Doug Huffman
Banned
imported post
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/feb/17/stories_differ_alleged_road_rage_inciden30952/
The gun was dull black, and Patricia Cannon-Fisher could see straight down the barrel.
It was pointed right at her.
The man in the GMC Yukon, the one with the gun, had been trying to pass her on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge on Friday afternoon, but the traffic was too heavy. Cannon-Fisher was in the far right lane, on her way home from work, and had considered getting into one of the left lanes to take a quick trip to Wal-Mart, but she couldn't get over.
Neither could the man in the white Yukon.
He drove up on the tail of Cannon-Fisher's Mercury station wagon as they approached the bridge's towers, then he cut into another lane, but couldn't find another open one.
"Evidently people weren't moving fast enough for him," Cannon-Fisher said.
The man ended up behind Cannon-Fisher again, and she decided to speed up — give him a lane to pass in before he ran her over.
When he pulled up beside her, she saw the gun.
"He was holding it sideways and was screaming," Cannon-Fisher recalled Saturday afternoon. "It was strange. I've never had a gun pointed at me before."
Cannon-Fisher slammed on her brakes, but the Yukon slowed down as well, keeping pace with her.
Eventually the man sped up, and Cannon-Fisher reached for the only thing she could find to write on — a foam cup — to copy the license number.
She called the police, but made it to her home, about a mile away, before she got dispatch on the phone.
By then, Cannon-Fisher had forgotten all about Wal-Mart.
On Saturday, William Grayson Ervin, a Ninth Circuit assistant solicitor, was released from the county jail on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond in connection with the Friday afternoon bout of alleged road rage. He is charged with pointing and presenting a firearm, and Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said Friday that Ervin "is no longer employed."
Ervin's attorney, Peter David Brown, told a decidedly different account of the bridge incident in bond court Saturday morning.
Brown said Ervin took off early from the Solicitor's Office on Friday to visit his mother in Myrtle Beach. She is having health problems, and Ervin was going to take care of her.
Ervin described the incident this way, according to Brown: Cannon-Fisher's car was blocking his way on the bridge, preventing him from passing. He said there was a man in the passenger seat, and both people in the car were making obscene gestures at him. When he finally pulled alongside the car, he saw the man in the passenger seat holding a gun.
Brown did not specifically say Ervin pulled out a gun. However, the warrant against Ervin said he admitted to Mount Pleasant police that he had pulled a .40-caliber Glock during the incident.
"He's really a good fellow," Brown said. "He's not a volatile individual. He knew the desired effect was to quell the situation. If he'd called the police, that would have been a good thing to do. But his first concern was his mother."
Ervin, 29, had worked in the solicitor's office since late last summer. A former Horry County Sheriff's deputy, he graduated from the Charleston School of Law last spring.
Brown said on Saturday that Ervin had authorized him to "apologize to Scarlett Wilson."
"He's sorry for any embarrassment the incident has caused her, her office or her staff," Brown said.
Ervin's defense might hinge on traffic cameras on the bridge. Brown said he was going to see if S.C. Department of Transportation cameras had captured the incident, in hopes it would show there were two people in Cannon-Fisher's car.
Cannon-Fisher said she hopes there are tapes of the incident, because it will prove she was alone — and illustrate why she was so shaken up Friday that she could barely walk.
"That would be a wonderful thing if they have tapes," Cannon-Fisher said. "That will take your legs right out from under you. I'll never forget that as long as I live."
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/feb/17/stories_differ_alleged_road_rage_inciden30952/
The gun was dull black, and Patricia Cannon-Fisher could see straight down the barrel.
It was pointed right at her.
The man in the GMC Yukon, the one with the gun, had been trying to pass her on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge on Friday afternoon, but the traffic was too heavy. Cannon-Fisher was in the far right lane, on her way home from work, and had considered getting into one of the left lanes to take a quick trip to Wal-Mart, but she couldn't get over.
Neither could the man in the white Yukon.
He drove up on the tail of Cannon-Fisher's Mercury station wagon as they approached the bridge's towers, then he cut into another lane, but couldn't find another open one.
"Evidently people weren't moving fast enough for him," Cannon-Fisher said.
The man ended up behind Cannon-Fisher again, and she decided to speed up — give him a lane to pass in before he ran her over.
When he pulled up beside her, she saw the gun.
"He was holding it sideways and was screaming," Cannon-Fisher recalled Saturday afternoon. "It was strange. I've never had a gun pointed at me before."
Cannon-Fisher slammed on her brakes, but the Yukon slowed down as well, keeping pace with her.
Eventually the man sped up, and Cannon-Fisher reached for the only thing she could find to write on — a foam cup — to copy the license number.
She called the police, but made it to her home, about a mile away, before she got dispatch on the phone.
By then, Cannon-Fisher had forgotten all about Wal-Mart.
On Saturday, William Grayson Ervin, a Ninth Circuit assistant solicitor, was released from the county jail on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond in connection with the Friday afternoon bout of alleged road rage. He is charged with pointing and presenting a firearm, and Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said Friday that Ervin "is no longer employed."
Ervin's attorney, Peter David Brown, told a decidedly different account of the bridge incident in bond court Saturday morning.
Brown said Ervin took off early from the Solicitor's Office on Friday to visit his mother in Myrtle Beach. She is having health problems, and Ervin was going to take care of her.
Ervin described the incident this way, according to Brown: Cannon-Fisher's car was blocking his way on the bridge, preventing him from passing. He said there was a man in the passenger seat, and both people in the car were making obscene gestures at him. When he finally pulled alongside the car, he saw the man in the passenger seat holding a gun.
Brown did not specifically say Ervin pulled out a gun. However, the warrant against Ervin said he admitted to Mount Pleasant police that he had pulled a .40-caliber Glock during the incident.
"He's really a good fellow," Brown said. "He's not a volatile individual. He knew the desired effect was to quell the situation. If he'd called the police, that would have been a good thing to do. But his first concern was his mother."
Ervin, 29, had worked in the solicitor's office since late last summer. A former Horry County Sheriff's deputy, he graduated from the Charleston School of Law last spring.
Brown said on Saturday that Ervin had authorized him to "apologize to Scarlett Wilson."
"He's sorry for any embarrassment the incident has caused her, her office or her staff," Brown said.
Ervin's defense might hinge on traffic cameras on the bridge. Brown said he was going to see if S.C. Department of Transportation cameras had captured the incident, in hopes it would show there were two people in Cannon-Fisher's car.
Cannon-Fisher said she hopes there are tapes of the incident, because it will prove she was alone — and illustrate why she was so shaken up Friday that she could barely walk.
"That would be a wonderful thing if they have tapes," Cannon-Fisher said. "That will take your legs right out from under you. I'll never forget that as long as I live."
Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth. NRA KMA$$