Tag Archives: road rage

Man gets 45 years for deadly road rage incident

(CHICAGO) Angelo Bennett said all he’s ever wanted to do since he was charged with murdering a gentlemen’s club manager was apologize to the slain man’s family.

He got his chance on Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

“I pray for your forgiveness,” Angelo Bennett said looking toward Charles E. Jones’ friends and relatives. “Sincerely from the depths of my being, I am sorry.”

Before Bennett was sentenced to 45 years in prison for killing Jones and wounding Jones’ fiancee, Jones’ cousin read a victim-impact statement written by Jones’ mother.

In the statement, Jones was described as a “gentle giant” and caring “mama’s boy” who respected women while Bennett was characterized as “deceitful,” a “menace” and “bad seed.”

Jones’ fiancee Kathy Bias said since the incident May 26, 2013, she can’t close her eyes without seeing Bennett chase and try to kill her as he did after a traffic dispute on Goose Island.

Bias said she feels lost without 42-year-old Jones, a “hero” who she had hoped to start a family with.

“You didn’t only put a hole in my back,” Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Paul Joyce said, reading Bias’ statement. “You put a hole in my heart.”

Judge Carol Howard said Jones may have initiated the physical altercation after his Maserati and Bennett’s Buick LaCrosse collided. But the fight had ended before Bennett decided to grab his .38-caliber revolver and shoot Bennett in the face and Bias in the back.

Bennett, 26, did not act in self-defense, the judge said, reiterating her ruling in Bennett’s bench trial in March.

Bennett’s mom stood by her son’s story while she defended him on the stand Wednesday.

“You did nothing wrong,” Geneva Bennett said, sobbing. “You wanted to live.”

“He’s a murderer,” one of Bennett’s relatives said under his breath as Geneva Bennett denied her son was a trigger-happy “thug.”

Angelo Bennett | Cook County sheriff's office
Angelo Bennett | Cook County sheriff’s office

During his trial, Bennett said he initially tried exchanging information with Jones after a fender-bender but said Jones waved him off.

Bennett then drove away to the 1000 block of North Branch Street because he didn’t want officers investigating the crash to find the gun he had in the car.

Jones and Bias drove after Bennett. When Bennett’s friend asked to be let out of the Buick, Bennett hid his gun underneath another parked car.

Jones had physically attacked Bennett, but he eventually let Bennett go, according to court testimony. Still, Bennett was so incensed that Jones had confronted him, he went to get his gun and fired at the two victims without warning, prosecutors said.

—Chicago Sun-Times

Road rage leads to shots fired at Chicago man

(LAKE STATION, Ind.)  A ride through northwest Indiana almost turned deadly for a Chicago man after some mutual road rage turned into gunshots being fired at him on I-80/94.

What Indiana State Police called a “road rage incident turned ugly” started about 11 a.m. Tuesday when the 28-year-old Chicago man, driving a 2003 Acura, got involved in some unpleasantness in the eastbound lanes of the Borman Expy. in Lake County.

Police said it started when the victim and another driver “became involved in road rage”—things like not letting the other car pass and flipping the driver off, a statement from ISP said.

But as the Acura approached the Route 51 exit in Lake Station, the other car, a black 1997 BMW, pulled alongside and the back window of the Acura “exploded,”police said.

The Chicago man then looked over and saw the other driver pointing what he thought was a gun, and driver of the BMW then fired a second shot, police said. The Acura then exited the expressway at the Indiana Toll Road exit near Portage and the driver called 911.

An ISP trooper was able to pull over the BMW on eastbound I-94 near the Michigan City/LaPorte exit, and found what turned out to be a CO2-powered BB gun and a 45 semi automatic handgun inside, according to police.

The driver, 24-year-old Emmanuel Antonio Ontiveros-Leyva of South Bend, Ind., was charged with criminal recklessness and taken to the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, police said. Additional charges may be pending.

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