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Driver has no regrets for firing gun on I-94
She denies it was road rage
March 30, 2007
BY GINA DAMRON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Bernadette Headd says she doesn't regret taking out her 9mm handgun and firing it during a freeway run-in with another driver.
It was self-defense, not road rage, she said.
In an interview Thursday with the Free Press, Headd said she was overcome by fear when she flashed her handgun to try to scare off a driver she thought was trying to run her off I-94 last month. Then she said she fired the gun out of the window of her 1993 Chevrolet Cavalier to get that driver to back off.
Now, the 40-year-old Macomb Township woman is out of the Macomb County Jail on bond, waiting to face a jury in May on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle and using a firearm during a felony.
"If I wanted to, I could have hit his truck or even him," she said at her attorney's office in Madison Heights. "I wasn't trying to kill anybody."
But officials at the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office said Headd went too far. They said she fired her gun at the tire of a Dodge Ram that was following closely behind her after its driver tailgated her, prompting that man -- Russell Sabo, 46, of New Baltimore -- to flag down police on the highway.
"Her statement immediately after she was arrested was ... she 'was sick and tired of people running up on her on the freeway,' " said Jim Langtry, chief of operations for the prosecutor's office. "This is an extreme case of road rage."
The incident is one of the few high-profile cases of its kind since the concealed weapons permit law was passed in 1999, making it easier for Michiganders to carry guns. Some who opposed the law warned that such acts would become commonplace once more people were allowed to carry guns.
Langtry said Headd's gun has been taken away and it's likely her permit to carry a concealed weapon, which she obtained in 1999, would be revoked. Though she doesn't regret doing what she felt was necessary to defend herself, Headd insisted she isn't a danger.
"I do know better," she said. "I'm far from an idiot."
Headd has gotten four speeding tickets in the past seven years, but has no points on her license, according to the Secretary of State. Sabo hasn't had any moving violations in the last seven years. Since the incident, he has declined to comment.
Headd's account
Headd's encounter began just after 8 a.m. Feb. 21, when she left her home, bound for work at a Spirit Airlines reservation center in Harrison Township, and merged onto I-94 from Hall Road, pulling in front of Sabo's pickup in the left lane.
Traveling at about 70 m.p.h., Headd said she began to fear for her safety when she said Sabo pulled within inches of her rear bumper three times. She moved to the middle lane and he followed, pulling in front of her and slamming on his brakes, she said.
Headd said Sabo moved back to the left lane and positioned his truck next to her car. Then, she said, she reached for a holster built into her purse and grabbed the loaded 9mm -- the same gun she has owned and carried since 1999. She flashed it to scare him off.
But Headd said her scare tactic didn't work. She said Sabo swerved in front of her, nearly clipping her front end. Headd said she was still in the middle lane when she pointed the gun out of the window, aimed at a grassy median to the left of Sabo's pickup -- which was in the left lane -- and fired one shot. She said she was in shock as she pulled the gun back into the car.
"I really never thought I would have to discharge that weapon," Headd said. "I just couldn't believe it, that I was put in a position" to have to use the gun. "I'm still in disbelief."
Prosecutors' account
Prosecutors say Headd cut Sabo off, but she said she's not sure whether she did. Langtry said Sabo told police that he was following closely behind Headd only after she cut him off. As he was trying to pass her, he told police she pulled a gun out of her purse and pointed it.
Headd said she had gotten the gun for protection for her and her family. She's the primary caretaker for her mother, who had a kidney transplant in December, and for her son, 18, who had surgery for scoliosis in January.
She's hoping to move her family out of Macomb County, where they moved four years ago from Detroit in what she thought was "an upward mobility move." Now she said she wants to move again because she feels she shouldn't have been charged for defending herself.
Headd said she didn't intend on putting anyone in danger, including vehicles driving nearby.
But Langtry said Headd -- who had a second clip of ammunition behind her car seat and a box of 18 bullets -- was like a bomb waiting to go off.
"If it wasn't Mr. Sabo," he said, "it would have been the next car."
Contact GINA DAMRON at 248-351-3293 or [email protected].
The article with pic can be found at; http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NEWS04/703300351[/quote]
- Janq
Lesson Learned:
As a child my mother told and taught me; "Two wrongs don't make a right".
Ms. Headd should have gone to the same school my mom took me to as she'd have known that her actions were ill advised and stupid.
"Headd said she didn't intend on putting anyone in danger, including vehicles driving nearby."
Intent is not a free pass when it comes to the law.
This ain't a game of horsehoes. She's old enough to know better, and should.
It's ironic that it was the other guy who pulled over to alert a cop and got her busted.
As well even if her story is 100% truthful and he did do as much, her own corresponding reaction is the worst of the two. She needs to be charged and buh bye to her firearmprivledges as she's proven herself to be unsuitable, and should be charged although if I were the judge I'd suspend jail time and assign a probationary sentence of pain plus community service hours.
I can't even feel bad for this lady.
She denies it was road rage
March 30, 2007
BY GINA DAMRON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Bernadette Headd says she doesn't regret taking out her 9mm handgun and firing it during a freeway run-in with another driver.
It was self-defense, not road rage, she said.
In an interview Thursday with the Free Press, Headd said she was overcome by fear when she flashed her handgun to try to scare off a driver she thought was trying to run her off I-94 last month. Then she said she fired the gun out of the window of her 1993 Chevrolet Cavalier to get that driver to back off.
Now, the 40-year-old Macomb Township woman is out of the Macomb County Jail on bond, waiting to face a jury in May on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle and using a firearm during a felony.
"If I wanted to, I could have hit his truck or even him," she said at her attorney's office in Madison Heights. "I wasn't trying to kill anybody."
But officials at the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office said Headd went too far. They said she fired her gun at the tire of a Dodge Ram that was following closely behind her after its driver tailgated her, prompting that man -- Russell Sabo, 46, of New Baltimore -- to flag down police on the highway.
"Her statement immediately after she was arrested was ... she 'was sick and tired of people running up on her on the freeway,' " said Jim Langtry, chief of operations for the prosecutor's office. "This is an extreme case of road rage."
The incident is one of the few high-profile cases of its kind since the concealed weapons permit law was passed in 1999, making it easier for Michiganders to carry guns. Some who opposed the law warned that such acts would become commonplace once more people were allowed to carry guns.
Langtry said Headd's gun has been taken away and it's likely her permit to carry a concealed weapon, which she obtained in 1999, would be revoked. Though she doesn't regret doing what she felt was necessary to defend herself, Headd insisted she isn't a danger.
"I do know better," she said. "I'm far from an idiot."
Headd has gotten four speeding tickets in the past seven years, but has no points on her license, according to the Secretary of State. Sabo hasn't had any moving violations in the last seven years. Since the incident, he has declined to comment.
Headd's account
Headd's encounter began just after 8 a.m. Feb. 21, when she left her home, bound for work at a Spirit Airlines reservation center in Harrison Township, and merged onto I-94 from Hall Road, pulling in front of Sabo's pickup in the left lane.
Traveling at about 70 m.p.h., Headd said she began to fear for her safety when she said Sabo pulled within inches of her rear bumper three times. She moved to the middle lane and he followed, pulling in front of her and slamming on his brakes, she said.
Headd said Sabo moved back to the left lane and positioned his truck next to her car. Then, she said, she reached for a holster built into her purse and grabbed the loaded 9mm -- the same gun she has owned and carried since 1999. She flashed it to scare him off.
But Headd said her scare tactic didn't work. She said Sabo swerved in front of her, nearly clipping her front end. Headd said she was still in the middle lane when she pointed the gun out of the window, aimed at a grassy median to the left of Sabo's pickup -- which was in the left lane -- and fired one shot. She said she was in shock as she pulled the gun back into the car.
"I really never thought I would have to discharge that weapon," Headd said. "I just couldn't believe it, that I was put in a position" to have to use the gun. "I'm still in disbelief."
Prosecutors' account
Prosecutors say Headd cut Sabo off, but she said she's not sure whether she did. Langtry said Sabo told police that he was following closely behind Headd only after she cut him off. As he was trying to pass her, he told police she pulled a gun out of her purse and pointed it.
Headd said she had gotten the gun for protection for her and her family. She's the primary caretaker for her mother, who had a kidney transplant in December, and for her son, 18, who had surgery for scoliosis in January.
She's hoping to move her family out of Macomb County, where they moved four years ago from Detroit in what she thought was "an upward mobility move." Now she said she wants to move again because she feels she shouldn't have been charged for defending herself.
Headd said she didn't intend on putting anyone in danger, including vehicles driving nearby.
But Langtry said Headd -- who had a second clip of ammunition behind her car seat and a box of 18 bullets -- was like a bomb waiting to go off.
"If it wasn't Mr. Sabo," he said, "it would have been the next car."
Contact GINA DAMRON at 248-351-3293 or [email protected].
The article with pic can be found at; http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NEWS04/703300351[/quote]
- Janq
Lesson Learned:
As a child my mother told and taught me; "Two wrongs don't make a right".
Ms. Headd should have gone to the same school my mom took me to as she'd have known that her actions were ill advised and stupid.
"Headd said she didn't intend on putting anyone in danger, including vehicles driving nearby."
Intent is not a free pass when it comes to the law.
This ain't a game of horsehoes. She's old enough to know better, and should.
It's ironic that it was the other guy who pulled over to alert a cop and got her busted.
As well even if her story is 100% truthful and he did do as much, her own corresponding reaction is the worst of the two. She needs to be charged and buh bye to her firearmprivledges as she's proven herself to be unsuitable, and should be charged although if I were the judge I'd suspend jail time and assign a probationary sentence of pain plus community service hours.
I can't even feel bad for this lady.
