Driver says Tacoma business owner took road rage to the next level

A man driving to work Monday morning says the owner of a septic company in Tacoma cut him off in traffic and the road rage got really personal.

Josh Linnell told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz Show he honked his horn when the driver of a septic truck moved into his lane without much warning.

“The next thing you know, I’m just being yelled at. All kinds of names. All I said to him was, ‘You could have used your blinker.'”

Linnell said the name-calling escalated, but he left out the details for Rantz’s family-friendly show.

Offended, Linnell pulled out his phone to call the number on the side of the truck and report the driver’s alleged actions. Guess who answered? The truck driver, who Linnell said claimed to be the business owner.

Linnell listened to the string of expletives and then let it go. He said he ran into another driver in a nearby Starbucks parking lot who witnessed what happened and who said he had a similar experience with the same truck driver.

“No sooner do I order my coffee than I get a text message and it was a text message that was from the number that was on the truck asking me if I need a tissue and things like that because the ‘big bad truck cut me off,'” Linnell said.

The message also included a derogatory word.

Linnell said he did not instigate the exchange and only yelled back that he would call the number on the side of the truck to report the driver’s behavior.

Rantz called the driver, who declined to come on the show, but said he’s sorry and reached out to Linnell to apologize.

Linnell confirmed he received both a voicemail and text message Tuesday apologizing.

“I want to accept the apology,” he said. “The issue I have is there was no apology when he was wanting to jump out of his truck and fight me for him cutting me off.”

Linnell shared his story on his Facebook page and it’s been shared over 1,000 times.

“I don’t wish ill will for the man,” Linnell said. “I do feel bad that he’s obviously pretty mad. We all make mistakes and act out at times. But at that level, and then to follow it up with text messages, is just out of line,” said Linnell.

Rantz believes this is a lesson for business owners to be careful because anyone can tweet or post a review to Facebook, and it could get shared thousands of times.