The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a Marin County driver was arrested on July 23 for trying to run down a pedestrian. According to police, the pedestrian was targeted because he was wearing a plaid jacket.
Apparently, the 31-year-old driver had left his home angry after a domestic dispute, and drove off to buy a pack of cigarettes. On the way, he spotted the man in plaid walking on the sidewalk and allegedly tried to run him over. (The pedestrian successfully jumped aside.) According to Sgt. Steve Hahn, the driver admitted this was no accident: "He made statements to the effect of: He didn't like the plaid jacket the man was wearing."
The reporter did ask the logical next question: just how horrible was this jacket? "Hahn said the plaid jacket did not have a particularly loud pattern," although no picture was provided to back this up. "I guess he was just really angry with whomever he saw," Hahn speculated.
I started to swerve the other day to run over a guy I saw wearing a zoot suit, but then I remembered I wasn't driving.