Road Rage: Miracles Do Happen
Tatiana D. Peterson was sentenced on July 16 to seven and a half to 15 years in state prison after pleading guilty in May to a first-degree felony count of attempted homicide. On June 10, 2025, she pulled alongside another vehicle on I-380 North in Coolbaugh Township and fired a .380-caliber handgun into it, hitting the driver, Michael Stewart of Middle Smithfield Township, in the forehead. Stewart pulled himself over, called 911, and survived. Dash-cam footage from his truck showed Peterson's Hyundai Tucson pursuing him, appearing to exit the highway at Exit 8, then getting back on and catching up to him again before firing and continuing north. Peterson later admitted to police she was the shooter.
In a civil lawsuit filed against Peterson, her sister Bianca, and their insurer, USAA, Stewart says Peterson “began to aggressively tailgate, pass, slow down, and engage in road rage activity” with him before the shooting. In plain terms: a stretch of aggressive highway jockeying — the kind that happens on I-380 most mornings and usually ends with someone flipping someone else off — escalated to the point that Peterson got off the highway, got back on, caught up to a total stranger, and shot him in the face. Court records also show the same SUV, with Peterson driving, was tied to a similar road rage incident back in January 2024. Whatever this was on paper, it doesn’t appear to be a first offense (at least in spirit).
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
