Beverly Woman Found Not Guilty In Route 128 Road Rage Fight
SALEM (CBS) – One of two women involved in a road rage incident on Route 128 in Danvers this spring has been found not guilty. Susan Lavoie, a 64-year-old from Beverly, was facing charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct for the fight that was caught on camera.
The altercation happened on the morning of March 29. Massachusetts State Police received calls from witnesses about two women who got out of their cars on the southbound side of the highway and started scuffling and shouting at each other. At one point, one of the women yelled, "Get off of me!"
Both women were gone by the time police arrived.
Lavoie testified "I was very scared. . . I was trying to defend myself" against 33-year-old Catherine Bergen, of Gloucester, according to The Salem News. Bergen is expected in court next month to face charges of assault and battery on a person 60 or older, assault, disorderly conduct, driving recklessly to endanger and stopping or parking on a state highway.
You saw her on the news or maybe a viral video last spring. She's one of the women charged in a wild road rage incident on 128. Yesterday, she was cleared by a jury. https://t.co/AFedjT33Wz
— Julie Manganis (@SNJulieManganis) September 10, 2019
Witnesses described Bergen as the initial aggressor after stopping abruptly on the highway, the newspaper reported.
The trial only lasted one day, the Essex County District Attorney's Office told WBZ-TV.