So...
Met with the detective at the end of FSR 144. We went to school together, and he recognized me immediately.
The guy from yesterday had stayed up all night drinking. At around 0500 he got in a minor scuffle with his brother in law. An hour later he roughed up his wife's dad too, which led to another fight with the brother and I guess he slapped mom around a little too before he shoved his wife in the Polaris and took off like a bat out of hell. Apparently he went and did doughnuts around all the campers he could find, and generally continued behaving like a dickhead. At some point, he ran over a lady's little dog. Eventually he made his way back towards town, chased my herd of neigh-bors, and ran across me.
I was informed that because of his reckless driving and obvious aggressive behavior, that his driving up to me, in the manner in which he did, constituted a valid threat to my physical well-being and safety. Because I was shouting insults, not threats, I was perfectly within my rights, and he was obligated to ignore me or drive away, not to engage with me.
The state of Arizona doesn't have mutual combat laws. If two guys get in a fight, the cops show up, and neither one wants to press charges, it doesn't matter, the state will press the charges on both parties. That's exactly what I've been worried about this whole time. I figured I'd have been arrested yesterday, and was stressing hard because they seemed to have no interest in me. What game are they playing at here? They weren't playing games, they dont care about what I did, because this cat was running amok, terrorizing folks. Maybe knowing the detective helped too, and the fact that we were actually friends for the short time I was in high-school. He greeted me as Kaveman, not my govmint name. When he saw just how worried I was, he told me, "I've never seen you fight for no reason. The horses were reason enough, by some people's thinking. That guy was going to have something catch up with him, and the way he was carrying on, it's probably better it was you and not us. If he had driven at one of us like that..."
So as of now I'm free and clear, all is well. As for the young Hispanic asshole who is on soft foods in Holbrook, on the end of the dental list that typically four months long, he is facing the following charges:
Aggravated assault, x7
Theft of a means of transportation x1
DUI/DWI x2
Reckless driving, x9
Reckless endangerment, x9
Kidnapping/Unlawful restraint, x2
Violence towards Animals, x16
Cruelty towards animals, x16
Harassing wildlife, x15
Destruction of public lands, x12
That's all I could remember, there might be more. He's getting a separate charge for every horse in the herd, and the dog he ran over, which survived with scuffs and a cut. Basically this guy is screwed already and they're not done talking to people and finding more to fry him on. I almost feel bad for him, coming up for a camping trip that became the worst weekend of his life. But then I figure that this guy showed his true colors, and is reaping his reward.
Anywho, that's about enough of that excitement. When I walked back to my truck this is what I found...
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I've got a date tonight with a lovely lady my own age, so I've got to go find a rain box and make myself presentable.
