An Ohio road rage incident has ended in tragedy for both parties, again, reinforcing the importance to gun owners—or anybody for that matter—to just drive on and avoid conflicts at all costs.
Arguing self-defense in the road rage incident, which resulted in the shooting death of George Jensen, 40, on May 17, 2023, Dacarrei Kinard, 31, was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and additional firearms-related charges. Kinard was facing murder charges, but the jury, which deliberated for five hours, found him guilty of the lesser, albeit still very serious manslaughter charge.
In court, Kinard described the scenario, as recounted by the Akron Beacon Journal:
Hours before the shooting, Kinard said he left Columbus for Youngstown to attend his nephew’s sixth birthday party. On the way, he stopped at a Mansfield music store to pick up a clarinet for his teenage daughter before continuing north and west.
He said he drove with cruise control on at 65 mph for much of the drive. Then, while in the far-left lane, he noticed a blue Mazda weaving in and out of traffic, speeding up and down and flashing its lights.
“He was tailgating me,” he said. “It made me mad, so I sped up to about 72 [mph].”
Soon Kinard heard what he described as the noise of rumble strips coming from the shoulder lane to his left. Looking toward the noise, he saw the Mazda speeding by him.
In an attempt to drive away from the Mazda, Kinard said, he switched lanes multiple times — but the Mazda cut him off each time.
Eventually, Kinard moved alongside the Mazda when he merged into the rightmost lane. That’s when he saw the Mazda creep into his lane, he recalled.
“I was thinking this guy was trying to harm me, run me off the road,” he said.
Boxed in by the Mazda, a white trailer to his front and a vehicle to his rear, Kinard said he swerved into the right shoulder and merged back into the slow lane in front of the trailer.
That’s when Kinard said Jensen pointed a black object at him.
“I took cover. I went down. I grabbed my firearm, and when I looked up, he was still pointing whatever he was pointing at me,” Kinard said. “I was scared, and I just fired. I didn’t want him to hurt me. I’m sorry.”
Immediately after shooting eight bullets into the Mazda, he saw the vehicle swerve left, giving him room to speed away. He recalled exiting I-76 before re-entering the westbound lanes, passing the scene and continuing to Columbus.
The Beacon Journal reported witness who testified during the trial supported Kinard’s allegations of Jensen’s aggressive driving, but none recalled “seeing the blue Mazda (Jensen was driving) attempt to drive him off the road.”
Kinard might have helped his cause had he called 911 immediately following the incident, but instead, he admitted to exiting the highway and then driving back to survey the scene before driving on. He also admitted lying to investigators about owning a firearm or being in the area at the time of the incident and hiding the gun in a storage locker.
Kinard’s sentencing is set for April 12.
One family has a lost a member to death and another is now going to lose one to prison. There are never any winners in road rage encounters that turn violent.
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