IMPD give tips to prevent road rage after suspect identified
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Police on Thursday said no driver’s mistake is ever worth drawing a weapon.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detectives on Thursday published a picture of a man they said pulled a gun on a teenage driver on Sunday afternoon after the teen threw a water bottle out of his car window. Police said the community responded overwhelmingly and helped them identify the man within hours but they do not plan to release the suspect’s name until investigators have a chance to talk to him. The teen was not hurt in the incident.
Officer Samone Burris, an IMPD spokesperson, said although the department does not track “road rage” incidents per se since that is a subjective term, officers do typically respond to more incidents of this type as the weather warms up and people get out of the house more often.
Outside research suggests road rage incidents are on the rise. According to the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety, data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive suggest 131 Americans were fatally shot as a result of road rage incidents in 2021, by far the most on record. Another 391 were wounded. Insurance comparison website TheZebra.com cites National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data which found road rage-related fatal crashes rose from 80 to 467 over the past 10 years.
Burris said drivers need to remain calm and be courteous to everyone else on the road. If you think a driver is behaving aggressively, she said you should get away and call police.
“If you are able to, turn your direction of travel. Head in the opposite direction,” she said. “If you are being followed, we ask that you contact 911 and we ask that you follow the dispatcher’s instructions.”
Under Indiana law, pointing a gun at someone outside of a self-defense situation is the lowest level of felony, punishable by up to 2½ years in prison.
