LOUISVILLE, Ky. —
What sparked a road rage incident on a Louisville interstate ramp last week? That’s still unclear.
But police say it boils down to “a series of adults making bad decisions.”
An altercation between two people—a woman in a car and a man on a motorcycle—was caught on camera last week, and it went viral.
It happened Sept. 30 on an I-65 off ramp near Preston Highway.
The video shows the man hitting the woman with a steering wheel lock.
It led to public outrage, including councilmembers Tammy Hawkins and Betsy Ruhe having the woman, Tenaya Stanford, speak at a news conference, calling for the man to be arrested.
LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey says when Stanford spoke to police, she left out some key information.
He played two different videos showing the incident captured by nearby businesses:
Here is how Humphrey describes what’s seen on video:
“The man on the motorcycle is already sitting in the right lane on the video in traffic at the red light. As the woman pulls the car up to him from behind the trucks, she swerves her vehicle in his direction and he approaches her car. You see, it looks like he makes some sort of contact with the vehicle.
“I don’t know exactly what he did at that point. He starts to walk away and she opens her door. He then turns back towards her and she closes the door again. He walks away again and she exits her car with the steering wheel lock…This is when the fight occurs that you saw on the social media video.
“After the fight, he pushes her back into the driver’s seat of her car, closing the car door, which is where she references the car door being closed on her leg. Once her body is fully inside the car, he pushes and holds. He pushes the door and holds it closed. He then goes back and gets on his motorcycle. She then exits her vehicle and attempts to tase him.
“Her taser does not work. He then pulls up to the front of the intersection and stops at the red light to make a left turn. She then pulls up behind him in his lane, and eventually her car bumps to the back of his wheel. He gets off his motorcycle again and approaches the car and she turns right, leaving southbound on Preston.”
Stanford told police that the steering wheel lock was hers, and she hit him with it first.
Humphrey says the video makes it clear that more happened prior to what was caught on any of the available video.
“One perspective, one social media post does not tell the entire story,” he said.
He said, “From what I can tell, from what we’ve listened to and what we’ve heard, it sounds like this is your average somebody is following somebody too closely or cut somebody off, and the back and forth happens.”
Humphrey also indirectly called out Hawkins and Ruhe for incorrectly and publicly identifying the man.
Police have identified the biker, but neither him nor Stanford have been charged.
Humphrey said whether any charges are filed will be up to the Commonwealth’s Attorney.
The Jefferson County Attorney’s Office shared the following statement:
“The Jefferson County Attorney’s Office is actively gathering information regarding the September 30 altercation involving two motorists near Preston Highway and Grade Lane. We will then review and either file criminal charges or not based on the totality of the evidence. This follows the process used in all possible criminal cases brought to our office’s Warrant Intake unit by police or private citizens.”