December 24, 2024

There is no road rage quite like backroad rage.

The story of the failed prosecution of Alphonsus O’Connell involved allegations of many of the familiar elements of road rage, and not just by him, but also his alleged victim: honking, tailgating, brake checking, forcing someone off the road, brandishing a firearm.

It also had vastly conflicting accounts about what actually happened that call to mind the old joke that anyone driving faster than you is a maniac and anyone slower is an idiot.

The fact that it happened on a dirt road in the wild Newfoundland woods with no witnesses other than the participants added a mere wrinkle to the decision of Judge Wayne Gorman of the Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, who heard the trial in Corner Brook and issued a ruling Dec. 18 .

In the end, O’Connell, the elderly accused, beat the criminal charges against him of dangerous driving and uttering threats. But he took a long way getting there.

It began, as these things sometimes do, while people were out spreading moose estrogen on trees.

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