I’m not going to run away because somebody got crazy," Tanase said.
Tanase and his wife were not hurt and witnesses gave deputies information that led them to a Tigard home where the suspect vehicle was located.
However, Tanase said the incident has terrified his wife. "I can’t explain this kind of behavior, but this guy really needs help," he said. "Some kind of anger management."
Thomas was taken into custody and "was not cooperative with the investigation," deputies said.
Thomas is charged with unlawful use of a weapon, reckless endangering, menacing, disorderly conduct, hit-and-run, reckless driving and criminal mischief, according to a press release from the sheriff's office.
He was taken to the Washington County Jail and is being held on $25,000 bail. No court date has been announced.
WoW lucky he did not get shot
The guy swinging the bat should change his grip he's got it ars backwards much more power if you change the positioning of his hands,must play soccer.
Bat man needs therapy big time. What a moron.
I think its funny how in public on the street, we all have held a door open for someone at 7-11 or been headed thru the same door at the same time as another person, in person, and have said excuse me or at least been partially polite.Â
Why is it when you get into a car, those practices go right out the window? Never have understood that pyschologically....
@Bio Sphere Portland drivers regularly surprise me with their courtesy.  Not all of them, but some of them.  I haven't been to many other places where drivers will smile and wave while they stop to let you cross the street, for example.
@Bio Sphere I disagree. I'm a polite driver, unless your an idiot.
No ticket for hit and run? Glad he had time to get away long enough to get rid of his meth, unless he had already did it all, sure sounds like the guy was CRANKY to me.
@squiggy2u Maybe the hit and run didn't happen, and the victim was exaggerating how bad the situation was?
I know you cut someone off and flip them off then slam on the brakes just to mess with them and this is what happens..
Why do some people get so mad I drive like that all the time.... and don't get me started about slower traffic in the left lane.
Looks like one less, "get out of my way," KATU commentator today.
Sounds like the driver was pretty cool headed. Â I would have Trayvoned him on the spot, the threat to kill is license for deadly force as long as the victim isn't a 'protected class'.Â
BAN BATS!
(ahem)
My first question is whether the young man with the bat was either on or withdrawing from prescription anti-depressants, which have a long and well documented link to extreme acts of violence and suicide.
Portland chased baseball out of town, but forgot to chase all the bats out. Ban bats in Portland make it a bat free zone in order to reduce bat violence. Especially assault bats like the one pictured. Waiting period, drug test and criminal background checks should be required to buy bats in Portland. An annual fee to own a bat should be enforced with registration and licensing fees applied. An annual inspection of bat storage of registered bat owners homes shall be maintained by law enforcement.
I saw in the article and on TV that the Impala had crossed in front of him to get into  the turn lane.KUDO's to the gentleman in the expedition for doing what I have several times longed to do..........................Why are people so obsessed with speeding to pass you cutting in front of you then slammin there brakes on.
@Daveinlongview so if someone cuts you off, it's fine in your book to smash into their car on purpose? I hate that behavior as much as the next person, but anyone with an ounce of maturity & common sense knows that is NOT the way to react. Blow your horn, flip the bird, etc and be on your crazy way. If you decide to ram a car on purpose, please remember you could injure or kill that jerk behind the wheel, then who will you have to complain about?
@Jo Muir @Daveinlongview If I killed someone who wandered in front of my car I'd mostly be bothered about the damage to my car.
Oregon must pass a new liberal law banning baseball bats from the state.
Of course this is outragious, but I AM hoping at the same time, the older man was ticketed for following to close, what is it that people don't understand about maintaining a car length, I am so tired of rear ends because of law breakers
@Tim Bealer If he was following too close, how did he get rear-ended? He was not following too closely; the crazy guy in the Expedition was.
@Tedomatic @Tim Bealer I saw in the article and on TV that the Impala had crossed in front of him to get into  the turn lane.KUDO's to the gentleman in the expedition for doing what I have several times longed to do..........................Why are people so obsessed with speeding to pass you cutting in front of you then slammin there brakes on.
If this older gentleman had a gun and shot this young perp in the face, I would celebrate. Â Because this would be a case where responsible gun owner has responded to a proper situation where a gun can end the confrontation that the gun owner actually did not cause.
@Benjamin Schniffle And would you feel the same if the younger guy was your brother? Now dead.
@Doobie Brothers @Benjamin Schniffle I would, if he was trying to assault somebody with a baseball bat.
@Benjamin Schniffle Yep.  Unless the old man is lying about what happened.
Watching the video again, the so-called victim sounds like a liar. Â I don't believe that it happened the way he described at all unless the suspect was high on meth or something. Â Even then, why did he stand there watching his car get beaten and not just drive away from the crazy suspect? Â Why is there no paint transfer from the multiple impacts of the other vehicle? Â It makes no sense the way he tells the story.
@knottrielhow can there be paint transfer from a plastic bumper? The side panel dents are from the bat, maybe there's some varnish transfer from the bat!! Get to investigating man! I await your further analysis.
@Jo Muir @knottriel In the case of plastic to plastic there is still material transfer, even if the bumpers aren't painted.  There also should be some dents.  Even at 5 mph cars deform when they're hit.
@knottriel You must be a friend of relative of the perp.  Because no one, I mean no one, got the feeling that the victim was a liar.  Nice try though.  Don't do it in court ok?
@Benjamin Schniffle @knottriel I think he is a Liar,I think the Impala sped up to cut in front of the Expedition in the turn lane and when lane change was made ,The Impala slammed on his brakes after pass,KUDOS to the gentleman in the Expedition.
@Benjamin Schniffle Never met the guy, I just wonder where the paint transfer is if his car drove into the victim's twice?
@Tedomatic @knottriel @Benjamin Schniffle I haven't heard of any witnesses to him ramming the car as the guy claimed.  Maybe I need to check other stations' sites?
@knottriel @Benjamin Schniffle I suppose your crack accident reconstruction skills trump all the witnesses who saw the event.
Eugen Tanase should probably learn how to drive. Road rage is never caused by just one driver, and for some reason he got out of his car, which makes me wonder if he helped instigate the situation. Â Why would you get out of your car if another driver is that angry?
I don't believe that someone just "went off" on some poor innocent driver. Â It just doesn't happen like that. Â Both parties played a part, and now one is playing the poor victim, and quite effectively from what these comments show.
@knottriel I agree...the fact that Mr. Tanase choose to get out of his car in the face of a man swinging a bat indicates that he was either flooded (a physiological state where the person cannot make decisions due to adrenaline etc etc) because he was aggressively involved or he felt some of his own road rage.
I got deliberately run into in a Safeway parking lot 10 years ago, and the police never even showed up when I called.
People are crazy and cops do nothing.
Ryan Thomas is not packing a whole lot below the belt, I imagine.
What's really telling is that once Mr Tanase got out of his car, not showing Mr Thomas the fear that he so desired, he jumped back in his car and took off.Â
Gutless coward. Hats off to Mr Tanase, and the Wa Co Sheriffs office for getting this moron off the streets.Â
Frankly, Mr Thomas ought to be glad that the person behind the wheel didn't have an OR CHL and weapon in their vehicle. While K2 was busy seeking out the 'he was such a nice guy who would never hurt a fly' sound bytes, Mr Thomas family would be planning his funeral. And by the laws governing use of deadly force in OR, I doubt very much that the DA would have charged Mr Tanase.Â
How about a yr of anger management?????? Followed by another yr of street sweeping?? Â
The skel looks like a minny-me of Woody Harrelson - he must think he is somebody impotent...
@boned R.I.P English.
@Bellatrix @boned RIP irony meter
It sure is good they staged pics of a guy holding a bat next to a car. Â Otherwise I would have no idea how it happened.
Good thing the other driver didn't have a pistol.
He would have been justified blowing this dimwit away in self defense.
Less paperwork, too. :-P
@Mikey As a conceal carry gun owner,I steer away from the "blowing people away" way of thinking.The only time I would have drawn my weapon is if my window was broken and I was unable to get away.The law can get real tricky when it comes to justifiable use of force.Matter of fact,I've purchased insurance that will help pay for a attorney in the event that I get myself in a deadly force situation.I've read stories about people going bankrupt trying to stay out of prison for protecting themselves.Cars can be replaced,heads can't.If its just my car that's getting busted up and my life is not in danger,the guns remain holstered.
@noneofyourbizzness Not that I am in disagreement with your position, but I will say this. Under OR deadly force laws, him 'ramming' your car, coming at you with a bat, hitting your car and yelling "I kill you, Iâm going to kill you."
...While I'm sure that K2 would have been interviewing his family for 'he was such a sweet man' sound bytes, I doubt there's a DA in the state who would have filed charges.Â
@MarkKpic @noneofyourbizzness Yeah I agree,What a scary experience.
From looking at his mug shot I would say he is one of those people always with an attitude. He's probably a bully until someone stands up to him. He lucky he didn't end up ventilated. Loser!
Ban bats!
@Jim330rifle According to the FBI, bats kill a lot of folks and there needs to be a complete background check on anyone that wants to buy one just like knives...
@boned @Jim330rifle Lol!