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Road rage victim Emily Lawson works for a non-profit and said she would be unable to pay for the repairs to her car. Now, she won't have to thanks to a couple of generous KIRO listeners.

KIRO listeners step up to help victim of road rage

BY Kim Shepard  on September 19, 2012 @ 12:29 pm (Updated: 3:54 pm - 9/19/12 )

Getting cut off, maybe a few hand gestures. That is usually the extent of the road rage we experience. For a Seattle woman, the anger she encountered on the Mukilteo Speedway was the stuff of nightmares.

Fortunately, after 97.3 KIRO FM first aired this story on the Ron and Don Show, two generous listeners stepped forward offering to help Emily Lawson with the repairs to her car.

Jason Martin with Auto Glass USA spoke with Lawson about replacing the back window that was smashed. Shayne Hedahl with Special Interest Auto Body in Everett offered to complete all the repairs needed.

The damage was done to her Ford Escort Sunday afternoon when Lawson was driving home from a family barbeque. She was on the Mukilteo Speedway at a red light. When the light turned green, a boxy, black SUV cut her off.

The SUV was driving erratically. Lawson said when it moved over to the shoulder, she was able to get around him.

"He proceeded to follow us, swerving around the road, screaming and waving his arms," said Lawson.

It was so ridiculous, Lawson and her 25-year-old passenger laughed it off at first. That is, until both cars got stuck at a red light at State Route 525 and 148th Street near Mukilteo. She says the driver of the SUV stopped behind her, jumped out and ran toward her car.

The man, described as six-feet tall and a very muscular 200 pounds, jumped on the back of Lawson's car and slammed his arms down on the roof hard enough to leave a dent.

Then, Lawson said, he ripped the spoiler off the back of her car and uses it to smash through her back window. The impact was so hard pieces of glass flew at the back of Lawson's head and up onto the dashboard of her car.

"As soon as he busted out the window and was still screaming in such a fit of rage, I thought he was going to kill us," Lawson says.

When the light finally turned green and Lawson drove away, she says the man threw the spoiler back into her car through the missing back window. A few minutes later she stopped to call 911, and she realized a lot of people must have seen what had happened.

"Nobody stopped to help us. That was disappointing. We were two women in a car being attacked by this "Hulk" guy who was just bashing our car up," said Lawson.

She was not able to get a license plate number, but she is hoping now that her story is out there someone might come forward.

"I've had nightmares since then. I haven't been able to sleep well. It's been a hard thing to deal with," Lawson said.

Lawson works for a non-profit that does outreach to homeless kids. She said she could not afford to fix all the damage the other driver did to her car. She was ecstatic when she learned she would not have to pay for the repairs.

"Just a few days ago I couldn't believe how terrible a person could behave, and now [...] people are just coming forward and being amazing," says Lawson.

Lawson has an appointment to drop her car off at Special Interest Auto Body on Monday. When she does, Hedahl has even offered to drive her back home to Seattle.

Kim Shepard, KIRO Radio Reporter
Kim Shepard is a news anchor and reporter for KIRO Radio and the office optimist. She's energetic, quick to laugh and has a positive outlook on life.
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Comments (11)


  • Add A Comment

  • Sean wrote...
    No one's providing any info on this guy???
    September 19, 2012 1:44 pm
    Really? People see this happen and either don't get any specifics on him or his vehicle ID or don't have the cajones to report it to police??? Unbelievable...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Steve Dallas wrote...
    So...what really happened?
    September 19, 2012 2:13 pm
    Look, road rage is bad and what this guy did was wrong. I still wonder if this lady has any idea what set this guy off. People don't just drive and cut you off at an intersection for no reason, then proceed to road rage on you. I wouldn't be surprised if she did something completely stupid, which set the guy off. Doesn't excuse him getting out and beating the car with the spoiler, but I also believe that this lady probably wasn't paying attention earlier and did something stupid to set this guy off.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rek wrote...
    Not sure I belive this story
    September 19, 2012 2:11 pm
    I don't think we heard the whole story on this. I feel like I'm watching a movie
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Loving Life wrote...
    What? "We were two women in a car being attacked by this "Hulk" guy who was just bashing our car up," said Lawson."
    September 19, 2012 3:08 pm
    Please! I'm helpless and a woman. What kind of message is that? Apparently you want other people to get maimed or killed for you. If you're at the intersection, why not drive away? It's OK to go through a red light if your life is in danger. (Must have been waiting at the red left turn arrow.) Kudos to Auto Glass USA, and Special Interest Auto Body, I will support you for this.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    rek
    September 19, 2012 3:09 pm
    my thoughts exactly. this story is b.s. everyone is stopped at a light and no one gets dude's license plate number or pulled over to offer to be a witness? five bucks either her bf did this and she is covering for him, or something else happened.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    or
    September 19, 2012 3:10 pm
    more likely insurance fraud.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • manabouttown wrote...
    Her interview that aired on TV, a little more story
    September 19, 2012 7:07 pm
    So those of you wondering about the "rest" of the story... a little light on the subject would be that she flipped him the bird at some point. She admitted to that. So that's pretty much what set him off... not an excuse to go hulk on her.. but she's not covering for her BF, or attempting insurance fraud. Cut her some slack. OH, and ladies (and some gentlemen) try not to flip the bird at dudes in cars. also, don't confront men who you see doing something wrong. Like, Hey mister, you didn't pick up your dog's poop... there are too many cave men out there...you might tell the wrong guy off.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dori monson fan wrote...
    an experiment is in order
    September 19, 2012 7:27 pm
    find an identical ford escort and see if don o. can rip off the factory spoiler in between a red and green light. pretty sure it would take a well built 6' dude more than one minute to do that. this story is questionable at best.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • manabouttown wrote...
    It's a Ford Escort, DM Fan
    September 19, 2012 7:35 pm
    Those flimsy spoilers don't actual "spoil" anything. Enough said.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    This is Obama's America
    September 20, 2012 6:45 am
    Goverment will be along to help shortly.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Lillyrose125 wrote...
    Road Rage
    September 20, 2012 10:03 am
    Just want to say not all people drive on by without helping. My husband was on a motorcycle and he was in the HOV lane which is legal for bikes - when it ended, he put on his turn signal and got over into the other lane. A guy in a truck came up close behind him honking, etc. so when he could pull over he did and let the truck go by. My husband then pulled back over behind the truck - yes he motioned to him and asked WT*F his problem was. The truck then slammed on his brakes with the intent of hurting my husband. He had to let the bike fall over. A woman driving behind my husband saw it all happen. The idiot in the truck took off and she chased him down and took pics of his license plate. He knew he was caught so he came back to the scene. That nice lady gave her statement. The truck driver was just pissed off that my husband was in the HOV lane not knowing that was legal. So...I can't imagine nobody doing anything to help these ladies.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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