Imagine you’re driving behind your spouse and kids when another driver suddenly loses it—steps out of his car, and heads straight for them. What would you do? One man didn’t hesitate to step in, but the situation quickly took a turn he never expected.

When a Redditor asked the “AskReddit” forum “What is the worst road rage incident you’ve had or witnessed?” one man shared a terrifying story involving a threat to his family and a police encounter. The incident started when another driver physically confronted his wife and kids and ended with the husband being searched by the police.

The commenter didn’t mince words, saying his wife is, “terrible at road rage.” Her driving mistake led to a dangerous confrontation.

“I had met her, my daughter and son for dinner at a restaurant one night,” he explained. “We leave, and I was following her home in my car. She had our kids in hers.”

Things quickly escalated when she made a bad move: “She turns left at a green light when the guy on the other side turns right. Almost hits her. She throws up her hands at him.”

The other driver wasn’t about to let it slide. “He stopped in front of her, put his car in park, and got out.”

The road rage was about to turn physical, and the husband knew his family’s safety was at stake. Without hesitating, he sprang into action: “I didn’t hesitate to throw my car in park, jumped out, and ran to her door right as he got there.”

This immediate response caught the aggressive driver off guard: “His eyes definitely got wide when he saw a 6 ft tall 280 lb man with broad shoulders come out.”

The husband leaned into this moment of intimidation, telling the man to leave: “I put my hand on her door and told him to get in his car.” But, unsurprisingly, the aggressor pushed back, asking, “What are you going to do?”

Remaining calm, the husband de-escalated while asserting his stance: “I said, ‘nothing,’ but added, ‘that’s my family and nothing’s going to happen to them with me here.’”

Still fuming, the other driver couldn’t let it go: “He said, ‘she cut me off.’” The husband owned up to the mistake: “I told him he was right and I’d talk to her about it later. But for now, he needed to go.”

When the man still didn’t move, the husband made a bold bluff. “I didn’t have a weapon on me, but I stuck my hand in my pocket and said, ‘buddy, I don’t want this to end badly, so let’s leave before somebody gets hurt.’”

It worked. “He slowly backed up to his car. Got in and left.” But the husband’s troubles didn’t end there.

A short drive later, the police were after him. “Half a mile down the road, there was a sheriff. The guy must have told him something because the sheriff came flying out after me. He pulled me over, got on the horn, and told me to put my hands out the window, then instructed me on how to get out of the car and slowly back toward him.”

Complying with the officer, the husband soon found out why he’d been stopped. “He told me the guy said I pulled a gun on him. The officer searched me and my car but found nothing. He went back to get the guy for filing a false report, but the guy had left.”

So, did the husband make the right call? Maybe he had no better choice. But even so, he got lucky. First, if the other driver had been armed, reaching into his pocket could have turned a tense standoff into a deadly confrontation. Second, he was fortunate the police didn’t find cause for an arrest, despite the false report. Even bluffing can escalate a bad situation into something far worse.