So, first things first - throwaway account + first time poster.

As anyone can tell you, the California freeways are a nightmare. They are riddled with traffic and terrible drivers. This last evening, I was in traffic riding the right lane when I saw a car behind me pop out of traffic and into the emergency lane to try to pass the cars that were in front of him including me. Instead of letting him do so, I sped up to the car in front of me leaving him no room to merge and forcing him to go further up to merge into my lane. I had a passenger at the time and they tell me that the guy looked extremely pissed at what had just occurred. I'm not sure if I should've let him pass into my lane and let that be the end of it or if I became the asshole by not letting him merge. I'm not even sure if I'd be covered legally if he decided to crash into my car because he was in such rage. Was it stupid to do that? Yes, but I was wondering if I was the actual asshole in this situation. Contemplating it afterwards - I think the guy was probably just having a rough day; who doesn't? It might have been good to just give him a break instead of trying to make him more angry and potentially more dangerous to other drivers.

I'm not going to say what freeway or any identifying information here in case this shit comes back to haunt me later. Thanks