Missouri Sportswriter Murdered in Possible Road Rage Incident

[spikechiquet]

Dennis Andrew Sharkey, who primarily covered high school sports for The Platte County Citizen, was found with a gunshot wound in his crashed car on Interstate 29 just outside Kansas City Friday evening, one day after his 50th birthday.

Citizen's sports reporter murdered — The Platte County Citizen

https://awfulannouncing.com/newspap...ter-death-in-possible-road-rage-shooting.html

 

[Cosmo]

Awful.

Just anecdotal evidence, but reckless driving and road rage has just gotten completely out of control anymore. Went to Charlottesville for some interviews the other day, and on the way back to the office, I got on U.S. 29 to get back on I-64 toward Richmond. It's a 55 mph road, I was going 63 in the left lane (the 64 ramp is a left turn), and a guy behind me almost rammed me, slammed on his horn and his brights and started flipping me off before nearly clipping me flying into the right lane, where he screamed off at like 80 mph, giving me one more bird for good measure. I mean, I'm in a company car, not going slow, but this guy just completely flipped his **** for no real reason. We're an angry, angry society right now, and it's coming out big time on the roads.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Afraid that's where we are as a society right now. Too many people getting too comfortable with behavior like that - don't want to get political, so I'm stopping there.

 

[User 4332]

Suspect list: Every athlete he cost a college scholarship with his coverage/lack of coverage.

Truly terrible and it sounds like police don't have much to work with, either.

 

[HanSenSE]

Suspect list: Every athlete he cost a college scholarship with his coverage/lack of coverage.

Truly terrible and it sounds like police don't have much to work with, either.

Beat me to it. But, yeah, it's getting too crazy in most places on the road. At least I only have a one-mile commute.

I recall driving back from a Fresno Grizzlies game, when they were still the Giants' PCL affiliate, where I had done interviews for a story on a local kid who worked for the Grizzlies and got a World Series ring. I was in the left lane doing the limit when someone gets right on my tail, then blows past me. The next thing I saw was a CHP car, with lights and sirens, pulling the guy over.

 

[wicked]

I know our charitable efforts rightly are focused on SoCal at the moment, but any chance we could put together something for one of our own?

Edit: Just found the GoFundMe. It appears his mom, who's in bad shape, is looking for cash for his funeral expenses.

Donate to Honor Dennis: Support His Mom in Her Time of Need, organized by Samantha Sharkey

 

[Liut]

Beat me to it. But, yeah, it's getting too crazy in most places on the road. At least I only have a one-mile commute.

I recall driving back from a Fresno Grizzlies game, when they were still the Giants' PCL affiliate, where I had done interviews for a story on a local kid who worked for the Grizzlies and got a World Series ring. I was in the left lane doing the limit when someone gets right on my tail, then blows past me. The next thing I saw was a CHP car, with lights and sirens, pulling the guy over.

Applause!
RIP Mr. Sharkey

 

[swingline]

I don’t flip anyone off anymore. You never know who’s packing heat, and there’s no way I want to get shot over traffic.

 

[John]

I know our charitable efforts rightly are focused on SoCal at the moment, but any chance we could put together something for one of our own?

Edit: Just found the GoFundMe. It appears his mom, who's in bad shape, is looking for cash for his funeral expenses.

Donate to Honor Dennis: Support His Mom in Her Time of Need, organized by Samantha Sharkey

Great idea. Happily donated.

 

[Tarheel316]

I don’t flip anyone off anymore. You never know who’s packing heat, and there’s no way I want to get shot over traffic.

I don’t do that either. Too risky.

 

[User 149557]

I’ve turned into a right-lane, 68-in-a-65 driver.

For the pyschos who want to go 20 over and will get to within an inch of your bumper because “I have places to be” I only quote “a lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

I’m sorry you lack the time management skills us other adults do. You’re going to sit there if I’m going the speed limit and am in the proper lane.

 

[Starman]

I’ve turned into a right-lane, 68-in-a-65 driver.

For the pyschos who want to go 20 over and will get to within an inch of your bumper because “I have places to be” I only quote “a lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

I’m sorry you lack the time management skills us other adults do. You’re going to sit there if I’m going the speed limit and am in the proper lane.

NOBUDDUH TELLZ THEM WHUT TA DEW!!
They're rolling smoke!!

 

[MTM]

I’ve turned into a right-lane, 68-in-a-65 driver.

For the pyschos who want to go 20 over and will get to within an inch of your bumper because “I have places to be” I only quote “a lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

I’m sorry you lack the time management skills us other adults do. You’re going to sit there if I’m going the speed limit and am in the proper lane.

In the younger days I was an "eff you, I'm going 78 in a 65, go around me" kind of guy. As I've aged it's now, "fine, you want to go faster, I'll switch lanes and let you pass."
In my much younger days, I did a 240-mile roundtrip to my hometown each weekend, usually driving like a maniac, as 25 years olds are wont to do. One weekend I decided to drive with the flow of traffic and not speed and keep jumping lanes. My two-hour drive only took like 5 minutes longer.

 

[dixiehack]

Age has mostly (not entirely) mellowed me out behind the wheel.

I have a centering thought I use now when someone honks because they thought I should have run the yellow or made a turn on a gap that may or may not have been sufficient to avoid collision.

“Is this person going to pay my ticket for me? Are they going to pay for my repairs? Then why do I care what they think?”

 

[Driftwood]

It's funny how nobody ever seems to blame the slowpokes aimlessly driving about like they're the only people on the planet.

I had to follow a handicap driver 7 miles across town the other day, and we never got above 26 mph. I was right behind her, and at one point, I looked in my mirror and counted 12 other cars backed up like we were a dang Christmas parade.

 

[Starman]

It's funny how nobody ever seems to blame the slowpokes aimlessly driving about like they're the only people on the planet.

I had to follow a handicap driver 7 miles across town the other day, and we never got above 26 mph. I was right behind her, and at one point, I looked in my mirror and counted 12 other cars backed up like we were a dang Christmas parade.

Driving too slowly for prevailing traffic conditions and causing obstructions is also a VBSL infraction, but is rarely if ever enforced.

It's also an offense to only drive the posted speed limit in the left (passing) lane of a multi-lane freeway, especially if traffic lines up behind you.

I've also seen reports of cops issuing inattentive driving citations for drivers conspicuously blocking traffic. You're supposed to check your rear view mirror frequently enough you shouldn't have a parade lined up behind you.

 

[Typist Clerk]

It's funny how nobody ever seems to blame the slowpokes aimlessly driving about like they're the only people on the planet.

I had to follow a handicap driver 7 miles across town the other day, and we never got above 26 mph. I was right behind her, and at one point, I looked in my mirror and counted 12 other cars backed up like we were a dang Christmas parade.

And you got where you were going.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

It's also an offense to only drive the posted speed limit in the left (passing) lane of a multi-lane freeway, especially if traffic lines up behind you.

Nestoring. #IYKYK

Also a plot scene in a Tom Clancy novel where a Nestorer got capped. Clancy probably got sick of them on the Beltway and enjoyed that vignette.

 

[Driftwood]

And you got where you were going.

Not in a timely and efficient manner.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Standard interstate I'll usually run about 75, probably middle lane. I figure I miss the exits, merges, and slowpokes in the right lane and that the left lane is available is someone needs to pass. I'll generally pull over and get out of the way if I get a speed runner or asshole behind me, although I get annoyed and discuss the ancestry of tailgaters trying to bully people out of their way. OTOH, left lane bandits who get in the fast lane and camp out really **** me off, because in traffic it's difference in speed that is most likely to cause an accident, and because by definition to be a left lane bandit you have to obstinately stay there, a driving cork in the ass of progress.