I had a similar thing happen recently but without any violence or bikie. It was a country road with farms, cows etc. I was out specifically to take photos around the area with the setting sun in the background as an added feature. I found a good spot about 100 yards from a small farmhouse which was close to the road. I pulled up, got out and started shooting, aiming my camera away from the house towards the setting sun.. I noticed a car had pulled up almost in the driveway of the house but was parked at a funny angle with his headlights on (it was starting to get twilight). He didn't get out of the car but kept the headlights aimed at me. I took no notice and continued shooting for about 5-10 minutes. When I got in my car to drive away, he took off at the same time ahead of me, staring at me as he went past. It was like he was just observing what I was doing. Why the headlights? Why was he even worried as I wasn't taking photos of the house? Why did he just sit in the car? I realised later that it may not have been his house anyway. Perhaps he noticed me from a previous location and was wondering what I was up to. At all times I was on a public road! Some people are getting paranoid. In Australia we are told to be vigilant about terrorists. There are even adds on TV showing typical suspicious behaviour to report. (Like taking photos of an oil refinery). But cows in a paddock at sunset? please God what is the world coming to?

probably nothing you could have done better. When I was in the hill country in Texas looking for flowers I was taking photos of flowers over a fence near a farm.
The owner (or manager) drove up and asked what we were doing. We told him we appreciated the beauty of his field and were trying to get a good rendition of it with the camera. He opened up an invited up to cross over the fence and help ourselves.

The only thing you might have done is drive up to the house and ask if it would be ok to photograph their great looking cows. Who knows if this would have helped or not?


Who needs this kind of grief.

hassy99 wrote:

The only thing you might have done is drive up to the house and ask if it would be ok to photograph their great looking cows. Who knows if this would have helped or not?



Or... Who knows, maybe it was a meth lab and they would have blown him away and hidden his remains... These days, it's getting more and more dangerous to interact with almost anyone.

Just glad to hear you are ok. Way to keep your cool, I would have lost mine.

Suing someone is expensive, time consuming and the courts aren't a collection agency so you're not guaranteed you'll get a dime but you'll have to pay your lawyer.
Yeah, the guy is a d-bag toughguy but I'd suggest trying to work it out with him. If he's still an asshole, then consider suing him.

You think he is going to want to work anything out after getting cited for DUI among other things!
No chance. Its one thing to be caught in a fire by accident, but to walk into a bad situation by approaching this guy to fix your car....Id send your request in the mail.

This country is becoming very unhospitable to photographers. While you contend with drunken bikers in Georgia, in NY, I am always getting hassled by police officers in confrontations that range from civil to civil rights violation. I feel the level of scrutiny given to non-paparazzi photographers has reached an unintelligent point exacerbated by fear, ignorance and racism. What harm has ever come from photographing a bridge? Actually, photographs helped provide a timeline for the Minnesota bridge deterioration and the subsequent incompetence that allowed for its tragic collapse. If light in the dark corners of public politics begets Democracy, photographs play a vital role in the health of a Democratic state . Whether it be taking photos of cows or the capitol photographers are doing a service as historians, activists and artists.

marko1953 wrote:
Why the headlights? Why was he even worried as I wasn't taking photos of the house? Why did he just sit in the car? I realised later that it may not have been his house anyway. Perhaps he noticed me from a previous location and was wondering what I was up to. At all times I was on a public road! Some people are getting paranoid. In Australia we are told to be vigilant about terrorists. There are even adds on TV showing typical suspicious behaviour to report. (Like taking photos of an oil refinery). But cows in a paddock at sunset? please God what is the world coming to?

if he was pointing his headlights directly at you, my assumption would be that he was making sure you were visable to passing motorists.

You did good. It was a volatile situation. I live in Georgia and he could have jerked a gun.

There was a stereo store owner in town who went ballistic when a blind man with a seeing eye dog came into the store. He threw them out, claiming customers complained about the guys odor (he was unkempt).

Turns out the store owner was living a lifestyle far beyond what the store would afford him. He eventually ended up in jail for tax evasion, but the word on the street is that he thought the guy was a narc and the dog was a drug sniffer.

Doug

You did right to avoid violence and to call authorities. One can always be "dead" right! —but what good is being right when you're dead?

well, anyone who rides a Heritige softail with a cell phone clipped to his belt and a bunch of catalogue junk screwed on the bike he doesn't really rank high in the biker hierarchy
Secondly he doesn't seem to be wearing any club colours so that makes things a bit easier to deal with.
A lot of little people think that if they plunk down 20 grand on a bike and a couple of mean looking T shirts that they start channeling Sonny Barger when they make it past the first traffic light without falling over.
I've been riding bikes for 19 years and I ride a Harley and all I can say is that a lot of really nice people ride bikes and quite a few assholes, don't let this colour your view of everyone on a bike, but this guy needs to be introduced to someone who can put him in his place.
Therock, you did the right thing, don't drop the charges and stick to your rights, you did nothing wrong.

A verified case of Mad Cow Disease...

A verified case of Mad Cow Disease... —Great! icecreamboy

Only it doesn't seem the cows were "mad" in this case - just the nut-case!

If all he has is his bike, you can bet it will sell fast & the cash to fix your car won't be available. You are still a neighbor and not a very good one in his eyes. I'd be careful. He has already been humiliated by the law and this is going to cost him fines or jail time. A bad guy always has bad guy friends. And if he doesn't his sister does.

Some battles aren't meant to win. Bottom line, chalk it up.

Chalk it up!?
No way. Stand your ground get the guy to fix the problem and if any more trouble comes your way get the authorities involved again. Letting the guy get away with it only reinforces the attitude that he can treat you like this again.

You need to draw a line in the ground on this and not let him walk all over you.

Maybe he has mad cow disease.

OutsideShooter wrote:
If all he has is his bike, you can bet it will sell fast & the cash to fix your car won't be available. You are still a neighbor and not a very good one in his eyes. I'd be careful. He has already been humiliated by the law and this is going to cost him fines or jail time. A bad guy always has bad guy friends. And if he doesn't his sister does.

Some battles aren't meant to win. Bottom line, chalk it up.


Just chalk it up? Please.

In other words, you support bullying?

Man, sorry to hear that you got attacked by an IDOIT. I would probably sue him too after he got out of the hospital.

You could show him that worn out photographer's rights pdf that always pops up in these discussions but I really can't see this as an anti photography issue. That guy would have probably done the same thing if you were painting on an easle or just standing there.

Even if it was about your right to take a picture, some people just don't care. You can be within your rights and still get your nose busted.

So if the other person is too dumb to have a debate and you are to sick or weak to kick his butt then the first thing to do is get away. Then take it up in court.


Marty

The following may not help you in your current situation, but dispenses good legal advice for photographers, in general (Sorry if this has already been shared.):
http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf

Other than the typical responses of "you did the right thing" and "I woulda' kicked his ass"

Have you done any investigative work on the guy? google his name, then his sister, whoever owns the house, what his name is, lots and lots of intel available .... gotta know who's door your knocking on. If he's got a long rap sheet, or something that otherwise suggests he's REAL trouble... I would let it go. If a 40+ year old adolescent hasn't figured it out by now he's never going to.

If he's just a putz who bought a softtail last week, as the cell phone and gay bolt on accessories suggest, maybe you can talk sense to him. Those beer muscles always go away in the morning.

Simple fact of the matter is you gotta live near the guy. Perhaps get in touch with the landowner, or house owner where the sister is, and see if she's like the fake biker dude. Get her out of the house and maybe never see the guy again. If its the house in the pic, i doubt they take kindly to this kind of thing.

best of luck on this

Baldur wrote:
well, anyone who rides a Heritige softail with a cell phone clipped to his belt and a bunch of catalogue junk screwed on the bike he doesn't really rank high in the biker hierarchy



That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw the photo of him. That pussy little cellphone on his belt? Yeah, real hard core for sure

Still, it's what's going on in a person's head that makes them most unpredictable and this guy was drunk, angry and probably a little kookoo, so had a potent mix of brain-altering chemicals running through his veins... enough perhaps to take down anyone who tried to stand their ground, however big and tough.

I agree that you did the right thing, however, you may want to get expert legal advice regarding posting his picture here. It may harm your case should you decide to pursue legal action. It also may be fine. Don't know, I'm not an attorney, I just have an uneasy feeling about you putting his picture up. Not looking to start a debate, just don't want to see you put yourself in a position that could get "you" sued. Perhaps you should save all of your comments for depositions/court. I've been in similar situations many times before, but never to the extent of a person actually connecting their fist/weapon with me or my property.

As mentioned, you've not been charged with trespassing, or any privacy violation. This is about the charges against him, and his attack on you. I would contact an attorney for a free consult at the least.

Not an attorney but roomed with a law student for years...

The photo you might want to pull off the web, as he might come after you for libel, if any of your story turns out to be judged to be falsehoods.

You can press charges or not, criminal offense. You have to live with your neighbors, though.

At the minimum, present repair costs and nicely ask that they be paid. If they resist, take them to small claims court...claims up to $5000, not really super time consuming. Or simply submit your claim to your auto insurance company and let THEM go after the guy for money, so you are not involved directly. The police arrest and report is self evident proof of his guilt and liability for costs.

You should be able to collect through his insurance. You have a police report that documents that he damaged your vehicle, right? Contact a victim's rights advocate through your police dept.