Temper Meets the Bumper

Road rage is a curious American pastime. It begins with a horn, matures into a glare, and too often graduates into something the undertaker must settle.

On April 5 in Sparks, at about 5:26 in the evening, police went to Vista Boulevard and Salomon Circle, where they found a man run over by a vehicle that did not trouble itself to stay and explain. The victim, Joshua Hendricks, 46, was taken to Renown Regional Medical Center in critical condition and later died, an outcome that tends to quiet even the loudest arguments.

Officers soon found the vehicle resting in a nearby business parking lot, as though it had grown tired of the excitement. The driver, 19-year-old Jeffrey Abrams, reportedly told police he had struck a pedestrian and then left the scene, which is a confession that saves time but not consequence.

Authorities say the trouble began as a road rage dispute on the Interstate 80 off-ramp at Vista Boulevard and continued along to Brierley Way, where Hendricks approached Abrams’ vehicle. At that point, Abrams allegedly drove through a left-turn lane and struck him, an act that suggests the temper had taken full control of the machinery.

Abrams was arrested on April 27 on suspicion of failing to stop at the scene of a crash involving death, failing to render aid, and driving without a valid license, a trifecta of poor judgment, neatly recorded for the court.

There are many freedoms a man may exercise on the open road, but surrendering his reason should not be among them. When temper takes the wheel, it rarely brings the journey to a place worth arriving.