sptimes.com/2005/03/10/Hillsborough/Bumper_sticker_evokes.shtml
Subsc ribe to the Times Bumper sticker evokes road rage Her Bush-Cheney sticker sent him into a tirade that led to a dangerous car chase through the streets of Tampa.
Political road rage TAMPA - Politics has always been divisive, splitting families and turning friend against friend. This week, though, a Tampa woman learned that simple Bush-Cheney bumper s ticker can bring trouble, if not danger, from a total stranger. Police say Michelle Fernandez, 35, was chased for miles Tuesday by an ira te 31-year-old Tampa man who cursed at her as he held up an anti-Bush si gn and tried to run her off the road. His sign, about the size of a business letter, read: Never Forget Bush's Illegal Oil War Murdered Thousands in Iraq. "I guess this was a disgruntled Democrat," Tampa Police spokesman Joe Dur kin said. "Maybe he has that sign with him so he's prepared any time he comes up against a Republican." Police arrested Nathan Alan Winkler at his home on N Cleveland Street nea r Hyde Park within an hour of the incident. After finding the antiwar sign in his car, they booked him into the count y jail on one count of aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony punish able by up to five years in prison, Durkin said. He posted his $2,000 bond and was released early Wednesday, jail records show. This was Winkler's first arrest in Florida, according to the Flori da Department of Law Enforcement. Winkler, listed in jail records as a contractor, could not be reached Wed nesday. Durkin said Winkler told police officers he got upset with Ferna ndez because she "gave him the finger." Fernandez told the Times Wednesday that "whatever gestures I made, I made them because I was trying to figure out why he was honking at me and po inting to his sign." "At first I didn't know why he was screaming at me," she said. In her frantic nine-minute call Tuesday to a 911 dispatcher, Fernandez sa id it was the Bush Cheney '04 bumper sticker on her green Ford Expeditio n that set the other driver off. "I was just almost run off the road by a man," she told the dispatcher at 5:14 pm She was taking her son, 10, and daughter, 3, to a ballfield. "He just ran me off because I have a Bush bumper sticker in my car. He ha d some type of - he drove up next to me with - he had a sign on it like hanging from his - from the passenger window, that said something about the war in Iraq. Durkin said Winkler started following Fernandez at the intersection of Co lumbus Drive and Armenia Avenue shortly after 5 pm "He told our officers that he just got mad at her, so he went after her," Durkin said. As Fernandez drove south on Armenia, the other driver pulled alongside he r in his black 1996 Nissan, beeping his horn and "flailing his arms," ac cording to a police report. He held the antiwar sign up to his passenger-side window, she said, follo wing her along busy streets in south and west Tampa and veering into her path, forcing her to swerve to avoid a collision. She pleaded with the dispatcher for help and tried to get away by running through stop signs and changing directions. At one point the man pulled his car in front of Fernandez's, got out and started running toward her, Fernandez told police. "He just pulled over next to me, he's stopping the car, it's ridiculous, this man!" Oh my goodness, he's a fanatic, he's in the middle of the street!" She drove along Arrawana Avenue and Habana Street, then back onto Kennedy Boulevard, but she couldn't shake him, Durkin said. The dispatcher told Fernandez to drive to the Tampa police office near Ra ymond James Stadium, but she drove instead to the ballfield where she ha d been headed with her children before the chase. She met with a police officer and carefully described the Nissan and its tag number, Durkin sa id. Officers traced the tag to Winkler, went to his home within an hour and a rrested him. "This could have been tragic, for her and her children and for other peop le on the road as this was going on," Durkin said. Tuesday's confrontation comes as authorities investigate two recent roadw ay incidents, one of which ended in the shooting death of a Wesley Chape l man on his way to the Strawberry Festival in Plant City. David Neel, 49, was found dead in his gray and blue Ford F250 pickup truc k Sunday after a bullet pierced his door and hit him in the chest. The truck had veered off southbound I-75 at the ramp onto eastbound Inter state 4 and hit a tree, according to Hillsborough Sheriff's investigator s They believe he was shot as he drove along the highway, likely by som eone in a moving vehicle. Monday, a Zephyrhills woman driving south on Morris Bridge Road in Pasco County lost her rear passenger window to what Pasco investigators believ e was a BB gun. But Tuesday's incident had something different - a partisan political sti ng. Janee Murphy, chairwoman of Hillsborough's Democratic Executive Committee , said bumper stickers and campaign signs attracted plenty of aggressive behavior during the election cycle, although nothing as scary as Tuesda y's confrontation. "A lot of our Democrats that had Kerry stickers came across people who go t very aggressive," Murphy said. "They were having their cars keyed, hav ing cars come up very close to them. We've had situations where people c urse at them, give hand gestures because of what they have on their car. "But it's just sad, no matter what your political beliefs are," she said. "We don't need people fighting with each other at home when we have so much going on in the Middle East." Attempts to reach Al Higginbotham, Hillsborough Republican chairman, were unsuccessful. Records show Winkler has been registered as a Democrat since 1996 and has lived in the Tampa Bay area for more than a decade. Winkler's father, John Winkler, 59, of Safety Harbor, didn't know about t he incident until a St. He said hi s son, a Web designer, is "kind of a laid back guy." She has been a card-carrying party member since August 1988 - a few months before George W's father, George Herbe rt Walker Bush, was elected president. Members of Fernandez's family said they don't necessarily vote along part y lines. Fernandez voted for Bush in his recent re-election bid, they sa id. "I'm registered as a Democrat," Fernandez's mother Marie Fernandez said. "I respect him for having his beliefs and feeling so strongly," Michelle Fernandez said Wednesday night, her nerves still frayed. "But here he is protesting the war and lost lives, and he is going to put me and my chi ldren in danger? Times staff researchers Kitty Bennett, Cathy Wos and Carolyn Edds and sta ff writer Kevin Graham contributed to this report.
THE 911 CALL Highlights from Michelle Fernandez's call to 911 dispatchers: DISPATCH: 911, what's your emergency? FERNANDEZ: Um, I was just almost run off the road by a man. He just ran m e off because I have a Bush bumper sticker in my car. He had some type o f - he drove up next to me with - he had a sign on it like hanging from his - from the passenger window that said something about the war in Ira q I mean, I am shaking like a leaf. Look, he just pulled ov er next to me, he's stopping the car, it's ridiculous, this man! Look he 's running after my car, Oh my goodness, he's a fanatic, he's in the mid dle of the street! FERNANDEZ: No, I was blowing my horn at somebody 'cause I'm running stop lights and everything else to get away from him.
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