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Road rage is leaving more people dead and injured in Florida, US

In the United States someone is shot and either injured or killed every 18 hours on average in a road rage incident, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Gregg Pacheco, a Palm Coast biker, has found himself in a number of growing traffic throw-downs known as road rage.

Pacheco has been accused of three road rage confrontations involving one or more behaviors of mirror-busting, bumper-stomping and gun-wielding since 2021. He was also involved in a fourth confrontation in which the other driver was arrested and Pacheco’s response was praised at the time by the sheriff’s office.

The most recent road rage incident was in June when Pacheco and his wife were riding his Harley-Davidson and got into a dispute with a man in a work van. Pacheco was accused of pulling a gun on the other driver. Pacheco’s wife was accused of threatening the driver with a baton.

Road rage incidents continue to increase

Road ragers are growing in number across the country and in Florida, according to an expert with Everytown for Gun Safety.

And guns make a lethal difference in those increasing numbers of road rage confrontations, said Sarah Burd-Sharps, senior director of research at Everytown.

“Aggressive driving happens in every country in the world, but only in the United States is someone shot and either injured or killed every 18 hours on average in a road rage incident,” Burd-Sharps said in a phone interview. “And so the difference is easy access to guns.”

Florida had 23 road rage incidents involving a gun in 2023, resulting in five people killed and 20 injured, according to Everytown’s calculations using its Gun Violence Archive.

Florida reported 14 incidents from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2023; three people were killed and 12 were injured. During the same period in 2024, 24 incidents were reported, with five killed and 13 injured, according to Everytown.

Burd-Sharps said the numbers are an undercount because incidents aren’t always reported every time someone pulls a gun in a car.

Here are some road rage incidents reported locally:

  • Jared R. Crawford, 43, shot and killed Kenyon Ashley, who was also armed, April 18 in a road rage confrontation in Deltona, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office. No charges have been filed.
  • Mark A. Vierra, 59, of Deltona, pointed a gun at a 16-year-old girl and her father, who was teaching the teenager how to drive, in Deltona in February. Vierra was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.
  • Ricardo A. Gibbs, 35, of Miami, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for the Sept. 24, 2022, shooting of Tomas Lee Bouknight, 25, a motorcyclist in Daytona Beach. Gibbs was adjudicated guilty of manslaughter (possession or use of weapon). He had faced up to life in prison if convicted of the initial charge of second-degree murder. A witness told police that Gibbs fired at Bouknight, who then returned fire. The witness said Gibbs then drove his vehicle forward, stopped, got out and fired again over the hood of his vehicle at Bouknight, who fell to the ground, according to an affidavit. A security video from a distance showed Bouknight falling to the ground but it did not appear to show him producing a gun or show any muzzle flash.
  • A sedan was riddled with bullets fired from another car on a July night as it headed eastbound on Interstate 4 in Deltona, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The 62-year-old driver was not injured. No one has been arrested.
  • A 61-year-old Tennessee man and his 19-year-old son were shot on Jan. 31 as they traveled east on Interstate 4 near Deltona by someone in another vehicle. They did not suffer serious injuries. No one has been arrested in that case.

Burd-Sharps said the gun can turn a bad experience in traffic much worse.

“Experiencing aggressive driving is certainly not uncommon, right?” she said. “But the presence of a gun can turn an unpleasant few minutes in the car into a dangerous incident. And that’s not only for both drivers, but it can also be for passengers in that car, and sometimes pedestrians as well.”

She said that 21 states require a person to get a permit to carry a concealed firearm in public “as part of responsible gun ownership.” But Florida stopped requiring concealed carry permits in July 2023.

She said that Everytown did an analysis in 2023 which showed that states that did not require a permit had nearly triple the rate of road rage shootings than those that had “the most protective standards.”

Attorney: Client was defending himself

Attorney Mark NeJame represents Crawford in the Deltona shooting. NeJame said Crawford was forced to defend himself. 

“There’s a clear indication that everything leads to self-defense and my client had no choice,” NeJame said.  

Nejame said he is seeing less people engage other drivers in road rage incidents and moving on instead. But Nejame said the state’s gun laws are a problem. 

“Part of it is the Wild West gun laws that have now been passed in Florida that have allowed people to be free-wheeling with guns,” NeJame said. “My client followed the law but how many irresponsible people are out there road raging with guns?” 

A gun and a baton in road rage incident

Pacheco of Palm Coast has been involved in four road rage incidents since 2021 in Palm Coast. In the most recent, a man told deputies he was driving his work van westbound across the Hammock Dunes bridge on June 11. He said a biker on a Harley-Davidson was revving the engine on his bike and crossed the double-yellow line into opposing traffic.

The van driver said that when they stopped at a red light, he told the biker, “If you guys ride like that, you’re going to get yourself killed.”

He said the woman passenger on the motorcycle extended a collapsible baton and threatened him, saying “We’re not going to die, you’re going to (expletive) die!” according to a charging affidavit.

As the light turned green, Pacheco pulled out a gun, which looked like a Glock, and pointed it at the driver before speeding away, the affidavit stated.

During the confrontation, the motorcyclist also smashed the van’s driver’s side mirror, shattering it, the affidavit stated.

Pacheco, 42, was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, a third-degree felony, and criminal mischief, less than $200, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Amy Pacheco, 46, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a third-degree felony.

He entered a written plea of not guilty and was scheduled to appear in court on October 23. The News-Journal had already gone to press by the time he appeared in court. Amy Pacheco entered a plea of not guilty. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 24.

Shattered window, kicked bumper

A woman said she was driving in Palm Coast on Dec. 4, 2023, when she reached an intersection. She said a red car stopped in front of her and a motorcycle pulled up along her passenger side.

Pacheco, who was on the motorcycle, punched the front passenger side window multiple times, shattering it. He then drove his motorcycle in front of the car and kicked the front bumper several times. Amy Pacheco got out of the car in front of her and tried to strike the driver and then tried to take her cellphone, according to a charging affidavit.

Besides the shattered window, the front passenger side mirror was turned in the opposite direction.

Gregg Pacheco told deputies that the woman ran him off the road and that when the vehicles stopped, he “pushed” the mirror to get her attention and yelled at her. He confirmed his wife had hit the driver’s phone while she was recording him. He claimed the driver had spat in his wife’s face, the affidavit stated.

Deputies found that Pacheco was carrying a firearm and a set of brass knuckles. He was also wearing motorcycle gloves with reinforced hardened knuckles. Pacheco was charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief more than $200 but less than $1,000.

The State Attorney’s Office declined to file charges Jan. 16, 2024.

Road Rage: Damaged mirror

A Palm Coast resident told deputies that he and his wife were traveling north on Belle Terre Parkway in their car July 25, 2021, when they were followed by a black motorcycle, which was changing speeds and weaving. The car’s driver said the motorcycle rider stayed even with his car, slowing down when he slowed down. The motorcyclist then struck his driver’s side mirror, bending it and ripping the back side off. A woman was a passenger on the motorcycle.

Gregg Pacheco was charged with criminal mischief less than $200 in that incident, an affidavit stated.

Prosecutors dropped the charge after Gregg Pacheco successfully completed a deferred prosecution agreement, according to a document filed Sept. 26, 2022.

Pacheco could not be reached for comment, and his defense attorney, Joshua Davis, declined to comment on the case.

But Davis did say that Pacheco had shown restraint and been commended by Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly in one Palm Coast case in March 2022 in which another driver, Rafael Rivera, 52, threatened Pacheco with a knife. Pacheco, who had his “metallic knuckles,” drew his gun and ordered the other man to back away, which he did, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.

“Two (cases) have been dismissed and in the other, he gets a commendation from the sheriff on how he handled it, because he was in his rights to shoot the guy,” Davis said.

A video from a news report showed a man swinging a knife at another man identified as Pacheco by the attorney drawing his gun and pointing it at the man, ordering him to put the knife down.

Rivera, 52, was adjudicated guilty of a misdemeanor, improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon and sentenced to 12 months probation.

“I applaud the way the motorcyclist handled this situation,” Staly said in the press release, adding that Rivera was lucky he didn’t get shot.

Staly said Pacheco’s restraint in the Rivera case showed he should have known how to act in the latest case.

“It proves that he knows how to make right decisions. That he knew right from wrong,” Staly said.

Get to know the author: Meet long-time News-Journal crime and courts reporter Frank Fernandez

Sheriff: Road rage incidents on the rise

Staly said that the sheriff’s office has already seen an jump in road rage incidents which are on track to increase again in 2024.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office stated it has had at least eight reports so far this year in which road rage was mentioned. In 2023, it had 14 written reports mentioning road rage. In 2022, it had six cases in which road rage was mentioned in a written report.

Staly said that while he is not a psychologist, he has some thoughts on what is behind the increase.

“It’s the pressures of the economy, employment, the growth and the traffic,” Staly said. “And people just seem to be angrier since COVID. I think cities and counties across the country have seen that.”

He said the growth in Palm Coast has led to more traffic congestion and the city now has a rush hour. 

He said people should plan on leaving earlier for appointments because a trip that took him 15 or 20 minutes now takes him 25 to 30 minutes.

“Leave earlier for your appointments so you’re not in a rush,” Staly said.

He recommended people stay calm.

“If somebody commits a traffic violation or cuts you off, don’t retaliate,” Staly said. “Basically take a deep breath: be the bigger person. If it’s a serious violation, call local law enforcement and report it with a tag number if you have it.”

He said deputies have to witness the traffic violation themselves before they can enforce it, but they can at least investigate to see if there is an issue with the individual.

“Ignore it. Don’t engage that individual,” Staly said.

“The worst thing you can do is take it into your own hands or bring a weapon into it when you are mad or angry and it usually does not end well,” Staly said. “And by that I mean either somebody gets hurt or somebody gets arrested.”

Staly, who is a life-long member of the NRA, said guns are not the problem.

“Having a gun in the car is not the problem,” Staly said. “The problem is that someone is angry and responding inappropriately.”

“It’s individuals not controlling their anger,” Staly said. “The gun has nothing to do with it. The gun is the tool they are using to take out their anger.”

FHP also recommends not engaging with aggressive drivers

Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant Tara Crescenzi wrote in an email that it does not have data specific to road rage incidents.

Crescenzi wrote that road rage is a “broader term related to violent or visibly angry behavior by a driver” which can lead to crashes and other incidents. She wrote a close relative of road rage is aggressive driving, which puts people or property in danger.

She said that Florida law defines aggressive driving as two or more of certain actions on the road, including unsafely changing lanes, following too closely, speeding and failing to yield.

 Crescenzi provided some FHP safety tips.

If you observe aggressive driving:

  • Don’t engage with the driver (this can result in road rage).
  • Dial *FHP (*347) from your cellphone or 911 for local law enforcement.
  • If possible, get the license plate and/or a brief description of the vehicle (color, type, doors, etc.).
  • There is nothing wrong with safely pulling over and allowing distance between you and the aggressive driver, but think safety first always.

FHP also has tips on how to avoid being an aggressive driver:

  • Stay out of the “no zone” of trucks (blind spot of trucks).
  • Don’t cut off vehicles.
  • Leave room when changing lanes.
  • Stay patient. Being patient is the key to ensure you’re not driving aggressively.

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