2nd person in viral road rage incident identified, 1st seeks release

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A truck driver seen in a viral road rage video now faces charges, and attorneys for the first suspect, Jenipher Lewis, said that move could affect her case.

Prosecutors charged truck driver, Robert Hagen, with aggravated assault and other charges.

Video from the fight spread on social media and showed a confrontation between two drivers. Two days later, police arrested Lewis and charged her with aggravated assault and child abuse because her children were in the back seat.

“It really only captured this moment in time, kind of excluding this other individual who’s now been charged, giving us just a one-sided view on a two-sided story,” public defender Travis Wagman said.

Court documents show no one publicly identified the truck driver for days because his truck had no license plate on the back bumper. Records show Hagen came forward a week later with his attorney and gave police a recorded statement.

Hagen told police Lewis broke his window, then he accelerated to try to get her license plate. Hagen said Lewis brake checked him and he hit her car from behind. Hagen also said he left because he feared for his safety.

Police first released Hagen. But after a special investigator took over the case on Oct. 19, prosecutors brought charges against him.

“It was a second look more than anything else where they saw again the same evidence and realized that they had made a mistake and they needed to move forward on this,” Wagman said.

Hagen now faces charges of aggravated battery, criminal damage to property and leaving the scene of a crash. Lewis remains in jail, and her attorneys said they hope the new charges help their effort to get her released.

Hagen’s attorneys filed a request of their own to drop his charges. They argue police previously said Hagen was a victim and would not face charges.

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