SUSHI RAGE: Chef Accused Of Going Knife Wild
Traffic Dispute Gets Out Of Hand As Victim Gets 100 Stitches To Head, Tells CBS 2 HD: 'I Thought I Was Dying'
By JOSH LANDIS, CBS 2 HD NewsNEW YORK (CBS) ―
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- Jack Zaiback is dealing with 100 stiches to his face and head after angry sushi chef allegedly attacked him during a road rage incident on Staten Island on Jan. 23, 2009.
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- Jack Zaiman showed CBS 2 HD the extent of his injuries, which include being slashed across his ear, on his face and on the top of his head.
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An angry sushi chef is accused of slicing up another driver during a dispute on the side of the road. But as CBS 2 HD found out, both drivers are facing charges.
"I thought I was dying," Jack Zaiback said. "I actually said a couple of prayers in the EMS."
One minute Zaiback was driving to work; the next, he said, he was fighting off a knife-wielding sushi chef.
"What he did to Mr. Zaiback was he treated him like a slab of tuna. I'll put it that way," attorney Alex Grosshtern said.
Zaiback, 23, was commuting from Brooklyn to a cell phone store he owns in New Jersey when he crossed paths with 37-year-old Yao Zhou and an incident of road rage went off the deep end.
The two men were driving south here on the Western Shore Expressway. Zaiback said he pulled over after accidentally cutting off Zhou. That's when he said Zhou started cutting him.
Zaiback said Zhou first approached the car, but when Zaiback tried exchanging license and insurance information, the attack began.
"He kept trying to reach for my neck and he actually got me right here," Zaiback said pointing. "He did it like seven, eight times."
Zaiback received 100 stitches.
Police have filed assault charges against Zhou and Zaiback, but Zaiback's lawyer said his client's wounds should convince the court his client is a victim.
"This could have easily been a homicide and in my opinion should be charged as attempted murder," Grosshtern said.
Zhou's lawyer declined to speak on camera but told CBS 2 HD there are two sides to every story and, "the truth will come out in time."
Zaiback said he sees meaning in his brush with death.
"I guess God did make a miracle," he said. "Maybe he's trying to make me wake up to something that I'm not doing the right way."
But, he said he has no idea what struck a sushi chef's raw nerve that day.
Zaiback said if it weren't for a passing highway NYPD unit that intervened he could have been killed.
Both men are due in court next month.
From
September 22, 2008
It was the ultimate expression of road rage. A furious woman driver died after ramming another vehicle and spinning her wheels so fast that her own car burst into flames.
Serena Sutton-Smith, 54, burnt to death after refusing to get out of her Vauxhall Nova as she sat with her foot flat on the accelerator.
She spun the wheels so fast that her tyres disintegrated and the metal rims sent a shower of sparks into the engine, igniting the brake fluid and setting the car on fire.
Appalled onlookers urged her to get out of the car as the flames licked around her but she told them to “F*** off”, an inquest in Gloucester was told.
The road-rage attack took place on a quiet country road in the Cotswolds between Weston sub Edge and Mickleton in Gloucestershire.
The inquest heard that Paula Small was driving her Fiat Punto when Ms Sutton-Smith emerged from a side road without stopping, causing her to swerve to avoid a collision. Mrs Small was forced on the grass verge and she flashed her lights as Ms Sutton-Smith passed her.
Ms Sutton-Smith then pulled over and Mrs Small stopped a short way in front of her. She was getting out when the Vauxhall Nova rammed her car.
Mrs Small said: “I opened my door and put my foot out but as I was getting out there was a bang and I hit my head on the door frame. I was frozen with terror.” As neighbours came to investigate they saw Ms Sutton-Smith sitting with a furious expression, revving her engine and spinning her wheels.
Nicholas Willmore told the inquest that he was in his workshop at Cottage Farm Antiques when his mother alerted him to what was happening outside. As he walked across the road to the two cars he saw smoke coming from the engine of the Nova.
Paula Small
He said: “There was a deafening sound of an engine running as though someone had a foot stuck on the accelerator.
“The car’s front wheels were spinning and there was loads of revving. I could see a biggish person at the wheel and there was movement in the car. Flames were coming from underneath the car and I thought the person might be trapped inside although I couldn’t hear any shouting.
“I opened the driver’s door wide. It opened easily. The person looked at me, it was a big built woman. I said ’You’ve got to get out of the car. It’s going to burst into flames’.
May 16, 2008 12:08 am US/Eastern Road Rage: L.I. Taxi Driver Shot In Face
Cabbies Tell CBS 2 HD Gangs, Guns, Bad Attitudes Are Common In Hempstead After Midnight
A Nassau County taxi driver was seriously injured after being shot in the face in a case of extreme road rage earlyThursday morning.The shooting happened right outside the bus terminal at the Long Island Rail Road station in Hempstead around 1:15 a.m. Police say three taxi drivers were talking in the middle of the street when a man driving a Toyota Corolla pulled up behind them.
One of the taxi drivers apparently had his car situated in such a way that it was blocking the street when the Corolla approached, causing the motorist to become enraged.
Police say words were exchanged, there were hard feelings, and the man in the Toyota got out of the car and made a menacing gesture before driving off.
"About 10 minutes later, this man returns in his car, encounters the taxi driver he had the problem with and fires one round, striking him in the jaw, and then fled off," said Nassau Co. Lt. Raymond Cote.
"It was a situation of extreme road rage and, unfortunately, our victim was extremely injured."
The wounded driver, who works for Taxi Latino, has been an employee for only a few months.
"He's a hard-working gentleman out there making a living. It's a terrible situation," said taxi owner Larry Clessinger.
The gunman is said to be a black man in his late 20s, about 5-foot-10, with a medium build, short hair, in a light-colored, possibly gray Corolla.
"We're still looking for the shooter who is out there, armed and dangerous," said Cote.
Fellow cab drivers who work the area where the shooting took place told CBS 2 HD they often fear for their lives while they try to make an honest living.
"I lock my doors and don't talk to many people, you know, strangers," said Bob Vernon, a driver from Wantagh. "Yeah, yeah, it's pretty bad."
Added driver Marvin Sinkler: "It's really getting real dangerous out here. Gangs, guns, attitudes of people who don't want nothing in life."
