Legal ramifications of a road rage inncident? (sorry for the length)

[Wartrace]

Tennessee.

I was involved in an incident yesterday;

I was driving down the interstate & passed a slow moving "convoy" of Honda civics. Apparently there was a car show in town. Further down the road there was a construction zone with a 60mph limit. I was behind an 18 wheeler. One of the cars kept "charging" me, backing off 20 ft, accelerating to within a foot of my bumper. I tapped my brakes after the third time he did it.

When we passed the trucks the fun started. First he got in front of me, tapped his brakes, slammed them on, when I changed lanes he changed in front of me. His buddies then joined in, they were trying to force me to stop. There were at least eight cars involved from the "civic convoy".

I decided I would exit at the next ramp hoping they would continue down the interstate. They followed me & continued to try to force me off the road. We got to a stop sign & they finally boxed me in. I was surrounded by cars & there were at least 15 people trying to gain entry into my vehicle. One girl actually jumped on to the hood. I put it in reverse to move the rear car back a bit, gunned it & pushed the car blocking me a bit & was finally able to break the box. The girl fell off at some point during this maneuver. I tried to get away again but they were on me at speeds approaching 100mph. I did a quick u-turn when they had slowed me down & took off the other direction.
I called the sheriff as soon as I was certain I was clear of them.

They had called first & claimed I did a hit & run. I explained my side, there was evidence of the beating my vehicle took INCLUDING a hole in the sheet metal that looked like it was done with an ax. There is other less severe damage.

After returning with the trooper to where the other people involved were they had us all fill out reports & questioned by different officers. In the end they asked me if I wanted to make a claim for the damage to my vehicle. It 's a pickup truck with 150k on it so I didn't think it was worth exchanging information with these people. The trooper asked if I wanted to press charges, I asked if I was going to go to jail, he said I didn't do anything wrong. I declined to press charges.

Will this/could this come back to bite me? I did a little damage to the vehicles. The girl who jumped on my hood might claim she was injured. I was in fear for my life & needed to get away. I am 45 years old, these people were all in their early 20's. I saw that I had two choices. 1) Get my butt kicked or worse. 2) Try to get away. I felt option #2 was the prudent thing to do.

[Hey There]

Wartrace
A well written thread.

Damage to a car should be reported to the drivers Insurance Agent.
A copy of the police report should verify what happened.

If the driver thinks there is a possibility of a lawsuit it is prudent to consult with a lawyer or two.
Google: Legal Tips:How To Choose A Lawyer
To give you an example.
One driver lost control and hit another car stopped at a intersection.
The driver who was hit ended up with a junked car and an ankle that never healed properly.
The driver who was at fault filed a lawsuit a week before the time limit to do so.
The driver who was injured scrambled for a lawyer, counter sued and won because the Highway Report accurately pointed out that the driver who filed the lawsuit was at fault.

A driver who is harrassed on the road by a group of drivers who box him in and does damage to his car so that he feared for his life may also consider consulting with a lawyer to discuss the feasability of filing a civil lawsuit against the drivers involved.
Let us know how this goes.
Best Regards,
Hey There