Police arrested an Austin criminal defense attorney following a Feb. 27, 2018 road rage incident.
Richard Patrick Fagerberg, 48, was arrested on Feb. 28, 2018 pending charges of criminal mischief, assault and driving while intoxicated. He later posted a $6,000 bond, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
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Fagerberg’s arrest affidavit states Austin police responded to a disturbance in Fagerberg’s Hyde Park neighbor where they found him in the road, appearing intoxicated and with hands covered in blood. He told the police a man had been speeding 90 miles an hour down the street and almost killed his child. He admitted to chasing him through the neighborhood after the incident in his own vehicle, the affidavit states.
The driver told police he may have been speeding but did not see Fagerberg’s child. The driver told police Fagerberg followed him, came to his window and punched him in the face, according to the affidavit.
The driver said Fagerberg allegedly kicked the driver side door of his Tesla, broke the side mirror and drove away.
The affidavit states Fagerberg admitted to police he damaged the driver’s vehicle, and a witness who watched the chase backed up that story. Austin police officials said damages to the driver’s Tesla totaled $7,000.
Fagerberg told the Austin American-Statesman on March 2, 2018 he admitted to following and striking the driver, saying he felt ashamed of the incident.
“I don’t like hitting people. That’s not who I am,” Fagerberg said. “Someone had to stop him. If I did not stop him he would have killed someone. This wasn’t ‘I was just speeding in a neighborhood.’ This was insanity.”
He said he was not drunk when he pursued the man in his car, but that he had walked back into his house and took a shot of whiskey before talking to police in an effort to calm his nerves.
“I was in shock,” Fagerberg said. “He literally terrorized my neighborhood.”
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