A Road-Raging Off-Duty Cop Threatened To Shoot A Driver

When someone passes you on the road, what do you do? Do you mutter to yourself about those dang speed demons? Do you accusatorily gesture through your windshield? Or, do you follow that other driver to their home, block their car into their driveway, and pull a gun on them?

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Most of us would probably pick the first or second option, but most of us aren’t off-duty cops. Were we the latter, we may follow in the footsteps of the off-duty officer who nearly shot Mario Rosales in 2018. The Daily Beast reports:

While driving home in his Ford Mustang, [Rosales] legally passed a pickup truck, and the other driver started tailgating him. Road rage can be deadly, so Rosales grew concerned.

No matter which way he went, the truck stayed in his rearview mirror. Rosales eventually reached his home in Roswell, New Mexico, hoping the truck would keep going. Instead, the vehicle blocked Rosales in his driveway, and the stranger behind the wheel started yelling and cursing at him.

…

[Rosales] owned a handgun that he could lawfully open carry, so he stepped out of his Mustang with the weapon displayed on his waist. He kept his hands away from the gun in a defensive stance and remained calm.

During the tense exchange, the assailant identified himself as a law enforcement officer, though he was driving an unmarked vehicle and wearing plainclothes with flip flops—none of which bore law enforcement insignia.

Rosales complied with all commands and tried to deescalate the situation, but the officer drew his weapon and pointed it at Rosales—who had done nothing wrong other than fail to use a turn signal when the officer was tailing him around every street corner.

The officer was fired over his treatment of Rosales, but a suit against the now-former cop stalled out on grounds of qualified immunity — a judicial ruling that states that police can’t be held liable for breaches of constitutional rights unless that right is clearly established in another, identical case. If there’s no legal precedent for “following someone home and pulling a gun on them, on their property” being a constitutional violation, the officer can’t be held liable — meaning that precedent can never be established. You see the problem here.

Luckily, Rosales eventually got the qualified immunity decision reversed. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals looked at the facts of the case, and realized that Rosales hadn’t committed any crime. Also, that the officer was off-duty. And had his kid with him in his truck the whole time.

Rosales may have gotten (some) justice, but the story is an important reminder to be careful who you piss off on the roads. You never know who might be an off-duty cop, waiting to follow you home and hold you at gunpoint.