A traffic crash on the south side of Des Moines, Iowa, escalated into a criminal case after police said one of the drivers got out with a handgun and pointed it at the occupants of the other vehicle, apparently trying to keep them from leaving before officers arrived.
Gun-rights activist and YouTuber Colion Noir discussed the case after showing a KCCI report and cellphone footage from the scene, arguing that being angry over a damaged car does not give someone the legal right to use a firearm as a way of conducting what he called a personal “felony traffic stop.”
Police said the crash happened near Southeast 14th Street and East McKinley Avenue. One person was injured in the collision, while investigators continued working to determine what caused it.
The far more serious issue came afterward, when officers were told that one of the drivers was pointing a handgun at other people.
Cellphone Video Shows the Confrontation
The cellphone footage featured by Noir shows a tense scene beside the damaged vehicles as bystanders repeatedly tell a man to relax and put the gun down.
At one point, someone can be heard warning, “Hey man, don’t do it,” while another person tells him to step back.
Noir interpreted the footage as showing a driver who had just been rear-ended and believed the people in the other vehicle might try to leave.
Police later identified the armed driver as 43-year-old Bradley Ratkovich, according to the KCCI material used in Noir’s video. Investigators said the other vehicle contained an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl.
Authorities alleged that Ratkovich stood in front of their vehicle with a Glock 9mm handgun, pointed it at them, and threatened to shoot.
Officers arrived and took him into custody without further incident.
Noir made clear that he could understand the anger behind the confrontation. A collision can destroy an expensive vehicle, create injuries, and leave the person who was hit worried that the other driver will disappear before police arrive.
His objection was to what allegedly happened next.
Noir Says Property Damage Does Not Justify the Gun
“You’re allowed to be furious that somebody just destroyed your car,” Noir said. “You’re not, however, allowed to conduct your own felony traffic stop over it.”
He argued that Ratkovich may have transformed what could have been an insurance and accident dispute into a far more serious legal problem by allegedly using a firearm to prevent the other vehicle from leaving.
Noir pointed to visible damage on the car and noted that the man in the footage appeared to be holding the back of his head, suggesting the impact may have been substantial.
Still, he said a damaged car does not by itself justify threatening another person with deadly force.
“Pointing a gun at a human being is a promise,” Noir said, adding that damaged sheet metal is not enough to justify making that threat.
That distinction is important because firearms are not simply stronger versions of shouting, blocking a car, or demanding that someone wait for police. Once a gun is pointed at another person, the encounter can be interpreted as a threat of serious injury or death.
A minor crash can be repaired through insurance or court. A firearm confrontation can create criminal charges, civil lawsuits, and the possibility of someone being seriously hurt within seconds.
A Crash Victim Can Quickly Become a Suspect
Noir used his own experience with a hit-and-run to explain why he believed the response in Des Moines crossed the line.
He said a woman once struck the rear of his rental car in Florida and drove away. Noir admitted that he followed her briefly, but asked viewers to imagine how different the situation would have become if he had stepped out and pointed a gun at her instead.
In that version, he said, he would likely have been the person going to jail.
That is the difficult reality of road-rage and post-crash confrontations: being wronged first does not give someone unlimited freedom in how they respond.
Police said Ratkovich ultimately faced two counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon, two counts of first-degree harassment, and one count of being a person ineligible to carry dangerous weapons, according to the KCCI report presented in the video.
The original crash investigation remained ongoing.
Noir argued that the alleged gun threat created a much larger legal problem than the collision itself ever would have.
The Civil Consequences Could Be Serious Too
Noir also warned that a criminal prosecution may not be the only consequence when someone allegedly uses a gun to detain other motorists.
He said people inside the vehicle could potentially pursue civil claims involving assault or false imprisonment.
In his view, pointing a gun at someone and preventing that person from leaving can create liability that goes far beyond whatever it costs to repair a car.
Noir also raised the issue of insurance coverage, saying intentional conduct may be excluded from many policies, potentially leaving the person accused of deliberately threatening someone responsible for legal costs or damages personally.
That is an overlooked part of incidents like this. People often focus on whether an arrest will happen, but a few seconds of anger can produce years of financial consequences even after the criminal case ends.
A totaled car is expensive. A criminal defense, civil litigation, and uninsured judgment can be far worse.
Noir Says the Gun Could Also Change the Self-Defense Analysis
Noir took the argument one step further by looking at the confrontation from inside the other vehicle.
If someone gets out after a crash and points a firearm at the occupants, he argued, those people may reasonably believe they are facing a deadly threat.
From their perspective, they may not know whether the armed person simply wants them to wait for police or intends to shoot.
Noir said that uncertainty could create a self-defense argument for someone inside the car if they responded to the gun as an immediate threat.
He even suggested that a frightened driver might attempt to accelerate away rather than wait to find out whether the person holding the gun planned to fire.
That is why introducing a firearm into an argument can make everything more unpredictable. The gun may be intended only as intimidation, but the people on the receiving end cannot safely assume that.
They see a weapon pointed at them, not the intentions inside the other person’s head.
One Different Detail Could Change Everything
Noir also acknowledged that the legal analysis could look very different if the facts changed.
He offered a hypothetical example in which a driver gets out after the collision, stands in front of the other vehicle, and then the vehicle accelerates directly toward him.
If the gun were drawn because a two-ton vehicle was about to run him over, Noir said, the question would no longer be about protecting property or preventing someone from fleeing.
It would become a question of self-defense.
The key issue, he said, would be whether the armed person reasonably believed he faced serious bodily injury or death and whether another reasonable person in the same position would have viewed the threat the same way.
Same intersection, same vehicles, and same firearm, but a completely different legal analysis.
That is a useful distinction because gun cases are often decided by very small differences in timing and behavior. Drawing a gun to stop someone from leaving is not the same as drawing one because a vehicle is actively being used as a weapon against you.
Police Say the Gun Turned the Case Around
According to the police account presented through KCCI, Ratkovich was the driver whose vehicle had been struck from behind.
Yet by the time officers arrived, authorities were investigating him over what allegedly happened after the impact.
He was taken for a medical evaluation before being booked into the Polk County Jail, according to the report.
Noir said the lesson was not that people have to remain passive after a crash, nor that someone should simply allow a dangerous driver to do whatever they want.
His point was that a firearm cannot be used merely to settle a property dispute or force another motorist to remain at the scene.
Someone who believes another driver is fleeing can record the license plate, call police, photograph the vehicle, identify witnesses, and preserve evidence.
Pulling a gun changes the nature of the encounter completely.
In this case, what started with one driver allegedly being the victim of a rear-end collision ended with police treating him as a criminal suspect.
As Noir put it, anger over the crash may have been understandable. The decision to allegedly hold the other motorists at gunpoint was not.
Ed spent his childhood in the backwoods of Maine, where harsh winters taught him the value of survival skills. With a background in bushcraft and off-grid living, Ed has honed his expertise in fire-making, hunting, and wild foraging. He writes from personal experience, sharing practical tips and hands-on techniques to thrive in any outdoor environment. Whether it’s primitive camping or full-scale survival, Ed’s advice is grounded in real-life challenges.
