This Just In:
New York broker accused in 'spin rage,' assault on gym member
Tue Sep 18, 11:50 PM
"NEW YORK (AP) - A Wall Street stock broker has been charged with assault after he became enraged during a cycling class at a posh health club and slammed a fellow member and his bike against a wall.
Christopher Carter, 44, a broker at Maxim Investments Group, was at Equinox gym taking a spin class, a high-impact workout using stationary bikes. He apparently became so fed up by member Stuart Sugarman's hooting and grunting during the workout that he picked up Sugarman and his bike and hurled them into a wall.
Samuel Davis, Sugarman's lawyer calls the incident an example of spin rage."
You KNOW I'm going to have something to say about this!
This is a classic example of super aggressive behaviour. Check out the whole article on Yahoo Canada news - notice that Carter shows no remorse for his behaviour. In his mind, he did what he had to do to get Sugarman to shut up, and got the result he wanted. Why in the world should he change his anger style?
Listen - people do what makes sense to them (said a man much wiser than I - William Glasser). In other words, they do what they believe will get them the results or outcomes they desire. Carter did what made sense for him at the time; however I'm guessing he was too caught up in the heat of the moment to see the criminal charges coming at him as a consequence of his choice. If it is true that Sugarman had to have back surgery as a result of the assault, the gym better have some strategy in place for damage control (such as banning the offender, Carter) - otherwise they may have a lawsuit on their hands as well.
How about this? Sugarman's lawyer calls this an "example of spin rage". What exactly does that mean? Is "spin rage" a common occurence in NYC? Is spin rage some kind of epidemic sweeping the city or is this another incident of the use of unnecessary force to resolve a stupid argument? The term "road rage" was coined in the late 80s / early 90s and has since been adapted to everything from office/desk rage to surf rage. It seems now that any act of aggression needs to have a label - it is almost as if giving it the label softens it somehow... "It was an act of spin rage, folks. If he hadn't been spinning, he never would have behaved that way." Do you see how ludicrous that sounds?
The truth is that aggressive people behave aggressively when they think it will get them what they want. The circumstance, environment, or people involved don't really matter - they just provide a setting for the aggression. Aggressive drivers are just aggressive drivers. Yes, sometimes people who are typically more docile will come upon an occasion in which they will totally lose their cool and act out of character; however, for the most part, when you see someone acting aggressively - it's because that's how they are MOST of the time. It is how they CHOOSE to be. So it will be interesting to see how this case pans out - will Carter get off or will the courts recognize that this guy is just a rich bully who is prepared to thrash people who get in his way? Maybe it works on Wall Street, but in the gym - think again.
