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Tribunal Justice - Season 3 - Episode 11: Racist Road Rage Wreck
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TVTranscript
00:02You decided to commit a hate crime no we're yelling he spits me I spit back on him felt
00:07really racially motivated did you ever threaten to kill him no that's a lie
00:14two immature men getting in each other's face and that's the scary part now on tribunal justice
00:44today's case was filed in bridgeport connecticut yeah this is case number three zero one three on
00:50the calendar and that of saint raymond versus gonzalez parties have been sworn in you may be
00:55seated thank you bird what a case or shall we call it a cautionary tale mr saint raymond you are
01:02suing mr gonzalez because you allege that he intentionally crashed his vehicle into yours
01:08correct and your claim is for four thousand nine hundred and thirty one dollars correct and that's
01:12for vehicle damage towing and storage fees and attorney's fees mr gonzalez you say that you owe
01:18the plaintiff nothing and that he caused his own damage after he engaged in a hate crime against you
01:24correct mr saint raymond you say that before the collision mr gonzalez was trying to run you off
01:33the road can you go to the chart and show us what happened well you'll have a chance to sir
01:37well this
01:38king's highway here is a four lane highway it's two way these two lanes go this way these two lanes
01:44go that
01:44way okay and we were both on this side and the defendant we crossed over this way almost backed me
01:56into
01:56this lane where oncoming traffic was and i pulled back i put my brakes on and honked my horn both
02:03ended
02:03up turning and we ended up here okay i'm gonna pause you right there mr gonzalez you say in your
02:08answer
02:09that you were trying to get over he gave you a dirty look and did not want to let you
02:14over yes you
02:15show me what happened absolutely
02:19so as our cars were headed on king's highway north we were eventually going to take a left on villa
02:24avenue
02:28the plaintiff was on the left hand side ready to take a left turn as well i was on the
02:33right hand
02:34side i needed to merge in he did not want me to merge so he essentially tried to speed up
02:39to prevent
02:39me from essentially getting into that lane so i'm going to go ahead and move these other vehicles just
02:44to illustrate that the saint raymond is behind me now that i've been in now that i've now that i
02:51was
02:51successfully able to merge into his lane uh i take my left turn uh saint raymond is as well behind
02:59me
02:59however he instead takes the left hand turn giving the impression that he's going to enter the plaza
03:05that is on the left hand side of villa avenue he never had any intentions of entering i'm going to
03:09stop you right there i don't think you know and there's no evidence in the record as to what his
03:13intentions were i'll ask you to go back to the podium sir and i will note for the record the
03:18fact that
03:19you were aware of the fact that he wasn't trying to let you over but you kind of said i'm
03:24going to come
03:25over anyway is a little bit troubling so mr saint raymond he's gotten in front of you why is it
03:31that
03:31you went over into the next lane instead of staying behind them well first of all he was right i
03:37was
03:37ahead of him and he was trying to pass me and then he comes over like this and we ended
03:44up here at this
03:46point the defendant and i were having words you had a war of words your honor he was looking me
03:51right in
03:51the eye he turned his wheel like this and then slammed his door into the accelerator and then bam
03:57and this is car and does five thousand dollars worth of damage very good so mr gonzalez you maintain
04:02that the collision happened because you wanted to make sure he didn't get away yes so you go to the
04:07chart sure and i'd like you to show me your version of what happened okay so as both vehicles uh
04:13are basically on villa as he rolls his car directly next to mine he starts screaming i can't hear what
04:20he's saying but i i simply started laughing because i know that he's visual he's visibly upset that i
04:25overtook him in the lane so as i rolled my window down i can hear him screaming that's when he
04:30decides
04:30to spit in my face from his vehicle into mine so after he spits in my face uh i essentially
04:36just park my vehicle in front left fender first however my vehicle in no way shape or form touches his
04:43vehicle the only reason his vehicle ever makes contact with mine is because he makes an attempt to try to
04:48flee
04:49the scene all right i'll ask you to go back to the podium and the police did in fact find
04:54you at
04:54fault for the accident but that's not really the end of the interaction between the two of you
04:58because you called 9-1-1 sir did you not yes can we play the 9-1-1 tape please
05:26mr st raymond that was your voice rather saying he's about to kill me yes but there was certainly
05:32no evidence that he was trying to kill you in fact can we look at video number two because the
05:37police
05:38showed up on the scene and they caught very good visuals and that's you sir is it not approaching the
05:44defendant mr gonzalez yes and you can see where his car has hit mine and your car mr gonzalez you
05:50can see
05:50it is over the line at the time he gave me signs that he was literally going to leave as
05:55he was entering
05:55back into your phone you have a cell phone you could i i i introduced this case as a cautionary
06:02tale
06:02because this happens all the time and sometimes people get shot sometimes people are subject to
06:10much greater damages than either of the two of you had with respect to your vehicles yes i agree your
06:16honor when he hit me when he slammed into me intentionally yes i kind of lost it i was very
06:22mad and
06:23where he lied he said he was he thought i was going to get away i would i had to
06:27stand in front
06:28of his car so he wouldn't drive away so that's when that's when i said he's going to kill me
06:33because
06:33he was saying let me throw this out the defendant's position is that that collision occurred as part of
06:40an exchange that you escalated spitting on someone as an assault so that perhaps this was all a part of
06:47an unfortunately violent exchange that you are in some part responsible for and then you were
06:52in fact arrested by the police and charged with the hate crime because i note that among the
06:57damages that you're seeking against the defendant were towing fees but you were arrested didn't the
07:03police tow your car can we please put up the body cam video of inside the police station you were
07:08being
07:08booked my car was not drivable it had to be i don't know if the car wasn't drivable well or
07:15if in fact
07:15the car was towed into the police tow yard because you decided to spit on somebody and commit a hate
07:21crime
07:21i spit on him after he spit on me we both spit on each other that wasn't in the police
07:26report but
07:27again no evidence of that but what i will entertain are some of your damages you've submitted this four
07:33thousand dollar estimate yes but when i looked at your damages one there was no picture and you didn't
07:38submit any evidence of damage you submitted an estimate which refers to my goodness a myriad of
07:45things including damage to the roof like what did he do he used his superpowers to evade your spit and
07:51then jump on the roof and start jumping up and down no ma'am he slammed into my car and
07:55i a week after
07:57the accident i brought the car into my auto repair person and they came up with the estimate how do
08:02you
08:02explain the claim for damage on the roof that was in your estimate um i don't know i just took
08:08the car
08:08into my mechanic my body shoppan and why didn't you submit any pictures of the damage you know i i
08:15wish
08:15i had taken pictures but they put me in handcuffs i couldn't take pictures judge domingo well i have to
08:20say the reality here is is that this incident on the street was the confluence of two immature men
08:26getting in each other's face and the reality here is that if any one of you had a gun you
08:32don't know
08:33what would have happened next and you didn't even have car insurance did you coming up on tribunal
08:41justice how did his spit hit you in the face i mean you guys are like a car length apart
08:52stephen saint raymond claims brian gonzalez intentionally slammed into his car so he's suing
08:58for nearly five thousand dollars in damages but brian says stephen is the one who hit his car
09:04then spat on him because of his race the reality here is that if any one of you had a
09:10gun you don't
09:11know what would have happened next and that's the scary part and you didn't even have car insurance
09:17did you no i did when an officer approaches my vehicle he asked me for my identification which
09:23included my license and my insurance anybody can hand an insurance card over i have
09:28insurance cards in my card that say i'm insured till hell freezes over but the reality is when
09:33you call the insurance company they'll say it's not always paid or not i don't know if you have a
09:38letter from your insurance company but the point is just two people on the road doing what they
09:43shouldn't be doing and that's playing chicky basically so now you're next to each other you
09:47both stopped you admit you spit now how did his spit hit you in the face i mean you guys
09:54are like
09:54a car length apart so when he spits does he hit you in the face with the spit yes no
10:00we're yelling
10:01he spits me i spit back in him all right so now one of two things could happen you could
10:06let him go
10:07take his license plate call the police what do you do instead of that you cut him off now you
10:13already
10:13know he's hot and agitated right yeah and you are too because you think it's funny that he's hot and
10:19agitated at the moment absolutely you think it's a step you think it's funny so now you're engaged in
10:24this this is why i'm saying you're like two immature kids so now you put your car in front of
10:28him and
10:28now your fear is i'm doing that because god forbid he should get away i did not try to get
10:33out of
10:34there that that's incorrect your honor i got out of my car i was afraid he would drive off and
10:39you
10:39heard me on the 911 call yeah you were a lunatic on the 911 call i was because he was
10:43yelling
10:43i'm gonna run your ass over and yes i was afraid did you at any point mr gonzalez did you
10:48at any point
10:49say i'm gonna run you over get out of the way no that's a lie but there's a criminal act
10:53here for
10:54which you were arrested and charged with harassment and i'm not proud and you went to your diversionary
10:58program with regard to you mr gonzalez your incident where you cut in front of him your car is hit
11:05and
11:06you're given a summons for moving into the wrong lane is that correct yes by the way sir there's no
11:12request by you for any damage to your vehicle the insurance company covered your damages sir so for
11:18that incident he actually had hit the door and obviously the mirror in that angle but i did not
11:23file a claim for it because i was simply going to fix it myself or is that because you didn't
11:27have
11:27insurance company no no because you could have sued his insurance company i could have but i really just
11:31wanted to put this whole situation behind me because it was right after work did you have to pay a
11:35fine or anything the traffic summons oh no i pleaded not guilty it was dismissed you pled not guilty to
11:40being
11:41in the wrong lane absolutely you were in the wrong lane judge levy when i first reviewed all this
11:48material because mr st raymond that this whole story about you spitting in his face was just not true
11:55unless you are a watermelon seed spitting champion cars are about seven or eight feet wide you got to go
12:02through the entire vehicle between the two vehicles and nail you with your little head
12:09all the way in your car and i thought to myself number one there's no evidence that you actually
12:14did spit but now you admitted that you did maybe you did hit him in the face may i comment
12:18yeah okay
12:20both spits didn't hit either person his spit didn't hit me my spit didn't hit him but he's saying
12:26it hits you're in the face right yes well he's lying well it doesn't make a difference if he's lying
12:30or not because even if it's true it gives him all the motive to ram into your car anyone would
12:35be
12:35furious if they got spit in the face let me ask you this mr gonzalez did you ever threaten mr
12:42st raymond
12:43prior to the police coming did you ever threaten to kill him no what about before they arrived before
12:49they arrived he was on my vehicle in front banging on the hood of the car as the car was
12:54neutral put it
12:54in neutral so i said do you want me to kill you because the car he's in front of the
12:58car and it's in
12:59neutral now i didn't say i was going to kill him and you remember denying that to the police when
13:04they
13:04interviewed you right yes yeah so you lied to the police because you knew that it would make you
13:10look bad right i know how the cookie crumbles i know you do let's listen to that 9-1-1
13:15clip again clip
13:16one
13:43do you want me to do it do you want me to do it
13:46what were you going to do the car could have easily gone forward or i could have in anger
13:50accidentally pressed the gas pedal so he was in a dangerous position himself that is why i said what
13:54i said by the way mr st raymond the issue of your request for towing fees and attorney's fees is
14:01due
14:01in part because you claim that the defendant did something that got you arrested right no no sir i got
14:07i got myself arrested you got yourself arrested let's see what you did to get yourself arrested
14:12coming up on tribunal justice i didn't see the accident but obviously you need the breathalyzer
14:18i've been in help here for over 30 years you need the breathalyzer
14:26steven st raymond is suing brian gonzalez for nearly five thousand dollars in damages after ramming his car
14:33then threatening to run him over brian says steven hit his car out of rage committing a hate crime
14:40against him let's see what you did to get yourself arrested
14:43stop running in the street calm down calm down
14:51you can call me all you want it doesn't change that you hit me
14:55calm down calm down
15:00i'm okay right now
15:01i'm doing it with somebody right now
15:04you don't know a big bunch of guys just tell me what happened
15:07you first of all
15:12are you hurt at all i'm not hurt at all
15:14are you hurt at all no but you did ram into my car
15:18hold on hold on hold on
15:22all right i appreciate it you can hang up uh thanks a lot
15:26no no no no problem
15:27i'm concerned about the ghoulish
15:28stop right here i stopped because i heard him come spit in my face
15:32okay how can you justify just like it from that way to this way how can you justify that
15:37come here for a second sorry
15:38oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
15:41no one
15:41one more outburst and you're coming with me so we're clear the police report filed by the
15:47officer on the scene the first one put in that report that you sir committed no action
15:53that contributed to the accident so 1723 clip two let's play the video
16:00i was i didn't see the accident my name is my name is patty and i'm
16:04i didn't see the accident but this obviously you need the breathalyzer
16:08i've been in health care filters over 30 years you need the breathalyzer just
16:11stop it right there stop that just so we're clear the police report they indicated there was no
16:17alcohol or drugs that affected you in any way you were not at fault at all correct keep going
16:24this is where the problem there you are on the ground stop that was you on the ground may
16:31i comment on that yeah you can how'd you get on the ground i sat on the ground because i
16:35realized
16:35i was out of control and i figured i would be better off just sitting and being still i never
16:40ever implied or stated that a police officer made me sit so let's keep going
16:47that's not appropriate you know that's not normal behavior he got out of his car in front of that
16:52car yelled at the gentleman the gentleman got out of his car and he got in front of the man
16:56the young guy's car hit the top of him and said you try to run me away yeah did you
17:02hear him
17:02spit did you see him spit at all cool i did not see him sit i told you that was
17:11it that's it
17:15that's it you're under arrest come on get in there and there you go you did that yourself
17:21i was angry but you were angry so those two towing and attorney's fees chances are i'll speak to my
17:27colleagues not going to make it you said mr gonzalez that one of the reasons why you don't think you
17:32owe
17:32the plaintiff anything is because the plaintiff spit at you cut you off because of your race
17:38because that's a hate crime right after hearing the word used more than 10 times that's what made
17:44me believe it felt really racially motivated do you remember giving a statement to the police
17:49during their interview of you when you said the reason that he was so upset you said it was because
17:54you cut him off you know what don't answer that let's play it all right go for it
18:11so that's why he was infuriated because of how you drove prior right right nothing to do with your
18:17skin right okay sure so we're clear the police report found you to be the cause of the accident
18:23and it also included a policy number from progressive insurance that you provided the
18:29police with correct yes the digital card can you please uh cassandra show this to the plaintiff this
18:34is the progressive letter with respect to the insurance claim that was filed by you against the
18:39defendant read the highlighted portion the 2013 volkswagen gti had no policy with any member of the
18:46progressive group of insurance companies at the time of the accident thank you and that's the reason why
18:51you couldn't get his insurance company to pay for the damage which is why you had to sue him
18:55spot on got it yes sir i have nothing further we are going to retire to deliberate at this time
19:01we'll be back court now stands in recess this case will be recalled parties are excused
19:15candidly i don't think the plaintiff has made his case because i'm not at all convinced of his damages
19:19he included a damage estimate for four thousand dollars and included everything under the sun
19:24when i asked him for instance about the specific claim of damage to the roof i'm like how do you
19:30support that he was like well i just took the car in and that's what they told me we have
19:35not one
19:35picture of the car before not one picture of the car afterward so to me causation and liability on
19:43the defendant is pretty clear he caused the accident but i'm not going to make up a damage number
19:48particularly when the plaintiff himself couldn't be troubled to submit a picture of his damaged car
19:53at least then we would see some correlation between the accident between the repair estimate
19:59and the car right now we have a repair estimate and he says well i just took it in and
20:03they
20:03told me a bunch of stuff i just don't find that all persuasive well that was visible on the video
20:08at another time here's the accident report and the accident report it indicates
20:13the motor vehicle damage diagram and what they're saying is his vehicle was damaged at number two
20:21which is number three and number four correct which is on the passenger side
20:25right it's exactly the right tire and along that way again i still do not know the extent of those
20:31damages and i don't see how they corroborate i mean the police report also said that it was a minor
20:36side swipe and minor damage but the bottom line is assuming that we find the damages assuming we
20:42recognize that the fault was with the defendant because it's pretty clear that it was where are
20:47we with regard to other issues i believe the statute of limitations in this case is already run
20:53the filing was uh 21 days late i mean i don't see any way around that i would say but
21:00for the statute
21:00of limitations i would have awarded him everything everything except for the tow fees and for the legal fees
21:06because that was as a result of him getting arrested for breach of peace oh yeah we wouldn't give him
21:10the legal fees on that so so but for that i believed everything that he said and i agree with
21:16you about
21:16the statute of limitations i think i'm on my own with respect to a dismissal based on lack of evidence
21:22of damages yeah but but we're unanimous on dismissing his case dismissed in its entirety
21:31quarter's back in session parties are reminded you're still under oath thank you bird we've
21:36deliberated and we've reached a unanimous verdict i like the fact that we don't have to escalate this
21:42case into a debate about racism and tension like this case is far more simple than that you were found
21:51at
21:52fault for the accident but sir i really had questions and problems with your proof of damages
21:59and i would have dismissed your case on those grounds certainly on the police report there were
22:04some indications and some notations about where minor damage had been found on your car it wasn't
22:09clear to me how much of that was necessarily caused by the defendant and your damage estimate just
22:15wasn't corroborated by any independent evidence that i was able to credit my colleagues didn't feel the
22:21same way they would have awarded you everything you were asking for except for the towing fees and
22:27the storage and attorney's fees they would have given you damages for your vehicle however they found
22:33that they cannot do that because you filed your case too late you missed the statute of limitations by
22:3921 days and i would also join in that assessment so your case is dismissed it is dismissed with prejudice
22:47and i must say this case doesn't need to be here it really is it's much ado about nothing and
22:52you all
22:52turned it into the civil war unnecessary your case is dismissed sir good luck case is now concluded
22:59parties are excused you may step out
23:04four thousand dollars to my damage to my car and he gets off scot-free at the end of the
23:08day i still do
23:08feel that there was some level of racially motivated hate coming from the plaintiff he lied repeatedly to the
23:13judges i'll just accept their decision as uh win i was willing to risk my life to prevent him from
23:18driving off you can tell that he wasn't in the right state of mind we live in very woke times
23:22and and
23:24people can hit your car and and and and have no insurance and that's fine with with america god
23:30bless america just watch out for road wages and uh watch out for that plank tip in particular
23:35have you been scammed have you been scammed let the majority rule in your favor on tribunal justice find
23:41us on social media
23:45so
24:07so
24:09so
24:19you
24:20you
24:21You
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