{"id":406669,"date":"2026-09-21T23:36:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T23:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/406669\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T23:36:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T23:36:38","slug":"let-it-go-port-st-lucie-police-chief-talks-about-road-rage-incident-that-ended-with-gunfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/406669\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Let it go&#8217;: Port St. Lucie police chief talks about road rage incident that ended with gunfire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Let it go&#8217;: Port St. Lucie police chief talks about road rage incident that ended with gunfire<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbf.com\/news-team\/b0675fa3-b46c-4093-90b7-e40abe38ba8c\" aria-label=\"Angela Rozier profile page\" class=\"css-15eikfp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790033798_738_b0675fa3-b46c-4093-90b7-e40abe38ba8c_1657581014.png\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Angela Rozier\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a>PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">More details are being released about a road rage incident in Port St. Lucie that escalated into a shooting Thursday evening, resulting in one man being injured and both drivers arrested on felony charges.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"1\">Port St. Lucie police received a 911 call around 6:30 p.m. reporting gunshots in a residential neighborhood near SW California Boulevard and SW Brevity Terrace.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"2\">&#8220;Gunshots in front of my house,&#8221; a caller said during the emergency call.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">The caller also described the aftermath of the shooting.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"5\">&#8220;I heard it, and then I saw a guy raising his hands up and said he had blood on his hands,&#8221; the caller said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">Investigators said the altercation began as a misunderstanding during a lane change and merge near SW Crosstown Parkway. The situation escalated into a physical confrontation when 41-year-old Dean Plotts exited his vehicle, approached 57-year-old Tylon Kukielka, who was seated in his car, and punched him through the window.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"7\">&#8220;He stepped out of his vehicle, approached the other man who was seated inside his vehicle, and punched him inside his vehicle, so now he&#8217;s breaking the plane of the window,&#8221; the Port St. Lucie police chief Leo Niemczyk said. &#8220;Therefore, entering, which makes it a burglary of the conveyance with the intention of committing a crime, being battery by punching the other individual who is seated inside the vehicle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"8\">Plotts then returned to his vehicle, but the confrontation escalated further.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"10\">&#8220;Almost makes it back to his vehicle and starts getting fire on,&#8221; Niemczyk  said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"11\">Police said Kukielka fired a handgun, striking Plotts twice. Both men were arrested, with Plotts facing charges for initiating the physical altercation and Kukielka for firing his weapon.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"12\">When asked if Kukielka\u2019s actions could be considered self-defense, Niemczyk said, &#8220;It&#8217;s not self-defense at that point. If Plotts had been coming at him at that point, the shooting may well have been justified, but it was actually just the reverse. He was fleeing from him.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"13\">Both men are now facing felony charges.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"14\">&#8220;And for what? Because one thought the other one may have cut the other one off when they were both turning into the same roadway. Again, no reason to be facing felony charges; let it go, let it go,&#8221; Niemczyk said.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"15\">Stay up to date: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbf.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"16\">Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbf.com\/article\/get-wpbf-25-news-on-the-go\/999316\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"17\">Follow us on social: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpbf25news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPBF25News\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">X<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wpbf25news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WPBF\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@wpbf25news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TikTok<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8216;Let it go&#8217;: Port St. Lucie police chief talks about road rage incident that ended with gunfire PORT&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[25773,692,2389,2676,12140,28,2230,24156,3982,1109,160625,2391,30104,161469,160626,171,173,172,3718,13475,160621,732,25411,189],"class_list":["post-406669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-altercation","tag-arrest","tag-call","tag-caller","tag-felony-charge","tag-florida","tag-gun","tag-gunfire","tag-hand","tag-homicide","tag-kukielka","tag-man","tag-niemczyk","tag-physical-confrontation","tag-plotts","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-road-rage","tag-road-rage-incident","tag-sw-brevity-terrace","tag-vehicle","tag-weapon","tag-wpbf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}