Perhaps he didn’t know there were witnesses

By Doug Page | Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 02:56 PM

Englewood police were sent to one of the city’s busier intersections just after dark on a Tuesday evening. There in the right-turn lane they found a young woman in tears, standing next to her car.

“He tried to kill me,” she told officers. According to the woman, another car had been tailgating her for several blocks, trying to pass her. At the red light, she said, the driver of the following vehicle got out of his car and starting pushing on her car. She told police she got out of her car to get his license number and call police. It was then, she said, the man hit her several times in the head with his fist.

The man return to his car, she said, and ran into her with his vehicles.

Two witnesses confirmed the woman’s story, gave police the license plate of the man’s car and directed them to a nearby parking lot where they saw the car pull in. A medic was called to treat the woman’s apparent minor injuries. The two witnesses said the woman did not appear to have provoked the attack in any manner.

While one set of officers were questioning the woman, three other officers went looking for the other driver. They found the car where witnesses said it might be and walked into the neighboring business to ask if anyone had been driving the vehicle.

A gentleman stepped forward and told officers: “It was me. I know what this is about.” He was asked to step outside to tell his side of the story.

According to the gentleman, he was following a vehicle that was “brake-checking” him. (No, I don’t know what that means, but I am sure a gentle reader will be able to lift my veil of ignorance.) The gentleman also said the vehicle he was following tried several times tried to force him into on-coming traffic.

When stopped at the red light, the gentleman said he got out of his car and slapped the spoiler on the back of the car in front of him, asking the driver — who he said was male — what he thought he was doing. (Police and witnesses disagree with the gentleman on this point. The driver was clearly female. Go figure).

The gentleman went on to say, the driver got out of his (her) vehicle, called the gentleman a nasty name and warned him “to get back in his car before he (she) called his (her) homies to take care of him.” The gentleman then said “the guy (gal) made an aggressive fighting lunge toward him” causing the gentleman to return to his car and drive off.

Review of the traffic camera footage at the intersection showed the woman driver “pushed aside” by the gentleman’s vehicle. The alleged assault did not occur within the area where the camera was aimed, according to police.

The gentleman was arrested on suspicion of felonious assault and taken to the county lockup. Prosecutors approved the charge and the matter was sent directly to the grand jury, which has yet to hear the case.

However, it did occur within the sight of the two witnesses. Perhaps the gentleman was unaware there were two witnesses to back up the woman’s story.

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