A self-employed man in his 50s was charged with aggressive driving after an altercation with another driver at an intersection in Roanoke County. The woman in front of him was not moving through the intersection in a timely fashion, so our client honked his horn at her. The woman responded with a lengthy honk of her own. She then feigned that she was going to turn, but slammed on the brakes.
Our client thought the woman was moving and looked to see if he could make it through the intersection. He saw at the last moment that she had slammed on her brakes and couldn’t stop in time. He tapped the hitch on her vehicle with his own vehicle. He then pulled through the intersection to talk to her about the incident. She called the police and swore out a warrant for aggressive driving.
Our client had no prior criminal history and a clean driving record that he wanted to protect. Aggressive driving is a Class 2 misdemeanor and would have resulted in a criminal record. He hired the Roanoke criminal defense attorneys at Copenhaver, Ellett & Derrico to represent him in his aggressive driving case.
We argued to the prosecutor that our client acted reasonably under the circumstances, and that if anyone had behaved aggressively it was the other driver who made the complaint. The prosecutor nolle prosequied the aggressive driving charge.
Case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case.