Back in April, a cyclist was travelling on the roads of Deer Park, a Houston suburb. There, a white Jeep mercilessly sped beside him. The cyclist then decides to flip off the Jeep driver, who would later be identified as 50-year-old Robert Aaron Glenn, after the driver yelled numerous insults and threats.
"I see this vehicle pull up to my side, and I hear 'hey f--got' super aggressive," the cyclist alleged Friday. "I don't know if you can hear it in the video very well, but you could just feel the hatred coming off of this person ... I thought he was getting out. I stopped and reached into my pocket. I carry Mace on me just in case something like this happens. He took off yelling, like 'f--k you,' stuff like that. Then he goes, 'I hope you die.'"
The cyclist said he flipped the driver off after their initial encounter.
Although he seemed to drive away from the cyclist, Glenn decided to make a U-turn and head towards the cyclist, almost striking him until making a last-minute swerve.
By that point, he had pulled out a dose of pepper spray in the event the incident escalated. But his Mace was no match for a two-ton Wrangler.
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It is unclear if the Jeep's driver misjudged the trajectory or was only trying to intimidate the rider. The driver quickly pulled back into the northbound lanes as other drivers honked.
To avoid being identified, the cyclist decided not to press charges, and the Deer Park Police Department had declined to pursue an investigation, given that it was a “he said, she said” situation. However, Harris County prosecutors have decided to pursue the case, and Robert Aaron Glenn is charged with reckless driving as of 30 June; given that reckless driving is a misdemeanour in the state of Texas, the severity of the punishment would be similar to the one given for drunk driving. Glenn had said that he was "mad the cyclist was on the roadway”, although according to Texas state law, cyclists are permitted to cycle on roadways as long as they are as close to the right shoulder as humanly possible.
The state of Texas would be the plaintiff in this criminal case, given that the cyclist declined to press charges. If convicted, Glenn faces up to 30 days in jail and a maximum fine of $200.
People do not accuse the Houston area of being hospitable towards cyclists, given the multiple high-profile incidents of onerous behaviour towards cyclists, not the least of which include road rage between a deputy constable and a group of cyclists, an unhinged pipe attack towards a biker on a trail, and a group of cyclists suffering serious injuries after a teen pickup driver was “rolling coal” towards them on the rural outskirts. Some even hold Houston as a city that embraces the worst of American urban planning.