A man was sentenced for his role in a road rage incident in 2023 that involved a district court judge.
The incident occurred on Dec. 3, 2023, at 5:37 p.m., near the Southfield Freeway and Oakwood Boulevard.
An angry driver used his vehicle as a weapon against Judge Kenneth King from Oakwood Boulevard to 6 Mile Road, causing the judge to tell Local 4 that he thought he might have had to use his own gun to defend himself.
“I blew my horn,” said King. “All I did was blow my horn. What came after that was total nonsense.
King had to give his victim impact statement on Tuesday (April 30) afternoon in a circuit court courtroom, which he said was something he had never done before.
At the sentencing of Jamal Terrell Colbert pled guilty to felonious assault for making the judge his target of road rage back in December for miles up the Southfield Freeway after the judge said Colbert almost hit him.
“It was unbelievable,” King said. “As I got onto the freeway, that car followed me onto the freeway, almost ran me into the wall, continued to try to vere their car into me, as I proceeded to Southfield Freeway for approximately nine miles being tormented,” King said.
King described to the court how not only was his life put in danger, but the lives of drivers around him. He was armed and fully believed Colbert and his passenger were armed.
If I had seen that, then any number of scenarios could have played out,” King said. “I could have shot him, they could have shot me, I could have shot an innocent bystander, they could have shot an innocent bystander. I could have, in trying to get away from them, gotten into a car accident.”
Colbert was punished for his role in the matter with three days in jail, anger management classes, and other measures.