By Christina Hall
Detroit Free Press
He says she wasn't driving correctly, traveling around 20 m.p.h. on a busy road and "playin' the brakes."
She says he was swerving like he was trying to hit her vehicle with his pickup.
At the stoplight at Crocker and Metro Parkway in Harrison Township, both vehicles stopped side by side, and a confrontation unfolded that would leave both drivers facing criminal charges.
The man later told a 911 operator that he was mad and the woman was yelling at him and he went to throw his Slurpee at her. And the woman told another 911 operator that she was frightened and fired a shot at the man's truck.
"I'm a licensed CPL holder so I shot at him because I didn't know what the hell he was doin'," the female driver told her 911 operator.
The male driver told his 911 operator: "Damn, that was so close to shootin' me. That's unreal."
Now, India McDougal, 36, of Harrison Township is in the Macomb County Jail on a $750,000 bond on charges of assault with intent to murder, a felony firearms offense and possession of narcotics pills.
The other driver, a 40-year-old Warren man, faces several misdemeanor charges, but his name has not been released because he has not been arraigned. Lt. John Michalke said police will seek charges of driving while license suspended and throwing a missile.
Attorney James Galen, who is representing McDougal, said she is a single mother of two children, one of whom was in her vehicle at the time of the incident Tuesday. He said she just finished multiple months of cancer treatment and was "terrified of the man, who threatened to kill her and hurt her. She was not the aggressor and was only looking to defuse the situation and protect her and her son who was in the vehicle with her."
Galen said McDougal wasn't sure if the man, who she said was using profanity, threatening harm to her and threw a drink through her window, was going for a gun or something else and she discharged one shot.
It was the second road rage incident involving gunfire this week in Mtero Detroit.
On Monday, a 42 year old man was shot and killed in a Home Depot parking lot on Detroit's west side after a fender bender, police said. There was an altercation, both drivers pulled out of the parking lot, and the shooter drove up to the passenger side of the victim's vehicle and fired shots into it, killing the other driver, Detroit police said. They said the shooter fled the scene.
After Tuesday's incident in Harrison Township, authorities said there was a bullet hole through the passenger door of the man's truck and the window glass was shattered. They recovered the bullet from the armrest of his truck, the sheriff's office said.
Both drivers told 911 that they were not hurt.
Deputies found a Kel-Tec 9 mm Luger in the map pocket on the driver's side door of McDougal's Lexus RX330. McDougal was arrested, Michalke said, and she was taken to a local hospital for a blood draw via a search warrant to test her for drugs or alcohol. The results are pending, he said.
- Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com.
HARRISON TOWNSHIP Woman accused of shooting at man's truckBy Macomb Daily Staff A 36 year-old Harrison Township woman was arrested Tuesday evening after becoming involved in a road-rage incident with another driver. According to the Macomb County Sheriff's Department, India Marchea McDougal fired a shot into the passenger-side door of a 2003 Chevy pickup truck at According to the Sheriff's Department, when drivers reached the intersection, the Warren man, 40, said he exited his truck but remained on the driver's side. He said a verbal argument escalated before he reentered his vehicle. He told authorities he then reached over, unrolled the passenger side window of his vehicle and threw a soft drink at the woman's car. According to the man, McDougal produced a gun and fired a round at his vehicle. The man then called 911. Simultaneously, the Macomb County Emergency Dispatch Center received a 911 call from McDougal, who told dispatchers she had been in an altercation and fired her handgun. McDougal told deputies a similar story, except that the Warren man walked around his own vehicle and approached helF 2004 Lexus. McDougal reported as the man neared her car, he had a Styrofoam cup in his hand and he threw liquid in her face. She told the deputies that she was "scared for her life" so she drew her handgun and fired the shot. Deputies located a Kel-Tec, 9mm Luger handgun in the map pocket on the driver's-side door. She is a concealed pistol license holder, the sheriff's office said. McDougal was arraigned Wednesday in 41B District Court in Clinton Township and was held on a $750,000 cash-or-surety bond. She faces three charges, including assault with intent to murder, a life felony; felony firearm, a two-year felony; and • Oakland County man accused of assault, pulling gun during road rage incident |
approximately 5:45 p.m. at the intersection of Crocker and Metropolitan Parkway in Harrison Township after the driver of the pickup confronted her about her driving.