Man Attacks Woman in Road Rage Incident: Police

HOLBROOK, NY - A Queens man was arrested after grabbing and pulling a 21-year-old woman to the ground after a road rage incident in Holbrook on Sunday evening, according to Suffolk Police.

The woman, Sara (who did not want her last name used), of Ronkonkoma, told Patch she was driving home from her job in Westhampton on Sunrise Highway at about 5:30 p.m., getting on at Exit 60 when a man, identified by police as 34-year-old Pasala Gebhardt, "came out of nowhere" and cut her off.

She said that she was trying to get away from him but every time she tried to change lanes he would swerve in front of her. He even began driving in the middle of two lanes, blocking traffic, Sara said.

"At that point I called 911 because he was trying to hurt me and run me off the road," she told Patch.

She then got off at Exit 52, which was not her usual exit, when Gebhardt followed her, she said. She tried to get away from him but he continued to follow her until he rear-ended her on the service road by Broadway Avenue in Holbrook, she said.

He then drove around in front of her and after they both got out of their cars, Sara claims he began screaming at her, calling her names, grabbing her arms and pushing her to the ground.

At that point, two men pulled Gebhardt off of her and a couple nearby called the police who arrived at the scene within 10 minutes, Sara said.

Sara claims that Gebhardt told her his pregnant wife, who is allegedly an NYPD officer, was in the car and that while they were driving along Sunrise Highway she was flashing her police badge at her.

According to police, both drivers were "engaged in road rage" and Gebhardt was charged with second degree harassment, a violation.

Sara told Patch she went to the hospital after the crash with a sprained neck and back, but police told her that Gebhardt cannot be charged with assault because she did not have any broken bones or other visible injuries.

She says she went back to the hospital on Tuesday to have her head checked for signs of concussion and that she filed another police report in an attempt to get Gebhardt charged with assault and possibly reckless endangerment.