A Texas man has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a chilling road rage encounter left a woman bewildered and in fear for her life.
The ordeal unfolded in the early morning hours on Tuesday when the suspect, Kevin Roth, followed the woman into a Phillips 66 gas station on Atascocita and Wilson in Humble, Texas and brandished a gun at her. The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told ABC13 that Roth was behind her at a red light. He then honked at her when a traffic light turned green.
She said that she honked back at him, which ticked him off. He proceeded to point a gun at her, chased her down and rear-ended her vehicle.
“That’s when I just took off, speeding to a gas station to a public area, because I had already seen that gun in the car,” she said. “So I didn’t want to just pull over like a regular car accident.”
Surveillance footage obtained from the gas station shows the man aiming his gun at the victim as she tried to run away from him. As she tried to flee, he stopped her, attempted to grab the keys out of her car, then rear-ended her again, she said, adding that she thinks he did so to block her from exiting the parking lot.
She said he then began hurling racial slurs at her, leaving her scared for her life.
“I honestly didn’t think he would pull a gun out in public and chase me,” the victim said. He was like, ‘Get on the ground right now!’ He could have shot me. He was aiming a gun. I could tell he was kind of scared himself. He was shaking his hand. That’s why I was scared. ‘I’m scared because you’re scared.’ He could have done anything to me just out of fear.”
Ten minutes later, deputies arrived at the scene and retrieved the weapon, arrested and detained the suspect.
“My heart was just racing,” the victim said. When the police got there, I was just like in tears.”
Roth was released from jail the following day on a $25,000 bond, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Meanwhile, the victim’s mother, also speaking to ABC13, said she is grateful her daughter is alive.
“It was sickening. This could have ended a lot worse,” the mother said. “I’m thankful to God that everything didn’t escalate as far as it could have [gone]. That’s just not OK. Guns don’t belong in some people’s hands, in their possessions.”
She added that her main priority is to ensure her daughter gains composure after the frantic ordeal. She worries that the suspect may seek retaliation because Roth has their home address.
“What makes matters even worse is this man lives about two miles away from us,” she said. “So how do we feel protected when he lives that close?”
A spokesperson at the sheriff’s office said that state law requires all parties involved in road accidents must exchange personal contact information.
This story is developing.
