03x13 - Road Rage Rampage Caught on Tape

[bunniefuu]

There's an incident of road rage.

That was where he hit the side of my hand.

You threw something at it.

My driver's side window shatters.

He purposely swerved towards me to hit me.

Mmm... I don't think so.

[narrator]
This is Judy Justice.

[theme music playing]

Christopher Stewart is suing
fellow motorist Derek DeWitt

for the cost of a broken car window
and emotional distress.

[bailiff]
Court come to order. All rise.

Have a seat, please.

Case #3040, Stewart vs. DeWitt.

Thank you.

-Wife?
-No.

-[Judy] Girlfriend?
-Yes.

-Were you in the car that day?
-I was.

Great. Did you go crazy?

Well, it was my brand-new car, so, yes.

-[Judy chuckles] Yeah. Okay.
-[laughs]

-[Judy] So, he was driving your car.
-Yes.

All right, Mr. Stewart,
you are suing the defendant

because it is your claim
that he smashed your car window

during what is an incident of road rage.

A little bit on both sides, perhaps.

Why don't you tell me
when this happened?

-So, it was Halloween of last year.
-[Judy] What time?

I believe around 5:30-ish.

[Judy]
Tell me where you were.

I was at the Costco parking lot,
is when it started.

And it ended, basically, on the street
just outside of the parking lot.

Okay. So, is this a visual
of where the incident occurred?

[Christopher]
Correct.

[Judy] Just so I get a overall picture
before you start your testimony.

-Would you approach the map...
-Sure.

...and show me where you first
connected with the defendant.

Here, actually. This is
just at the exit of the parking lot.

[Judy] You're both waiting
to exit the parking lot?

-[Christopher] Correct.
-[Judy] And where were you positioned

as opposed to the defendant?

Were you in front of him or behind him?

In the parking lot, I was in front of him.

And then what happened?

He goes around me
to get in front of me, and honks at me.

We both end up at a red light...

-[Judy] So, he went around you.
-Correct.

[Judy] Were you doing something
that delayed you

from exiting the parking lot?

No. I was not slowing at all.
I was going the 15 miles an hour.

-[Judy] So, he just scooted around you?
-[Christopher] Correct.

-Is that right, sir?
-No, ma'am.

The incident started at the stop light.

He says that something happened,
there was some interaction

as you were both leaving
the Costco parking lot.

I have to believe that, sir,

because you were both
leaving the Costco parking lot.

-Correct.
-[Judy] And if you didn't notice him,

for some reason, I don't know why,
but he noticed you.

So, there's a lot of cars here in traffic.
So, it would be too serendipitous

for me to have to assume
that he's making that up,

that he didn't see you
exiting the Costco parking lot.

Ma'am, that might've very well
been the case.

I did not realize or notice his car

until we got tapped at the intersection.

[Judy] Now, you're both outside,
and who was first?

[Christopher]
His car's in front of mine.

-[Judy] And that's at the stoplight.
-Yes.

-[Judy And the light changes color.
-Correct.

-[Judy] And he did not move.
-Correct.

[Judy]
So now, tell me what you did.

Sure. So, I honked at him.
Uh, I inched closer to him,

hoping that he would see me.

And then, I had a collision with his car.

Like a fender bender.

-Then you hit his car.
-Correct.

Okay. Now, you can go back.
Thank you.

Okay. So now, you hit the bumper
of his car.

So far, is that correct?

-Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] And what did you do next?

I slightly reversed
so I wouldn't be near his car.

What I did next was,
I stayed in my car.

I saw him and his passenger get out.
I didn't leave my car

because I didn't want to get out
in the intersection.

And then, uh, the passenger
took a photo of my car, the front.

He approached my car.
Frankly, he was staring me down.

-[Judy] He was what?
-Staring me down. Like... like this.

-[Judy] And?
-[Christopher] I did not feel safe.

So, I rolled up my window.
He banged on it at that point.

So, I decided that I was going to...
I didn't feel comfortable

having him near me,
so I decided to reverse.

How do you reverse
if there are cars behind you?

Those cars began to go
around everything and U-turn.

[Judy]
Okay.

I was going to go in the parking lot.
And as I reversed,

to go back into the Costco parking lot,
he and...

again, staring me down this whole time,

went into the street to block my way.

And he had his phone in his hand,

but he was searching
for something in his pockets.

At that moment, I decided
that I was going to leave

because he was not interested
in taking a photo of my car.

He was looking for something, and
he was staring me down this whole time.

[Judy] Well, usually when you
have an accident, Mr. Stewart,

and this was either an accident
or an on-purpose that you hit his car...

-Mm-hmm.
-[Judy] ...I don't know what,

because his car was standing still.

You had already had, according to you,

an aggressive interchange with him
when he exited the parking lot.

And what would seem logical

is that if he honked you
as he was moving out,

and then, he got in front of you

and the light changed
and he didn't go, in your mind,

you might say well, he's gonna
wait until the light turns yellow,

and then he's gonna turn
because I was evidently holding him up

-at the parking lot.
-Mm-hmm.

Did that go through your mind?

I did believe that he was
trying to punish me in some way.

-[Judy] You did believe?
-Yes, I did.

Of course. Go around me, honk the horn,
now you're in front of me,

we're both gonna make a turn.

And you're going to inconvenience me
because it's a tit for tat.

But the reaction to that
isn't to hit his car.

I had no intention of hitting his car.

[Judy] Well, but you did.
His car was standing still,

and you were inching towards him.

If you were inching towards him,
at some point...

What kind of car were you driving?

A Tesla Model S.

[Judy]
A Tesla. What year?

-2022.
-[Judy] Okay.

So, you know that
that has those "bing-bing-bing"

if you get to close to a car, right?

So, your car is bing-bing-bing,

and all of a sudden it's going bing!
because you're really close.

So, you know all of that.

So, this is hardly an accident.

You hit his car more of an on-purpose.

You may not have intended
to do damage, but you hit his car,

whether negligently or on purpose.

The first thing that you do
when you have an accident is

you get out of your car
and you exchange information.

Because I don't know
if your car was damaged.

I assume his car was damaged

because your insurance company
settled with him...

-Yes.
-[Judy] ...for the damage,

which means your insurance found
that you were at fault,

-at least with regard to the damage.
-Yes.

[Judy] But the first thing that you do
is you exchange information.

Now, it's a road rage situation,

so I can sort of understand why,

having just hit him, sort of on purpose,

and he getting out of the car,

you would feel slightly intimidated.

Did you take a picture of his car?

-I did.
-You have a picture of his license plate?

-Yes.
-So, what you do after that,

you call the police and say,
there's just been a hit-and-run.

He hit my car, he took off.

I have his license plate, can you run it
for me and find out who he is.

And they go and they'll find him
and arrest him for 12 hours

or something, till he gives them
his insurance information.

In any event, now you pull up
your window

and proceed to take off,
and he blocks your way.

And then what happened?

So, whatever he was looking for
in his pockets, he found.

Because as I was driving around him,

I hear a ping on my car, very loud.

[Judy]
Where?

-In the back driver's side.
-And then, what happened?

So, I'm in full flight mode at this point,

and not thinking about really what to do,

so I do what I was going to do,
which was a U-turn.

That puts me back in his path

because he goes into
the oncoming traffic and stops it.

That's the blue, yes.

And so, he stops the traffic and again,
I'm just driving forward,

so I don't see this happen, but my...
as I'm driving past him,

my driver's side window shatters.

You can't really see out of it
at this point

because it's just a spiderweb.

I leave, and later get a phone call
from the police.

They tell me that Mr. DeWitt
had called them

and they want me to come back
to the scene.

And frankly, I refused,
because I was too scared.

I didn't want to
be in the presence of Mr. DeWitt again.

Just a second. Police called you

and gave you a direction
to return to the scene,

and they're there at the scene.
So what did you do? You just ignored them?

No, I told them that I didn't want to,
and they agreed

to have the officer come to where I was.

-I didn't feel safe.
-Well, that's ridiculous.

-Did you sue him?
-No, ma'am.

If somebody swerved their car
and broke my hand, I guarantee you,

I would find the best tort lawyer
and sue their pants off.

[dramatic music plays]

[narrator] Christopher Stewart
claims fellow motorist Derek DeWitt

broke his Tesla window
during a road rage incident.

and caused him emotional distress.

Now, I don't buy
that you didn't feel safe, sir.

You may not have felt safe if he told you
to come back to the scene,

but if police officers are on scene
and they tell you,

please come back to the scene, then that's
what you do, you come back to the scene.

[Christopher] The officer did
come visit me, and he told me...

[Judy] You can't tell me what he told you,
that's hearsay.

You have a police report, I'll look at it.

-Yeah, I do have a police report.
-I'd like to look at it.

Okay. So, I see the police report, and
the police report is relatively consistent

with what you testified to today.
The police report refers to a video,

which I assume that
the police officer watched.

-Is that correct?
-I showed it to him.

After the taking information,
the police officer determined

that there was felony vandalism
with regard to breaking his car window.

I know that you're gonna have
a different story for me. I assume.

-Okay.
-[Judy] Well, he has video

of exactly what happened.

So now, I would like you to tell me
your version of what happened.

You're standing at the red light, and...

Would you go over to the map and show...

-Yes, ma'am.
-Okay.

We were sitting first car here,
in the turn lane.

He was behind us. We felt a tap.
We were trying to... so...

We had a Halloween party to go to.

So, she had a new car,
and you can't put a address

into the navigation system
unless it's in park.

So, we put it in park,
and we were putting in the address.

Apparently, the light turned green.
We heard him honk, I waved.

-It's all becoming clearer.
-[Derek] Yes.

Okay. So, you know you were going
to a Halloween party,

you were in Costco. I assume
you were shopping in Costco?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. But going to the Halloween party
wasn't a surprise.

-No, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.
-[Judy] That's where you were going.

So, we could have put the address of where
you were going in at the parking lot.

[Derek]
Yes, ma'am.

So, you didn't do that. Now,
you're at a light with cars behind you.

You had to put the car in park.
Are you reading him the address?

-Yes.
-[Judy] Yeah.

Could you stand up for one second?

I'm just interested...
Did you suggest to him

that he put the address in
in the parking lot?

We didn't think about it at the moment,
at that time.

Well, you see, I would've said
to my husband,

you are here in the parking lot, let's put
the address in in the parking lot.

Which he would've said,
don't tell me what to do,

when we're out of the parking lot,
I'll put it in.

Well, that's sort of ridiculous

because now you're annoying other people

because everybody's looking
to make a left turn.

Your car is in park,
and you're doing something else.

I'm not excusing the fact
that he hit your car at all.

'Cause it was aggressive.
But it's frustrating.

Everybody who's been behind the car
that's doing something else.

Contacting their boyfriend
or their girlfriend,

or sending a text message

or looking for something
in their pocketbook, is annoying.

It's not being a good citizen.

It's being selfish. It's just not right.

So, you're doing something that's not
right, you get tapped and what happened?

So, I told her, hey, we just got hit.
We both exited the car.

We walked around back
and she had her cell phone on her.

I did not have my cell phone.
I told her... And he started backing up.

Immediately, as soon as we got to
the back of the car,

he was backing up. So much,
as it made the person behind him

reverse so that he didn't hit them.
He started backing up.

I told her, take a picture of his car,
he's trying to run.

So, she takes a picture.
And then I said, put it on video.

She puts her camera onto video
and hits record, handed me the phone.

I didn't point the camera,
I wasn't trying to be a photographer.

I walked over to the side of his car
and he's backing up.

Now, the car behind him
is trying to get out of his way.

You can stand there.
You can have a seat. Go back.

So, when I walked up to his car,
I knocked on the window,

and it's his testimony
that I was staring him down

and that I was aggressive
and he was scared.

I'm sure you were
unhappy with him. And?

And so, he just started backing up,
but cars coming down the road,

he got gridlocked. He couldn't
get into the Costco parking lot.

So he came up...

May I approach the map again,
Your Honor?

He came up, passed me,
went between these two cars,

and then made a U-turn.

This where I walked
across the median to stop him.

He then swerved at me.

You could tell
the safety features in the Tesla

applied a brake and swerved to the right.

He then overrode that
and swerved back at me,

trying to hit me in the road.

And that's when everything took place.

Okay. So, this is what the case is about.

He wants you to pay
the damage for his window

and punitive damages
for emotional distress.

Which I'm dismissing right now,
Mr. Stewart,

because you caused
your own emotional distress.

Whatever emotional distress you had,
that was on you.

So, how much did it cost
to fix your window?

So I know a realistic figure
'cause this $10,000 isn't flying.

So, the actual cost of the window
was $617.86.

Okay. And how much did your
insurance company pay to fix their car?

Six hundred and nineteen dollars
and forty-five cents.

Okay. Before we proceed
to look at these videos,

because now what we're talking about is,
we're talking about $617

rather than $10,000.

But from reading the papers, Mr. DeWitt,

-you suffered a broken hand.
-Yes, ma'am.

And according to your papers at least,

you suffered a broken hand
because he hit you with his car.

Yes, ma'am.

Did you sue him for hitting you
with his car?

-No, ma'am.
-Why not?

I've never sued anyone, probably
will never sue anyone. Sorry, but...

Well, if somebody swerved their car
and broke my hand,

I guarantee you,
I would find the best tort lawyer

in whatever jurisdiction I was in
and sue their pants off.

I felt he was trying to injure me,

I would've handled it
in a different manner.

Well, according to your testimony,
Mr. DeWitt,

he was trying to injure you.

You said he overrode his Tesla
to try to swerve right into you.

Well, that's trying to injure you.
There's no question about that.

But I'm gonna take a look now,
because your statement is

that he purposely shattered
your window with something.

And it's your suggestion, at least,
that that's how he broke his hand.

-Correct.
-And he said no, he broke his hand

when you swerved, I read his papers,
when you swerved

and you hit him with the rearview mirror
of your car. Correct?

Yes.

Let's take a look. Is this your video?

Yes, this is the dashcam video.

[Judy]
Okay. Let's take a look at it.

[Christopher]
All right, so, um...

-[Judy] Shh! Not a "so."
-[Christopher] Okay.

[Judy]
So, he's got keys out...

in one hand, it looks like a phone
in the other.

Now, he's going across
to where you're coming around.

He crosses the little median.

Oh, no, the car doesn't hit you,
Mr. DeWitt.

You threw something at it.

[Derek]
When it does the U-turn.

We're gonna see more. But you do realize
that you did throw something at his car.

[Derek] That was where he hit the...
the side of my hand

when he was coming past.
So, where my...

Just a second. I don't see that,
so let's look at it again.

Is this when you claim that he hit you?

[Derek]
Yes.

Mmm... I don't think so.

Does that sound about right,
that you said, "We were hit,"

referring to the car, "and
the person who hit us fled the scene."

-Yes, ma'am.
-You didn't say, "I was hit."

Okay, I...

[dramatic music plays]

[narrator] Christopher Stewart has
accused fellow motorist Derek DeWitt

of breaking his car window
and causing him emotional distress.

Derek claims Christopher
tried to hit him with his Tesla.

Okay. So, Mr. DeWitt,
this is my last question to you, sir.

Now, you know that your girlfriend,
who owns the car,

has taken a photograph
of his license plate.

You're an intelligent guy, so ultimately
you did... what you could've done,

which was just stay put,
avoid any more confrontation,

call the police, as you did.

They reached out to him, got his story.

You stay in your car with your girlfriend,
you're safe.

Because you don't know
whether he's a nut or not.

Certainly, his conduct
was a little bit nutty that day.

So, I would've stayed in the car.
Now, I want to... Yes?

The answer is yes.

Now, your girlfriend, just curious,

at any time did she say to you,
"Just get back in the car"?

No, ma'am.
She did return to the car herself.

Yes, but didn't say to you,
"Get back in the car"?

-No, ma'am.
-Why?

[laughs] Sorry.

Yeah, I just assumed that all parties

were going to stop and exchange
information, so I went back to...

But then, you must've watched... there was
a lot of action going on out there.

You had to have been watching him.

I didn't see the specific incident when he
went on the other side of the...

[Judy]
You didn't see him go across?

No, because I went into the car to get...
like I said, it was a brand-new car.

I didn't even have
the full registration information,

so I was getting the temporary information
out of the car.

So, I was focused on getting paperwork
and things out of the car...

When was the next thing you saw?

When he was coming back across
towards my car

from the other side of the median.

Okay. And did you call the police?

We then pulled over and called the police.

-[Judy] Who called the police?
-He called the police.

I had her phone in my hand,
so I called the police.

-You called 911.
-Yes, ma'am.

And do you recall what he said
when he called 911?

Well, he reported that we were hit
and that the person fled the scene.

[Judy] So, he said, "We were hit."
You're talking about the car?

-Yes.
-[Judy] Then you waited for the police.

Yes, and then a officer arrived.

Does that sound about right?
That you said, "We were hit,"

referring to the car, "and the person
who hit us fled the scene"?

-Yes, ma'am.
-You didn't say, "I was hit."

Your Honor, I do remember when
the officer showed up, we talked about it.

And I did have an injured hand.
And I told him when he came around

that I had been hit by the car and he
purposely swerved towards me to hit me.

Your Honor, he also told my insurance.

[Judy]
May I see that, please?

-Thank you, you can probably sit.
-Okay.

Oh, well, this is from
the insurance carrier, because you did,

in fact, claim the injury to your hand
as a result of being hit.

The insurance company
paid for the damage on your car

but said according to
the information available and footage,

the injuries occurred because Derek DeWitt

punched the window
of your 2021 Tesla Model S.

Based on these facts, we've denied
liability and bodily injury claim,

which clearly, you put in.

And it's been closed.

So, that's what happened, okay.

So, the answer is, Mr. DeWitt,

you have to pay for his window, $617.

I don't have to get into, Mr. Stewart,

my judgment as to whether or not
you were acting appropriately that day.

You were not.

You hit his car on purpose, tapped it.
He was irritating.

He was being irresponsible
along with his girlfriend

by being in a traffic lane

and deciding to use that time
to plug in an address

that they should've done two minutes
before in a Costco parking lot.

But that's what the world has become,

nobody thinks about anybody else
these days.

You may have gotten frustrated,

but that doesn't give you
license to hit his car.

I don't think that you hit him.

I think that he smashed your car window,

and that's the best that I can see
from the video that I saw.

So, he has to pay you the $617.

I'm also really concerned

about your reaction to the whole thing,
and I really don't understand it.

How much after the incident
did the police finally contact you,

and did they do that visually
or did they do that on the phone?

I was contacted first by them
by the phone.

[Judy]
At home?

No, no, this was minutes afterwards.
After the incident.

You didn't go back to the scene,
you went home.

No, I went, uh... I went to get my child.

I was picking him up from daycare.

Honestly, I didn't know what else to do.

All right. Judgment for the plaintiff
in the amount of $617.

We're finished here, thank you.

[bailiff]
This court is adjourned.

I honor the judge.
She's a wonderful person.

I've watched the TV show for a long time.
So, her ruling is her ruling.

She believed that I intentionally hit him.

He's got a fight-or-flight mentality,

and his is to flight and mine is not.

I intentionally got close to him
hoping that he would move.

But I did not intentionally hit him.

He overrode his safety features on his car

and intentionally damaged
my brand-new car,

and then tried to flee the scene.

The way that he was looking at me
while I was trying to just reverse,

I wasn't trying to flee the scene
at that time,

I was just trying to get
out of the street.

There's a lot of things you can look at
in hind sight and change.

I guess I won in the end,
but the whole thing wasn't worth it.

Just a couple of observations.

There's a certain lack of respect

for just your fellow human being.

Who cares?

So, he's behind me,
so it'll be another light.

It just makes me think of,
you know, my saying:

"Your poor planning is not my problem."

-Yes.
-[Sarah] Just because you didn't think

to put in the address in the parking lot
where you're already in parked,

why does it have to become my problem

that now I'm stuck at a green light,
trying to make a left.

I'm gonna be late for my event,
for wherever I'm going.

Picking up my kid from school.

Just try and plan a little bit better
to not make it everybody else's problem.

And then, getting frustrated.

And really, it had to be
purposefully tapping his bumper.

And then, turning around,

trying to evade giving his information.

But what I think is most compelling
about the plaintiff,

and he was entitled
to his smashed window,

the police told him to come back
to the scene and he said no.

I can't imagine that.

I don't know how anyone could come here
looking for any amount,

but especially $10,000

when you ignored
a direct order from a police officer.

Anyway...

I know this sounds terribly sexist...

and don't write letters or anything,
I'm not interested...

but most road rage cases... most...
that I've tried have been men.

Now, why is that? I think
it's somehow related to testosterone.

I don't know, I'll have to do
a scientific evaluation about that.

[narrator] Want justice?


[closing theme music plays]