Assault on Imogene over Right of Way

California man arrested for assault after fight on mountain pass in San Juan Mountains
Altercation started over who had right of way
By Jonathan Romeo County & environment reporter
Friday, Aug. 7, 2020 2:03 PM

A California man has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting another man on Imogene Pass over a disagreement about who had the right of way.
A 38-year-old California man was arrested for assault after an altercation with another driver on a high-country mountain pass in the San Juan Mountains over who had the right of way.
Ouray County Undersheriff Tammy Stroup said a man identified as Sammy Spaccamonti, of San Diego, was driving a Jeep Rubicon downhill on the Ouray side of Imogene Pass on Saturday when he encountered a car driving uphill.
The passenger in the Toyota Tacoma going uphill, a 42-year-old man from Montrose, got out of the car and was going to ask Spaccamonti to move when a verbal altercation occurred.
Stroup said according to backcountry travel etiquette, vehicles traveling uphill have the right of way.
Spaccamonti allegedly got out of his Jeep, and punched the man, causing him to lose consciousness.
The incident was first reported by the Ouray County Plaindealer.
The victim eventually made it back to town and notified authorities of the alleged assault. He was taken to Montrose Memorial Hospital, Stroup said.
A Ouray County Sheriff’s Office deputy walked the town’s Main Street attempting to locate Spaccamonti, who was found at a local brewery and taken into custody without incident.
Stroup said Spaccamonti was taken to the Montrose County Jail on a $2,500 bail. He is scheduled to appear Aug. 27 for a court hearing.




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Trailrage!

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People....


2015 JKUR AEV JK350
1985 CJ8 Scrambler

Fucking Californians! #entitledpricks.

The man who was assaulted was correct. Vehicles traveling uphill have the right of way as its safer to back uphill than down hill.

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Jeep v Toyota.


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I was already expecting the jerk to be from Texas.. Got saved this time.

Picture.

https://www.ouraynews.com/news/man-arrested-after-fight-pass

Sammy couldn’t have been more in the wrong. We were up there yesterday taking our new pup on her first trail day and everyone we encountered was extremely courteous as usual. Observed way too many full size trucks above tree line.


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Jesus how is he only 38?

Anyhoo. Regardless of who is “right” in a unwritten gentleman’s agreement to yield right of way. Im betting that both individuals were/are complete douche bags. One happened to take it up a notch.

fiend said:

Jeep v Toyota.


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Lol!



Seriously though, that’s too bad. So much road rage and traffic deaths in Colorado on pavement. It’s always such a relief to encounter courtesy and mutual respect on the trails. This particular incident is sad.


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HighwayTrout said:

Jesus how is he only 38?

Anyhoo. Regardless of who is “right” in a unwritten gentleman’s agreement to yield right of way. Im betting that both individuals were/are complete douche bags. One happened to take it up a notch.

Click to expand...

I agree, both were probably talking aggressive. Then ....
It’s so bullshit.

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HighwayTrout said:

Jesus how is he only 38?

Anyhoo. Regardless of who is “right” in a unwritten gentleman’s agreement to yield right of way. Im betting that both individuals were/are complete douche bags. One happened to take it up a notch.

Click to expand...

You are probably correct, but uphill does have the right of way. It’s in every trail guide out there.


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Another one...

Confrontation between off-roaders turns violent near Montezuma
Sawyer D'Argonne, Summit Daily News
FRISCO — Two men were issued summonses for misdemeanor assault after a confrontation broke out between off-roading parties early last week resulting in thrown punches and several individuals getting showered in bear spray.
At about 4:15 p.m. Aug. 9, deputies with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of an assault near Radical Hill, south of Montezuma in unincorporated Summit County. Once on scene, deputies quickly discovered that participants in the quarrel had very different perspectives about how things unfolded.
Both parties did provide a cohesive summary of how they first came into contact. Earlier that afternoon, a group of people in three Jeeps stopped to help another individual who got stuck while trying to climb a hill. As they worked to free the vehicle, another group of five came down the hill in a side-by-side all-terrain vehicle. Trouble between the groups started immediately, according to police records.
Deputies first made contact with the ATV party. The group told police they passed a motorcyclist earlier in the day who said he was attacked by a group of people in Jeeps and that they were later attacked by the same group. The party told police that the Jeep group acted aggressively, throwing punches and pelting them with rocks without any provocation. The party also told police that the group threw a large rock at the back of their ATV.
A man in the ATV group said he retrieved a can of bear spray from inside his vehicle and sprayed the Jeep group to protect himself and his family. They then fled the scene, loaded their ATV into a trailer and called the police from the gondola lot at Keystone Resort.
Deputies observed “golf-ball-sized” lumps on the head of a person who claimed he was punched multiple times. One individual had a scratch on her hip from a rock, and another claimed he got hit in the back of the head with a rock. The ATV’s windshield and taillight also were apparently broken in the altercation, according to the report. All individuals in the ATV group declined medical treatment.
The Jeep group’s report was considerably different. When deputies arrived on scene, several members of the Jeep party were still on the mountain, necessitating medical attention before they were able to drive down to the Keystone parking lot.
There were three Jeeps in the party, according to the report. Two made the trip up the hill to help the broken-down Jeep stuck on the trail, while the other stayed at the bottom of the hill.
Individuals in the Jeep group told police they tried to stop the ATV from coming down the hill because of the stuck vehicle and the other Jeep waiting at the bottom. The group said the ATV party refused to stop, became aggressive and starting yelling before spraying the group with bear spray. One individual said he fell to the ground and couldn’t see, and started throwing rocks to try to defend himself.
In total, at least four people in the group were exposed directly to the bear spray. Everyone who was directly exposed received medical treatment at the scene, and one individual was taken to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco for further treatment.
Two women who were waiting near the third Jeep at the bottom of the hill told deputies they could hear shouting and observed a big cloud of bear spray from up the hill. As the ATV made its way to the bottom of the hill, the women said a passenger got out of the vehicle, grabbed a rock and threatened to kill them.
Deputies did discover one relatively uninvolved witness to the altercation: The man who’s Jeep broke down on the trail. The man told police that he didn’t know any of the individuals who stopped to help him out but that he was thankful they did.
He said that as he was speaking with the Jeep group, an ATV came “flying” down the trail above them and that as members of the Jeep group began waving their arms to stop the vehicle while an occupant in the ATV group began cursing and telling them to get out of the way. The ATV group pulled over briefly and both groups began exchanging words. During the encounter, the man told police a member of the ATV group called one woman in the Jeep group a “b—-” along with other derogatory comments. The situation continued to escalate from there.
The witness told deputies he continued watching from a distance and said the ATV group “completely instigated” the entire situation, noting that they appeared to be looking for a fight and acted unreasonably when the Jeep group requested they stop and wait. However, he said it was the Jeep group that started the physical confrontation by throwing a couple of punches at one of the ATV occupants before the bear spray was used.
Ultimately, deputies issued a misdemeanor summons for third-degree assault to the man who admitted to throwing rocks at the ATV group and a misdemeanor summons for five counts of third-degree assault to the man who sprayed the Jeep group with bear spray.
Neither individual currently has a scheduled court date.


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..... and then... on the way back to town... the ATV group encountered a Bear... but they were out of Bear Spray. The Bear is currently under investigation for Aggravated Assault. The End.

There are assholes in all groups, but it seems to be a higher percentage in the side by side crowd.

While we were out there, nearly everyone we met was respectful, with the exception of a couple of side by sides and a small group on motorcycles.

The next problem is stories like this get out and soon the general public thinks every off roader is an asshole out tearing up the country and assaulting anyone they see.

Then come even more trail closures, packing all the people tighter on what's left open.

jdofmemi said:

There are assholes in all groups, but it seems to be a higher percentage in the side by side crowd.

While we were out there, nearly everyone we met was respectful, with the exception of a couple of side by sides and a small group on motorcycles.

The next problem is stories like this get out and soon the general public thinks every off roader is an asshole out tearing up the country and assaulting anyone they see.

Then come even more trail closures, packing all the people tighter on what's left open.

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Sheriff did say there seemed to be more of these issues were cropping up since it seemed that more folks were heading out into the back country to beat the crowds with all of the Covid BS going on. He was going to hand out brochures the next morning to people on the trails encouraging them to play nice together. Guess these asshats didn't get the memo

Sadly, this seems pretty typical of the ATV and SxS crowd. No trail etiquette at all. While reading the ATV groups account of the incident all I could think about was that they probably came screaming down the mountain, tried to skirt by the recovery operation instead of waiting out of the way..

And then the Jeep group pretty much confirmed that. :rolleyes2: