Previous road-rage incident to factor into Joe McKnight murder trial
18th April 2017 · 0 Comments
A previous road-rage incident involving the man who fatally shot NFL player Joe McKnight on Dec. 1, 2016 will be used by Jefferson Parish prosecutors to present their case against Ronald Gasser, according to a motion filed in Jefferson Parish court recently.
Gasser, 55, shot the 28-year-old former John Curtis and University of Southern California standout after McKnight allegedly cut him off in Algiers. Gasser, who lives in Gretna, reportedly followed McKnight six miles and fatally shot him after the two men exchanged angry words in Terrytown, La.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said that McKnight got out of his car and confronted Gasser after Gasser followed McKnight from Algiers to Terrytown, Gasser remained in his car and fired three shots at McKnight, who was reportedly standing near the passenger window of Gasser’s car. Gasser remained at the scene of the shooting for police but was not immediately arrested.
The high-profile shooting, which took place nine months after former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith was killed in another road-rage incident, prompted harsh criticism of the JPSO because of JP Sheriff Newell Normand’s initial refusal to arrest Gasser.
Normand held a press conference days after the incident and angrily defended his decision not to immediately arrest Gasser. The sheriff angrily read comments from social media that used the N-word to refer to a number of Black ministers who defended Normand and essentially dared critics to protest the shooting and the JPSO with any action that ran afoul of the law.
A peaceful protest followed with no arrests being made, but demands for justice for Joe McKnight continued.
On Dec. 5, four days after McKnight was killed, Gasser was arrested and charged with manslaughter. That charge was upgraded to second-degree murder on Feb. 2.
Gasser, who told authorities he was standing his ground when he shot McKnight, has pleaded not guilty.
In the motion filed Monday, April 10, in Jefferson Parish Court, prosecutors indicated that they plan to introduce evidence from a 2006 road-rage incident involving Gasser to dispute his claim that he killed McKnight in self-defense.
Gasser’s defense lawyers have said that their client “feared for his life” and was protecting himself as any “law-abiding citizen” would do if attacked by someone.
Nola.com reported that the motion filed last Monday contends that the 2006 incident corroborates “witness testimony identifying (Gasser) as the aggressor” in the McKnight shooting. The motion, however, reportedly does not provide additional details of those witness accounts.
Interestingly, the Feb. 20, 2006 incident took place in the parking lot of a service station at the corner of Behrman Highway and Holmes Blvd., the same intersection where the conflict between Gasser and McKnight began.
Gasser was accused of simple battery in the 2006 incident, which occurred after the alleged victim told a deputy that Gasser had been driving haphazardly in a work truck and cut him off. When the victim tried to call the phone number on the side of the truck, he was reportedly connected to Gasser, who then followed him into the service station parking lot.
According to the motion, Gasser “approached the victim, confronted him in an aggressive manner and punched the victim several times in the head and body” before leaving the scene of the incident.
Gasser later claimed self-defense. Although he was charged with simple battery, the charge was later dismissed.
“The prior acts are extremely relevant as another example of the defendant quickly becoming the aggressor in reaction to a perceived slight on the road,” prosecutors said in the motion.
A deadline of April 20 has been set for defense attorneys for Ronald Gasser to argue why the 2006 incident should not be admitted into court.
This article originally published in the April 17, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
