In Road Rage Incident, Angry Driver Took on the Wrong Guy

By T.E. McMorrow |
Adam Falek, with his wife, Lori, in front of their 2012 GranTurismo S Maserati
Adam Falek, with his wife, Lori, in front of their 2012 GranTurismo S Maserati, disarmed a pipe-swinging driver in a road-rage incident on Feb.9. T. E. McMorrow

    A Springs man in a Dodge van who thought a Maserati in front of him on Three Mile Harbor Road wasn’t going fast enough decided to teach the other driver a lesson by challenging him to a fight, but it was the van driver who got the education.
    According to East Hampton Town police, after tailgating the Maserati heading south near Muir Boulevard on Feb. 9 around 1:15 p.m., the driver of the van pulled into oncoming traffic, slammed on the brakes, and cut off the car, trapping it and blocking traffic in both directions. The driver of the van then allegedly got out of the vehicle brandishing a pipe in his hand, and approached the Maserati.
    “I was thinking, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’ ” said Adam Falek, who was seated in the 2012 two-door GranTurismo S Maserati with his wife, Lori. “He blocked all the traffic. I had no place to go. He got out with a metal pipe. I have my wife in the car. I didn’t want him to hit my wife or my car.”
    So Mr. Falek, who weighs 240 pounds and can bench-press 400 pounds, stepped out of his car.
    “He was starting to swing the pipe,” Mr. Falek said Sunday. “I grabbed his arm and got the pipe away, and threw him back in his van.”
    Police said that Mr. Falek tossed the pipe into the woods, and that the van driver then found the pipe, got back in his van, and fled.
    “I said to him, ‘You’re going to jail.’ He took off,” Mr. Falek said.
    Because the van had blocked traffic in both directions at a busy time of day, several vehicles had been forced to stop and at least one of the other drivers phoned the police. Within minutes, the van driver was apprehended by town police on Gay Lane in East Hampton Village and questioned.
    Mr. Falek got back into the Maserati to comfort his wife. “It was a scary situation,” Ms. Falek said. “You come out here to relax. You don’t expect something like this to happen.”
    It was at that point that an officer approached Mr. Falek, whose story was corroborated by at least one other witness interviewed by police, and asked him if he wanted to press charges against the driver of the van.
    Mr. Falek declined to press charges, and the driver of the van was released by police. Police did not identify him, because he was not charged with a crime, but said he could have faced a charge of menacing in the second degree, a class-A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
    “I told my wife I don’t think he’ll be doing that again.”
    When asked about his ability to disarm his alleged attacker, Mr. Falek said. “I’ve sort of been around awhile.”
    Mr. Falek, a Brooklyn native who has a house on Staten Island and owns a Manhattan-based pest-control business, bought a house with his wife of 28 years in Springs several years ago, and now considers Springs his primary residence. “We moved out here for the quiet. I guess this just followed me.”
 


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by Anonymous1 (not verified) | February 24, 2012 - 11:09am
The road rage incident with the man wielding a pipe is familiar. He or another did the same thing to my wife and I in Bridgehampton a coupple of years ago...without the pipe. We were able to drive around him. He was jumping up and down behind us cursing. He was lucky, I was armed. The man was driving a light colored SUV/van, possibly a FORD or GM. I will contact the East Hampton police to find out if he's the same man and what cars he drove during the last three years. We can probably identify him. And we will not hesitate to press charges.
by Concerned (not verified) | February 24, 2012 - 11:56am
We had a similar incident with a man in a white van who also threatened us swinging a pipe. This was a couple summers ago in Springs, off Old Stone Highway. I wonder if this is the guy???
by Anonymous2 (not verified) | February 27, 2012 - 12:54pm
Why is is so that the poor person who was attacked had his name mentioned but not the man who decided to misbehave? I see this all the time in EH Star. Why protecting the people who are committing crimes and not the people who are innocent/victims? Just don't get it?!
by Anonymous77 (not verified) | March 2, 2012 - 3:04pm
It is not the East Hampton Star leaving out the info. The police did not give the name because the man was not charged. The man that was the "victim" gavce his name and story. There's a difference.
by marybquick | February 27, 2012 - 1:34pm
I"m glad Mr. Falek was able to turn the situation around, and keep himself and his wife safe. I am disappointed that he did not press charges. I would hate to think the man in the van would do this again to somebody. There is a little too much road rage lately. Does it really matter if someone is going too slow in front of you. (If that was even the case). Just take a deep breath, and relax. Life is too short to have all that anger.
by Anonymous2 (not verified) | February 27, 2012 - 3:55pm
He should have pressed charges. The pipe wielding guy sounds dangerous.
by Jasmine.H | February 28, 2012 - 12:07pm
It is really sad how much road rage can affect a person. It is funny that this was the one guy that he shouldn't have been messing with. It is hard to imagine why the guy thought he could make him drive faster by beating him up.

 

Road rage can get out of control real fast and cause dangers if people don't keep their heads on straight and realize that the end results of it aren't worth it.

by MeetingWave (not verified) | February 28, 2012 - 7:18pm
First, glad no one got hurt. Second, hats off to Mr. Falek for keeping his cool and not escalating the situation. Looks like he could have pulled a popeye on this the van guy. This days, it's not easy to keep so cool so we should appreciate when someone does. Police - I'd recommend at least a warning for the van guy. Not time someone might get hurt.
by Anonymous | July 27, 2012 - 9:36am
Seriously in this extremely hot Summer, some people especially us guys with testosterone(sp?) oozing out of our egos, will go apeshet crazy for just being flipped off. Its amazing how some people would lose themselves in road rage. I cant imagine what it would be like if we didnt have laws to keep us from killing eachother other stupid things like everyday driving. I blame the society, the culture and corrupt bureaucrats by wasting tax payer dollars on welfare programs instead of quality driver's education in schools like they used to back in the dark ages of pre-internet pre911 days or at least make improvements on driver's safety and etiquette by making driver's test harder for people to obtain licenses. They issue out drivers licenses way too easy these days? Why? More votes. More chaos. More ways to make money. I blame this whole screwed up system.