People v. Richardson CA3

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

Early in the morning on November 10, 2007, Tiffany Henry and her common law husband, Chad Humphries, were driving her Chrysler from North Sacramento to a friend’s house in West Sacramento. While on the freeway, the car’s transmission began to malfunction. The car would slip out of gear, slow down to about 30 or 40 miles per hour at which point the transmission would re-engage and the car would accelerate. The longer they drove, the worse the problem became, with the car repeatedly slowing down and then accelerating. Because of the car’s problems, they drove in the far right (slow) lane of the freeway. As they were driving, Henry and Humphries noticed a large semi-truck driving close behind them with its high beams on. The truck passed them and pulled in front of them. As the truck passed, the driver looked at Henry. Henry testified that once defendant’s truck was ahead of them, defendant slammed on the truck’s brakes and Henry had to brake and swerve to avoid hitting the truck. Henry passed the truck and left the freeway. As they were waiting at a red light in the far left lane at the end of the ramp off the freeway, Henry and Humphries saw the truck had…