Road Rage in Rhode Island

Okay before I explain today's misfortune, I would like to thank my team for leaving me swinging in the breeze out here... Numerous requests for additional contributors have gone unanswered... Numerous updates sent via the team Yahoo group have barely caused a blip on the site's traffic. So... effective very shortly, the title of this blog changes to something else of my choosing, and it may as well because for it to be called Union Velo blog, there needs to be interest and participation from the rest of the team. The list of my esteemed sponsors will remain in the sidebar, no matter what. Enough said. You all had your chance. Suggestions for the new title?
Today, this evening, I am riding home from work. It's 6:00 or so and I'm on Main Street in West Warwick, approaching Fairview Ave, only 1/4 mile from my house.. There is a long line of cars building at the stoplight. I'm passed by a small pick-up truck (surprised?) driven by a man of large age (and girth). He presses his vehicle as close to the curb as possible, trying to block me from overtaking vehicles stopped at the light. This annoys me, and I think to myself "What would David Schwartz do?" Never one to miss a chance to speak his mind.. and rightly so most of the time.. I unclip from my right shoe and squeeze in between said truck and the curb to tell the driver what I think of his behavior. The second I peered into the cab and met his glare, he laid on the horn, scaring the wits out of me. He's also swinging his arm toward the sidewalk, as if to say "Get off the road!" I detect the precariousness of my position and surge forward, in front of the elderly rage-a-holic. I'm now directly in front of him, and he surges behind me, horn blaring non-stop. I have a legal right to be in the lane because I am about to turn left onto Fairview, the arrow is green. He follows me through the turn and continues to surge and harrass and taunt me with his vehicle, his fist and his horn. I had his license plate memorized before ever seeing his face. When he saw me pointing towards his front tag, he knew the deal and sped around me and up Fairview Ave. I turned onto Maple Avenue, where I live. I got home and promptly called the police to report the incident. An officer stopped by an hour later and heard my side of it, took down the plate number. He promised me to pay this fella a visit to inform him that threatening me with deadly force (his truck) is criminal... That's my story.
This is a typical story I think, and I wonder how many of us actually call the police under such circumstances. I have to admit I was afraid, and it wasn't long ago that I was T-boned by a car in Cranston and hospitalized...
I have to ask my fellow cyclists, would you have avoided this confrontation (stayed behind the truck without passing) or would you have done as I did and tried to communicate? Needless to say, I never used a swear word or any obcene gestures, just received them. Another question: Would he have threatened me if I was elderly, or if I was a ten year old kid, or if I was a woman? I want to believe 'no', that there was discrimination involved, because the thought of him exploiting [his perception of]weakness in such a situation makes me want to vomit. This person was looking for a fight and chose to deliberately provoke me from the second he went by and shut down my path. Your comments appreciated. Thanks for reading.