Monday Morning Road Rage

Woman allegedly shoots at driver during road rage incident
By Cortney Casey
C & G Staff Writer

HARRISON TOWNSHIP — A struggle for dominance on the freeway became shockingly violent Feb. 21, after a woman allegedly pulled a gun on another driver in what the police have dubbed a case of road rage.

According to the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department, Macomb Township resident Bernadette Headd, 39, and a 46-year-old New Baltimore man, whose name has not been released, were “jockeying for position” on westbound I-94 near North River Road at about 8:10 a.m. Feb. 21 when the incident occurred.

Headd reportedly told police that she was merging onto I-94 from Hall Road when the New Baltimore man came close to the rear bumper of her Chevrolet Cavalier. She allegedly proceeded to pull alongside the man’s Dodge Ram pickup truck, aim a semi-automatic handgun at the man, and fire one round at the Ram’s tires.

Capt. Tony Wickersham said the bullet did not strike the vehicle, and police were not able to locate it as they investigated the incident.

“The roadway was very busy that morning and … fog was also there, so it made trying to look for it almost impossible at that time,” he said.

The victim managed to maneuver behind Headd’s vehicle and follow her until he spotted a sheriff’s deputy, at which time Headd was taken into custody. Nobody was injured, and deputies recovered the firearm from her vehicle, according to police.

“This could have been a much (more) dangerous situation if she would have shot at the driver and driver loses control of the vehicle, or if she would have made contact with the tire and blew that tire out, that vehicle could have lost control and we could have had quite a traffic crash out there with injuries,” said Wickersham.

Headd was arraigned Feb. 21 at Clinton Township’s 41-B District Court on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle, both four-year felonies, as well as a two-year felony firearm charge. Her bond was set at $50,000 cash or surety.

Wickersham said he’s heard of and received reports of altercations of road rage in which drivers have exchanged threats or obscene gestures, but never anything like this.

“This is the first time we’ve seen it where the individual got so upset that they actually pulled out a gun and fired a round at another vehicle,” he said.



Wow. And I thought I had road rage bad.