‘Road rage'

DRIVER Crispen Ricarte must have done something more than try to block the motorcycle of PO3 Renato Inot at the first Mactan bridge last Friday afternoon. Otherwise, the cop, who is assigned at the Mandaue City Intelligence Bureau, would not have reacted the way he did, punching and kicking Ricarte, who wisely refused to alight from his Mitsubishi Canter, while Inot's companion, who was later identified as his cousin Aldelcos Sala Alonzo, paced the scene with gun in hand. The two never counted on Danica Alcontin capturing the whole thing on her phone camera. She uploaded the video on Facebook, and it went viral.

The video also shows Inot headbutting Leonardo Orcullo, Ricarte's supervisor, and Alonzo pointing a gun at the latter.

So what did Ricarte do to warrant such reactions from the two?

According to the driver, his vehicle might have brushed up against Inot's motorcycle when the latter overtook him on the bridge.

If that was the case, it still couldn't and wouldn't justify Inot and Alonzo's going ballistic.

I was going to blame the incident on road rage, which is defined as violent anger born out of stress and frustration when driving a motor vehicle in difficult condition, but then I learned that Inot and Alonzo were drunk when they did what they did. So is inebriation considered a difficult condition? I've never driven drunk—okay, so maybe “never” is too absolute a word after all I have been known to overimbibe on several occasions… okay, maybe “several” doesn't really paint the whole picture since I do engage in a daily nightcap.

Anyway, one time—and no, not in band camp--while I had a tad too much to drink, I suddenly started seeing double while I was behind the wheel on my way home. I pulled over and slapped myself hoping that would jar my vision to a singularity. To no avail. I had to drive the rest of the way with one eye closed.

I don't know if Inot was feeling the same way, that is, if he was indeed drunk that time, but driving under the influence affects a person's reaction time, among other things. That's why it's a crime.

A slight nudge from another vehicle would have scared the bejesus out of him. And it didn't help that he and his passenger were on a bridge when the “contact” allegedly happened. It would have been a long fall had he lost control of his motorcycle. And that might have crossed Inot's mind after he overtook Ricarte's vehicle. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for Inot. I just want to understand how someone would willingly throw away his entire career, reputation and liberty for a traffic infraction.

Once again, what really happened before Alcontin pressed the “record” button? So far, we only have Ricarte's word and the video footage, both of which point to Inot's guilt with a capital “G.”

Until he turns himself in, we will never get his side of the story.