On Tuesday, Thomas Rule and a friend got on his motorcycle, picked up some closet hinges up in Stuart, then headed back north on Indian River Drive.
“It was a beautiful day, we’d take the water back.. see the beach," said Rule Wednesday afternoon.
Heading into St. Lucie County, Rule saw someone following him too close for his liking.
“I put my hand out like a stop sign and told him to get off, to stop, don’t tailgate me," said Rule.
He thought that was the end, until he turned on to Walton Road and approached the railroad tracks.
“He came up and I saw him in my mirror and he got super close and it teed me off frankly so I told him to get off again with a few choice words," said Rule.
Rule slowed down to cross the tracks when he was hit from behind.
On a 9-1-1 call, Rule tells dispatchers, “This guy was tailgating us and he rammed us right off the road.”
After the impact, Rule said the driver got out his car and moved aggressively towards him, so he went to the back of his motorcycle and grabbed his gun, pointing it at the driver and telling him to get back, which he did.
The driver, Charles Fuqua, tells dispatchers on his own 9-1-1 call, "He (Rule) gets out and pulls a gun on me." Rule explains his flip flop slipped on the clutch and his vehicle jerked forward into the motorcycle.
“Now she’s faking like she’s having a seizure. They started this whole accident ma’am," continued Fuqua on his call.
Rule’s friend was treated for minor injuries. Investigators say this was an incident that shouldn’t have happened, and drivers need to remember they can’t control what others do on the road.
“But you can control what you do and that’s the message here, be in control," said Sgt. Frank Sabol with the Port St. Lucie Police Department.
Fuqua was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
