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STRANGE NEWS: Road rage! Pizza delivery driver plows into homeless man's shopping cart

July 8, 2004

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A pizza delivery driver here took road rage to a new low when he deliberately ran into a homeless man's shopping cart on June 13.

According to the Tennessean, driver Jesse Holt, 23, was angry at the man for "lollygagging in the road being a safety hazard." He admitted to hitting the cart intentionally, but said he had no intention of harming 48-year-old Kenneth McCart.

In an interview McCart said he didn't know why Holt hit his cart.

"I'm walking on the side of the cart. When he hit it, he flipped it over on top of me," McCart said. "I busted both my kneecaps, screwed up both my elbows and my forehead."

McCart said he was waiting in the center turn lane for traffic to clear before crossing the busy road. He initially declined medical attention, but some time after the impact, he said his pain worsened to the point he couldn't walk and that he began having seizures.

Holt was charged with aggravated assault and jailed for several days. A court hearing is set for July 20.

"Aggravated assault is a serious charge if someone is seriously hurt," said Holt, who said McCart suffered only minor injuries. According to a police report, McCart suffered cuts on his right arm, knee and hand. After being informed of McCart's hospitalization, Holt said, "I don't think I had anything to do with that."

The police report said Holt told officers he intentionally used his 1992 Chevy S-10 to hit McCart because he "shouldn't have been in the road, and he deserved it."

Witnesses told police Holt didn't stop after striking McCart's cart and continued on into a nearby Papa John's, where he worked. Several people confronted him there while waiting for police to arrive.

"He showed the opposite of remorse," witness Sunny Tefteller said in a telephone interview. Holt hit McCart "like you'd hit a piece of trash in the road," she said.

Holt called the event "a stupid mistake, (but) I don't want everybody in the Midstate thinking I'm trying to kill a homeless man. It was bad judgment. I was just trying to scare him so he would know he shouldn't be lollygagging in the road."

Holt was fired after the incident.