Legal analyst: Somebody must be held criminally responsible for road rage incident
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Harris County Sheriff's Office is investigating an apparent road rage incident that happened at about 11:30am Saturday at FM 1960 and 290. One of the drivers filed a report late Saturday night, hours after the incident.
"This this is an aggravated assault. Nobody really got hurt by it but an automobile is considered a deadly weapon in our law," legal analyst Joel Androphy said after viewing the entire cell phone video captured by an eyewitness.
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The driver of the white car seen in the video tells Eyewitness News the truck seen in the video was speeding and nearly hit his car before the camera started recording. An exchange of words escalated when the truck driver allegedly cursed at the man driving the car.
"When it elevates to people backing their truck into somebody else and people using their fists to hit somebody, or perhaps pulling a gun, which wasn't in this situation, that's when it elevates into a crime," Androphy explained.
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In less than three minutes, things only got worse. You can see the truck's driver try to calm down the woman, who is his passenger. Then, as the white car pulls up, the truck drives up suddenly. The woman is seen in the video approaching the car again and the passenger throws a drink at her. The truck driver kicks the car's grille, which sparks a brawl in the middle of the roadway.
"I think everybody deserves to be reviewed, but bottom line from criminal responsibility, it's the people in the black truck. They seem to be most aggressive and criminal oriented to this matter," Androphy said.
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Just as the fight appears to be calming down, the truck driver reverses into the white car and takes off. A few seconds later, the white car is seen driving after him.
Androphy said law enforcement needs to thoroughly investigate the incident.
"They need to get aggressive in something like this and to set an example so other people in the community and public don't see this as acceptable behavior," he said.
The sheriff's office has not said what kind of charges are possible.
