Shots fired at motorcyclist on Georgia 400
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - It was a case of road rage that landed a man in jail after investigators said he tried to run some motorcyclists off the road and fired a couple of shots as well.
It happened on Georgia 400 in Forsyth County Sunday morning around 11:30 when members of the Spaulding Sport Bike Riders were on their way to the mountains of North Georgia.
One of the riders was Preston Hansen.
“We were all just riding like a group together and next thing you know you see this truck just speed up beside us and start merging over,” said Hansen.
But it was hardly a safe merge.
Video from one of the riders’ helmet shows a brown pickup truck veer violently at several bikers on Georgia 400
“As soon as he went by me he just started bobbing and weaving trying to hit people, not bobbing and weaving to miss but bobbing and weaving to try to hit someone,” said Hansen.
Investigators said somewhere along the way the group of motorcyclists angered the driver of the pickup identified as Christopher Berchka.
He was charged after deputies with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office reviewed the helmet video.
“We had too much evidence to show that for whatever reason his road rage event crossed the line,” said Corporal Doug Rainwater.
What you don’t see on video is Berchka taking a couple of shots at the motorcyclists, part of the road rage that had gone too far.
“The dude just shot two shots at Mark and I don’t know how but Mark literally ducked them shots,” said Hansen
He said the shots were fired when a smaller group of riders took a side road and were followed by Berchka.
He was later arrested in neighboring Dawson County when he went to the Sheriff’s Office to apparently complain about the bikers.
Investigators told FOX 5 News the riders did nothing wrong and were obeying all laws and were thankful to Terrance Freeman who recorded the video.
“He put all our lives in danger over a careless situation and it didn’t have to go that far,” said Freeman.
Berchka was released on a bond of nearly $12,000.
He is facing charges of aggravated assault with a gun and reckless conduct.