FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man faces felony charges after authorities say he launched his sports car into the side of a three-quarter-ton pickup truck during a fit of road rage in Fairbanks.
Police allege Luis Mesias Jara, 28, left tire marks on blacktop as he intentionally accelerated and backed into the pickup on the Steese Highway near the entrance to Fort Wainwright Army Post.
Jara was charged Monday with felony criminal mischief and reckless driving, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported (http://bit.ly/1riUV53).
His attorney Gary Stapp says Jara objects to police calling the crash a “road rage” incident.
“They just got this completely backward,” Stapp said. “This was just an innocent accident. … We’re not disputing that there was an accident, but there wasn’t any road rage going on.”
According to the criminal complaint, Jara told police the pickup driver kept him from changing lanes. Jara said he also was upset because the truck blew black smoke in his direction.
The pickup driver told police Jara cut in front of him and slammed on the brakes. The 1999 Porsche Boxster slid toward a median, struck a curb and stopped. The pickup also stopped, Fairbanks police said.
“(Jara) then put his Porsche in reverse and accelerated toward the F-250, leaving burn-out marks in the roadway while doing so,” officer Jim Gibson wrote in the criminal complaint. “(The pickup driver) tried to steer his truck to the left to avoid the oncoming collision but was too late.”
The sports car struck the truck on the driver side. The impact moved the truck slightly to the left, and the pickup’s tires left skid marks showing lateral movement, police said.
Jara is free on $6,000 bail. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing July 10.
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