After the New Year break, I merged onto the crowded highway in my Freightliner semi.
On a long downhill stretch, I spotted a school bus packed with students ahead of me and eased off the gas, leaving plenty of room between us.
Then an SUV cut right into the gap.
I leaned on the horn to warn him off—what he was doing was dangerous—but the driver ignored me completely and flipped me the bird.
Over the next few miles, he kept speeding up and slowing down, deliberately messing with me.
For safety's sake, I swallowed my anger and refused to engage.
Then the son of a bitch changed lanes without signaling on the next downhill curve.
My rig was about to rear-end the school bus. I wrenched the wheel to the side.
But the momentum carried me into the back of the SUV, slamming it straight into the guardrail.
A dozen cars passing through got caught up in the wreck.
I jumped out immediately to help. I'd barely dragged the SUV driver from his vehicle before it caught fire when he slapped me across the face.
"What are you gonna say?"
"'I didn't see him'? 'I couldn't stop in time'? 'It's a tough job'? 'We're all just trying to get by'?"
——
The slap knocked out one of my teeth. I spat blood and tried to explain.
"You're the one who cut me off—"
The man laughed.
"Cut you off? You own this highway? Nobody else is allowed to drive on it? Someone gets in your lane and you try to kill them?"
"If I wasn't tough as nails, I wouldn't even be standing here arguing with an animal like you."
"Goddamn trucker. Murderer. Every time I see one of you pieces of trash who don't give a damn about other people's lives, it makes my blood boil. Why don't you just drop dead?"
He threw a punch straight at my face.
It shattered my nose. Blood sheeted down, covering everything from my forehead to my chin.
But he wasn't done. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and slammed my head into the crumpled hood of a wrecked car beside us.
One impact was all it took. The world spun. Jagged shards of plastic bit into my forehead, and the pain twisted my face into something I didn't recognize.
I tried to fight back. He only hit harder, cursing with every blow.
"Piece of trash! Animal! You treat passenger cars like speed bumps!"
"Full coverage makes you untouchable, huh? Long as I'm still breathing, I'll put every last one of you in the ground!"
Other drivers whose cars had been hit climbed out and gathered around.
One of them saw the blood pouring down my face and spoke up.
"Hey man, maybe that's enough. File an insurance claim and settle it. You keep hitting him like that, you're gonna kill him..."
The man's voice shot up to a roar.
"It's because of people like you—running to your insurance companies every time something happens—that truckers think they can get away with anything!"
"If everyone just rolls over the way you do, takes a check and calls it a day after getting run over, then you deserve to get flattened like speed bumps!"
The scene went so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Nobody said another word on my behalf.
Instead, they looked at me with hatred in their eyes—the kind of hatred reserved for someone who treats human life like it means nothing.
The people on the school bus filed off too. The teacher leading the group, Claire Whitman, stepped forward and spoke up for me.
"No situation gives you the right to beat someone like that!"
"And I saw the whole thing clearly. You forced your way in, changed lanes without signaling, and caused this accident!"
Claire was telling the truth. But the man balled his fists and stormed toward her.
"What does a woman know about driving? Say one more word and I'll rip your mouth off your face!"
He was big. Six feet tall, close to two hundred pounds. The kind of frame designed to intimidate.
