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Woodside road rage leads to pepper spraying and arrest

by David Boyce and Natalie Jabbar

In the right hands, a can of pepper spray can come in handy.

A 40-year-old Redwood City man on Monday evening, Aug. 6, used pepper spray in response to a road-rage and tailgating incident in Woodside, thereby enabling the arrest of a Palo Alto man alleged to be his assailant, said Lt. Ken Jones of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies from the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office arrested Patrick Michael Burleson, 21, on charges of assault, false imprisonment, vandalism and following a vehicle too closely, Lt. Jones said. Mr. Burleson is out of jail on a $25,000 bond.

The incident, as Lt. Jones related it, began on Sand Hill Road west of Interstate 280 shortly before 5 p.m. when John Tharp, heading west with his wife Alice in their Acura coupe, noticed a Dodge pickup truck tailgating them. The truck was "real high off the ground," Lt. Jones said.

Mr. Tharp pulled over and stopped, but the truck, with Mr. Burleson driving and a male passenger inside, pulled up and stopped behind him, Lt. Jones said. Mr. Burleson reportedly left his truck, walked over to Mr. Tharp's car and began making hostile comments, finally kicking the vehicle on the passenger side.

Mr. Tharp drove away and stopped further along on Sand Hill Road to get out and assess the damage to his car, Lt. Jones said. Meanwhile, Mr. Burleson drove up and stopped just ahead of Mr. Tharp's car.

Fearful for his safety and that of his wife, Mr. Tharp drove on and turned right on Portola Road and parked in a driveway near the intersection with Mountain Home Road, Lt. Jones said.

Mr. Tharp, who wasn't carrying a cell phone, got out of his car and asked two pedestrians to call 911 but they reportedly refused, saying they didn't want to get involved, Lt. Jones said.

Mr. Burleson pulled up and got out of his truck. He began shouting, bumping his chest into Mr. Tharp's chest, and challenging him to a fight, Lt. Jones said. When Mr. Tharp tried to get back into his vehicle, Mr. Burleson reportedly blocked the door with his body.

At this point, Mr. Tharp pulled out pepper spray from a fanny pack and sprayed Mr. Burleson, Lt. Jones said. Mr. Burleson, stumbling and shouting, punched out the Acura's rear window before falling to the ground.

"His hand was all cut up," Lt. Jones said.

Mr. Burleson's passenger, who had been watching events unfold, then got out of the truck and began shouting at and approaching Mr. Tharp, who responded by spraying him as well.

A passing motorist had called 911 to report a traffic accident. The call went through the California Highway Patrol to the Sheriff's Office and deputies arrived at about 5:05 p.m.

Deputies treated the men for their pepper spray injuries and arrested Mr. Burleson. No other charges or arrests were made.

Asked what triggered the tailgating, Lt. Jones could only speculate. "Road rage sometimes happens," he said. "They followed right on his bumper. They were just looking for trouble, I guess."

Posted by Christine Dowd, a resident of the Woodside: Mountain Home Road neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2007 at 10:04 am

This incident occured right across the street from me. I see more and more aggression, especially from groups of bikers, on Mounyain Home Road. One biker slammed the back of my car a few weeks ago after cutting me off. Cars speed down Mountain Home Road and God help you If you happen to find yourself in front of one and going the speed limit. I have lived in Woodside for twelve years. I must say people seem to be getting more impatient. Of course, there are more people in general and they tend to overtake our small town roads on weekends. This community is unique in that it is a horse community and rural in nature. These very aspects of Woodside and Portola Valley are what has attracted so many people to these towns in the first place. It's very sad.

Posted by j, a resident of the Portola Valley: other neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2007 at 11:46 am

It wasn't a very good idea for the victim to stop for a third time especially in a rural area. There is no police station around but he should have driven to a more populated area. Keep driving.

Posted by WhyNot, a resident of the Menlo Park: Sharon Heights neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2007 at 9:35 pm

I am not surprised at this kind of road rage. Drivers today are totally insane. Somehow getting behind the wheel of a car turns people into idiotic monsters. What I find incredible is that the pedestrians refused to call 911. I can understand not stepping into the middle of an argument, but calling 911 seems like the least any responsible person could do.

Posted by murphstahoe, a resident of another community, on Aug 16, 2007 at 3:10 pm

why am i not surprised the first comment in response to this managed to blame the cyclists... for some 21 year old redneck punching out the window of an acura...

Posted by Anon, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Aug 17, 2007 at 1:01 am

We don't know the circumstances, ie how long the acura was clogging up the road for, ignoring the traffic behind him to let him pass.

tharp could have avoied it by pulling over immediately when seeing the lifted truck behind him, or apologizing when he got out

we dont know what his attitude was.

in fact, by looking at the story, i felt that burleson was in the right [portion removed by Almanac staff].

Posted by Another anon, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Aug 18, 2007 at 12:39 am

Seems like Lt. Jones felt Burleson was the culprit. I think I might get some pepper spray for myself, it might come in handy.

Posted by WhyNot, a resident of the Menlo Park: Sharon Heights neighborhood, on Aug 18, 2007 at 5:14 pm

Tailgating, kicking someeone's car, pushing someone around are all illegal. I don't care how slowly the Acura driver was going, it does not justify this aggression. Burleson should have his driving privileges revoked. We don't need maniacs like this on our roads.

Posted by anon, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Aug 19, 2007 at 10:33 am

personally i feel that not yielding for a faster car coming from behind warrants jail time.

Posted by Bob, a resident of the Woodside: Woodside Heights neighborhood, on Aug 20, 2007 at 10:14 am

Keep in mind that the driver in front DID pull over, so if the problem was being unable to pass it would have been solved. Plus, he was on Sand Hill then Mountain Home Road. That means we're talking about AT MOST 1-2 miles of 2 lane road, large chunks of which are legal passing zones, so again if the problem was a slow driver then passing would have been pretty easy. Plus, isn't the speed limit on Mountain Home 25 anyway?

This was NOT a case of being stuck behind a slow driver for miles and miles of narrow mountain roads where you can't pass. If someone can't handle being behind a slower car from Sand Hill Road to Roberts without getting violent, they're the ones with the problem.

Posted by anon, a resident of the Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park neighborhood, on Aug 22, 2007 at 12:57 am

keep in mind that the guy was in a lifted truck and thus was very manly. When you see a guy that manly, you should respect him or else trouble will occur.

Posted by Ann, a resident of another community, on Aug 22, 2007 at 7:50 am

Don't feed the troll -- please.

Posted by Bert Tinckley, a resident of the Atherton: Lloyden Park neighborhood, on Oct 29, 2007 at 3:12 pm

I believe the wrong man was arrested in this situation and the police overreacted based on ageist opinions.  mr burlson was in the wrong for getting out of his car and loosing his cool, but  mr tarp.  im sure the woodside sheriffs deputy's would have acted different if the pepper spay victim wasn't wearing the backwards hat and had a barking pitbull in the back of the truck(wich was pepper spayed as well)  this nerd was waiting for the day he could pull out his bottle pepper spray out of his FANNY PACK and use it on a juvenile. i truly hope mr burlson has or will take legal action on the woodside sheriffs department and or mr tarp.

Posted by Anne, a resident of the Menlo Park: Fair Oaks neighborhood, on Jul 1, 2009 at 6:06 pm

Driving is just another vehicle (ha, no pun intended) for people's anti-social behavior. Everyone has to share the road whether we like it or not, and having some people act like complete morons and/or psychos is not helpful. When I hear things like this, it's just more proof that humankind is doomed.