Kootenay road rage assault case shows 'best defence isn't a good offence'
An Alberta man was acting in self defence in a road rage incident in the Kootenays, but he failed to act reasonably when he punched the other driver in the face, causing injuries, a judge ruled.
It was a situation many drivers have faced before. Jonathan Thebaud was driving a black Mercedes SUV in August 2021 and made a dangerous pass near Kimberley around 65-year-old retired truck driver, Bradley Bettke, who was heading home from golfing in his Ford F-150. Should you find yourself in a similar situation, this case might help you decide your options.
Bettke swore he only started chasing Thebaud down, even past his own home, to get his licence plate. Thebaud never testified in his defence but his girlfriend, who was in the vehicle with her two children at the time, said she eventually came to understand why Thebaud was so nervous while driving. He didn’t tell her that the F-150 was chasing them, but he thought it best to stop before they reached their resort so the pursuer didn’t see where they were staying.
He pulled over and sure enough, Bettke wasn’t far behind. Bettke stopped and got out of his truck when he said Thebaud sucker-punched him.
Bettke suffered a broken nose, broken orbital bones and required 14 stitches. Both men were roughly the same size but without noting his actual age, Justice Jennifer Whately said he was much younger.
Thebaud’s lawyers had asked Whately to consider that Thebaud is a Black man and had greater reason to fear violence from his pursuer, also coming shortly after the death of George Floyd in the U.S. But Whately concluded that this exchange was much more simple.
“There were no words or gestures or anything being communicated between Mr. Bettke and Mr. Thebaud to suggest that racism was a factor on top of what, on the surface, appears to be a wordless mutual disagreement about driving habits. In other words: road rage,” she said.
She found that Thebaud had a right and a good reason to defend himself since he was being chased, but by punching Bettke without so much as a conversation, he became the “primary aggressor.”
"Mr. Bettke's dogged pursuit of Mr. Thebaud’s vehicle was troubling. I accept the defence’s submissions about the social context in which Mr. Thebaud lives, and I accept that these factors may well have heightened his sense of vigilance and apprehension. However, as I have found, Mr. Thebaud had many other avenues open to him in terms of possible responses or choices to make that evening,” Whately wrote.
"The saying 'the best defence is a good offence' may be accurate in hockey, but in all the circumstances before me... I cannot find that Mr. Thebaud’s decision to approach Mr. Bettke’s truck and strike him was a proportional or reasonable response to a threat that had not yet clearly materialized."
She found Thebaud guilty of aggravated assault. He will be sentenced at a later date.
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