Woman Says She Feared For Life In Suspected Road Rage Incident, But Has Never Heard If State Police Took Action
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- Video shows a yellow car weaving back and forth on Interstate 80 and then suddenly braking.
The driver who recorded the video told CBS 2's Jim Williams on Tuesday that she felt trapped and scared for her life.
The mother of four describes it as a terrifying 20 minutes on I-80. Now, seven months after what appears to be a case of road rage, she's still waiting to see if Illinois State Police have taken any action against the driver.
Melissa Pointer described the experience as "terrifying; I was afraid."
It all happened back on March 20. Pointer and her 16-year-old son were behind the yellow Jeep, as the driver slowed down and weaved in and out of lanes.
When Pointer tried to move over, so did the other driver.
"Slowing down, slamming on his brakes – every time I'd try to switch lanes he would straddle lanes," she said. "He held us hostage on the highway for about 20 minutes."
Pointer's son captured about 90 seconds on his cellphone.
"My son is using choice language, but he was scared," she was scared.
Pointer said she has no idea what could have provoked the other driver. She said neither she or her son yelled at the other driver or made any aggressive gestures.
"No middle finger, no nothing," she said.
Then after 20 minutes, the terror ended.
"He finally just took off," Pointer said. "Just took off; it was just like nothing."
Throughout most of the ordeal, Pointer said she talked to a 911 operator. She was directed to the Tinley Park Police station, where she met a state police trooper.
"They said they made contact with the guy," she said. "He originally denied but when they told him there was video, he admitted it."
Pointer showed us a written statement she gave state police. Still, she said, she has received no word on what happened to the case.
"We could have been killed," she said.
And Pointer is frustrated.
"It doesn't seem right that they wouldn't prosecute it; that they wouldn't do anything about it," she said. "I mean, we have the video showing what he was doing. And there's no excuse for it."
Melissa Pointer, still shaken by what happened, told us she has now installed a dash camera.
We reached out to Illinois State Police throughout the day on Tuesday. But as of Tuesday evening, there was still no explanation for why the driver of the yellow Jeep hadn't been charged.