Most liked posts in thread: Police: Mini Cooper Was Road Rage Weapon

Judge releases road rage suspect with monitoring

Judge orders suspect to anger management classes

By Liz King Staff Writer Home EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

NEWBURYPORT — Citing his clean driving record and no prior history with law enforcement, the attorney for the man accused of driving his Mini Cooper into a 69-year-old Lawrence man several times on Tuesday suggested the episode was an isolated incident and that his client is not a danger to society.

At yesterday's dangerousness hearing in Newburyport District Court, Judge Peter Doyle found Neil Christopherson, 39, of 11 Tobacco Road, Derry, N.H., dangerous, but allowed his release, subject to wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. He is due back in District Court on Friday.

Christopherson was ordered not to drive, to begin attending anger management classes and to stay away from and have no contact with the victim or witnesses.

Christopherson is charged with three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon to a person over 65, one count of assault by means of a dangerous weapon (bat) on a person over 65, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident with personal injury and reckless operation of a motor vehicle.

According to police, the incident started as Christopherson was driving east on Route 113 through West Newbury and began tailgating a 2007 Chevrolet Impala, driven by 69-year-old Joseph Toscano of Lawrence, who was driving below the 50-mph speed limit. Police say Christopherson began honking his horn and waving a black, metal baseball bat out of his window.

Toscano pulled over on Storey Avenue to let him go by, and Christopherson pulled up behind him. Concerned for his wife's safety, Toscano got out of the vehicle, and a verbal altercation ensued, in which the suspect shouted expletives at the man.

Police said Christopherson then got back in his black Mini Cooper, saying "I will show you" and began butting the man with his car, hitting him at least three times, before fleeing into traffic. Police apprehended him at the Dunkin Donuts at the Route 1 traffic circle.

Arguing that Christopherson should be incarcerated while he awaits trial to ensure the safety of the community, the prosecution cited 10 examples of dangerousness displayed in the incident, including reckless driving before and after the attack, the waving of the baseball bat, the refusal to keep driving after Toscano pulled over, getting out of his car to get in the altercation, the use of extreme profanity, the lack of concern that the police were called, the intent in driving into Toscano to "show him something," the use of a bat to assault, the use of a vehicle to assault and assaulting someone 30 years older than he is.

"I don't know of any indication that this wouldn't happen again," the prosecutor said. "Whatever the rage problem was is something that cannot be solved overnight."

Defense attorney Nicole Reilly argued rather than looking at "one isolated incident which may never happen again," Doyle consider Christopherson's past — which includes no prior convictions, no driver's history in Massachusetts, and only one speeding ticket in New Hampshire for going less than 25 mph over the speed limit in 2006.

"He's gone 39 years without any involvement with the law whatsoever," Reilly said.

She stated that Christopherson is involved in the community, owns a barbershop in Haverhill, where "most of his customers are police," and that friends and acquaintances say the incident is "uncharacteristic" of the 39-year-old.

Reilly also suggested that a possible scenario of the incident was that her client was trying to leave the scene, when the victim initiated the altercation by demanding Christopherson exit his car. She said her client may not have known Toscano was elderly because "he looks quite young" and is actually bigger in stature than Christopherson.

Reilly suggested the "least restrictive" alternative to incarceration, as Christopherson would like to maintain his business and keep working to help put his 21-year-old daughter through college.

Though his car is registered in New Hampshire and he gave a Derry, N.H. address, Christopherson has an apartment in Newburyport, and his parents live in the area, Reilly said, stating that electric monitoring could work, and they could ensure he didn't drive.

Christopherson's parents were in the courtroom yesterday for his dangerousness hearing. Outside the courtroom, his mother, who flew back from Florida to attend the hearing, said her son has never been in trouble with the law and insists that Christopherson is not a danger to the public.

When asked what could have prompted the incident, she suggested he "just had a bad day." She said Christopherson likes to play baseball, which is why he had a bat in his car.

"He's a great kid — everyone loves him," his mother said. "No one can believe this happened."

 

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