So I am going to need some advice on this one.

I had a 1.5 inch dowel that I wanted to cut some short sections off of to make vice handles before turning them on the lathe. To quickly make a nice square cut I went to the miter saw, first three cuts are fine, last one is only taking an inch or so off and the saw catches and throws the wood. Never seen that happen before. Ok fine that was weird but I find another small cut off from earlier and try to trim it (I know not the best idea to repeat but I thought it was a fluke) same thing happens, catches and shoots the piece out like a bullet.

Anyway I did not cut my hand, although it is rather bruised I guess I came out alright.

So later I go to break down a 2x4 and see the fence is way out of alignment. I pull it off and if I lay it flat on my bench it is so bent that when the ends touch the middle is an inch in the air. Apparently before the piece flew at me it hit the fence and bent the heck out of it.

I took it down to my hand tool bench and clamped it flat, I figured that maybe clamping it flat and leaving it for a bit might fix it but I am not optimistic.

Anyway, two questions.

1. What the heck happened that caused that kick back type reaction, can I not cut a dowel on that saw?
2. What is the best way to fix the fence?