Quote Originally Posted by ldsailor View Post
I'm a little lost here. If the news reports are to be believed (and why shouldn't they?), the guy was arrested with a 20" knife. I'm going to take a guess here and say this is what another hiker thought was a machete. Furthermore, he was booked on an assault charge. So why does it seem like some here are defending him? I imagine a hiker with a large knife threatening people and who has a pit bull dog would prompt me to call the police and push to have him taken off the trail.
Some people like to rush to judgement and condemn other people for rushing to judgement. It's a form of virtue signaling.

Bob says someone was brandishing a large machete and threatening people. When questioned, that person says he never had a machete and didn't threaten people. Okay then, that clears it up. The only conceivable possibility is that Bob is paranoid and rushed to judgement. Bob apparently cannot tell a guitar from a machete and obviously misread the situation. Case closed.