Joe Paterno Road Rage Update Part II

by BSD on Oct 11, 2007 8:53 AM EDT in News Comment 7 comments

Message boards have been full of rumored accounts of the incident, but Paterno made no secret of it.

He told more than 300 people at the Penn State Quarterback Club luncheon about his near miss. Information exchanged at the weekly luncheon is normally treated as off the record and not open to the media. But multiple sources who attended told the Post-Gazette about Paterno's exchange with the audience.

According to the sources, Paterno said after his close call he pulled his car over to the curb and got out.

He then approached the other vehicle and shook his finger at the driver. He warned her to, "Watch it."

"Be careful," Paterno said. "I have your license number, and I will call the police on you."

According to the sources, Paterno said a male passenger then walked up and chastised him, saying, "That's my wife you're talking to."

Paterno said, "That's your problem."

The woman then snapped back at Paterno, telling him, "I'm going to call the police on you."

Paterno reportedly told the woman to go ahead.

She did just that.

According to a university police report, the unidentified woman filed her claim the same day as the incident. She stated that a male driver committed a traffic violation and acted in a disorderly manner at 12:09 p.m., along Bigler Road, near the Food Science Building.

I love it. Classic Joe. That's your problem, pal. Sounds like the woman had an attitude and the guy saw dollar signs when Joe Paterno stepped out of the car. This is the biggest non-story of the year.

(HT: The Wizard of Odds)

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I'm still wondering...

why this is only a "he-said, he-said" situation. Were there really no witnesses to this? 12:09 PM is during a class break on campus; there were really no students or faculty or visitors walking around to notice Joe Paterno in conversation with somebody?

I mean, I was eating lunch at the time, but there are at least 42,000 other students on this campus that could have possibly seen this. It's not like it was 12:09 AM. That's past Joe's bedtime, anyways.

by rctbone2009 on Oct 11, 2007 10:29 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Unrelated

But on 3 ocassions I was almost run over by Joe. Twice while running and once while cycling. He's not a big fan of slowing down while leaving the sports complex.

by mbeaugard on Oct 11, 2007 2:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't know Joe

Again, this Paterno version is a little vague, and vagueness suggests deception.

He would have been more specific about the details of the near miss, and how exactly he "pulled the other car over" if he did not have something to hide.

The vagueness of this account suggests that he probably almost rear-ended the woman because she was driving the speed limit.

He got angry and cut her off.

It is possible that the couple is exaggerating the "tirade" Joe went into, but then again, he cut the other car off and forced it to stop.

I have bad days myself. But cutting other cars off and stopping traffic so you can yell at a driver is generally not socially acceptable behaviour.

At least the earlier Paterno version coming from the athletic department that this was a brief polite encounter has been dropped. That was even less believable.

by SteveJ on Oct 11, 2007 2:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

While There Is Usually........

Fire where there is smoke......Paterno understands how much information to provide and withold. When you get in front of the press, you have to keep it simple cause anything you say "can and will be held against you" even if you didn't mean it. Let's face it....we live in a society where Joe could pull his pants down on the 50 and two weeks from now TO or some other buffoon would be the attraction. So I am sure this whole thing will go away. Look how quickly the Patriots-gate went away. Not only did it go away already, people can't quit talking about how great the Pats are.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Oct 11, 2007 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Vague is not simple

Of course, the problem is NOT that he kept it simple.

Rather, he kept it vague.

Both parties agree something happened on the road, that Paterno's car was behing the other car, and that both cars came to a stop.

One version specifically explains how this happened while the other version does not.

One version is specific: Joe was tailgating.

The other version says there was a "near accident", but Paterno doesn't want to say what it was. This is understandable when the near accident involves your almost running into the car in front of you.

One version specifically states how both cars came to a stop. Paterno changed lanes, passed the car in front of him, and then turned in front of the car forcing it to the curb.

The other version is laughable. "Paterno said after his close call he pulled his car over to the curb and got out.

He then approached the other vehicle..."

That does not explain why the other car would stop.

by SteveJ on Oct 11, 2007 6:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Paterno

I just can't picture Joe giving people the finger and saying "Do you know who I am?" and moving a woman to tears so bad she's too shaken up to drive. This is a guy that insists players take their hats off indoors.

Since this is the side of the story coming from the other party it makes me suspicious of their motives. Did they perhaps see Paterno behind them and smell dollar signs? Get rear ended by a legendary millionaire coach that works for a billion dollar university and I'll bet you could get a few dollars to go away quietly. Maybe they drove slow to get him close and stopped short to create an accident. Just a theory.

I could see Paterno getting out of his car if provoked. If they mouthed off to him I could see him saying he got the license plate number and threaten to call the police.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by BSD on Oct 11, 2007 7:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Please explain also...

....how the other car stopped so that he was able to walk up to it and start talking to someone threw a window. I know of no way of convincing a car in front of me to stop so I can walk up to the window without pinning it against the curb. Are you going to say it was at a light? Why did the passenger of the other car get out of the car at the light if Joe just came up on the drivers side - why wouldn't he just have yelled from next to her? Are there even lights there? I know if my GF was driving and someone with road rage pinned her against a curb, i'd be out of the car to get between the psycho and the driver.

So, please explain how this occured.

by WakeUp on Oct 13, 2007 5:12 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs