Police in Haltom City are investigating a road rage incident that led to a North Texas woman’s car window being smashed with a rock.
It happened around 8 a.m. Wednesday near Denton Highway, according to Sgt. Eric Peters with the Haltom City Police Department.
“We were told it was an older dark gray Nissan Maxima. It had paper tags on it, like buyer’s tag on it or something like that,” Sgt. Peters said, referring to the suspect’s car. “Road rage incidents are reported a lot, but most of them don’t escalate to this point where someone’s actually throwing rocks at other vehicles.”
The victim, Krista O’Connor, said it started as an otherwise normal Wednesday morning. She dropped off her child at daycare and stopped for a protein shake with her cousin and 10-year-old son.
“As we came to the Western Center light on 377 and we’re heading towards 820, this car...which I didn’t see him anywhere... he just came out of the center-left lane and right over in front of me and almost hit my car," O'Connor said. "At first, I just thought…oh, well…maybe he was distracted and just didn’t see me.”
O’Connor said she honked, thinking it would get his attention and to avoid getting closer to her.
“He still did. That’s when it started getting a little scary,” she recalled, adding he began brake-checking her. “I just felt like he was trying to cause a car accident. I was swerving into the center lane to get away from him trying to run into the side of me.”
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When she reached an area near her neighborhood, she said she did not want him to know where they live and swerved back onto 377.
“He couldn’t hit me from turning into my neighborhood and I avoided him,” she said. “Once that happened, I was now in front of him. He was driving really close to the back my car. He was hanging outside the window, like his whole upper body.”
Screaming at her, O’Connor said she noticed the driver had something in his hand.
“I just heard this loud crash. At the time, I didn’t realize it was a rock that he threw. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know if it was a gun. It was so loud that my son’s screaming at this point. He’s hysterical,” she recalled. “My cousin, she’s freaking out. She’s hysterical. I have no idea what this happened, but I need to get out of this situation.”
The rock thrown towards her car shattered her back window.
Sgt. Peters said right now, they don’t have very much information on the suspect or vehicle; however, they are asking any witnesses to come forward.
O’Connor said she has a message for the person responsible.
“One day, you know, you might not find someone like who will make sure I handle this the best way I can criminally and press charges,” she said. “You’re going to find someone who will take the matters into their own hands and you have to be careful. You can’t just throw stuff at people’s property or threaten them.”
Haltom City police can be reached at 817-222-7000.
