Victims of road rage violence in North Texas call for justice
TARRANT COUNTY — A road rage incident involving a gun in Fort Worth revived chilling memories for a couple that went through a similar experience.
That couple in Watauga says they never really got over what happened to them on the same freeway in Fort Worth and never really got justice either.
When a North Texas man had a gun pointed at him on Interstate 820 last week in Fort Worth during an act of road rage, no one could relate to the video of it more than Donna and Norman Armstrong.
"Seeing that gentleman go through what he did and be intimidated by that other driver," said Donna Armstrong.
The Armstrongs were also victims of road rage on 820 four years ago when Kristian Tyerone Smith was arrested for firing at the Armstrongs in their SUV and walking up to them with a knife during a terrifying encounter.
"At that time I thought he was coming over to the passenger side, but he had a knife and he stabbed one of our tires," said Norman Armstrong.
The Armstrongs fully expected Smith to serve jail time for what he did. But they say he ended up pleading guilty to only a class C misdemeanor of malicious mischief.
"I did. I did. I expected him to go and be jailed," Donna Armstrong said.
"Yes, I think it was like, he was bent on, if not killing us, at least doing some kind of damage," said Norman Armstrong.
A year later, Smith was arrested for murder in Desoto and now awaits trial out on bond with an ankle monitor.
It has these road rage victims wondering if the crime is taken seriously enough in Texas. Forbes magazine recently ranked as the 9th worst state in the country for road rage.
"Violent acts against people, I think, should be prosecuted and there should be some kind of deterrence," Norman Armstrong said.
The Tarrant County DA's office says the challenge of finding justice for the Armstrongs is the same as it is for so many other road rage victims: A moving crime scene and witnesses who can't be sure about what they saw.
The Armstrongs want road rage involving violence to be classified as a specific crime in Texas to make it easier for law enforcement to prosecute and to make drivers think twice before they commit it.