I live in San Antonio, and I make it a practice to stay the hell out of Austin if I possibly can. Even when I am traveling up north, I take the bypass road to go around that shit hole, because on top of being a bastion of Leftism, the city is in capable of designing and building roads that can handle their traffic.
As for this particular situation, I would hope that this is appealed to a higher level. It is a very clear case of self-defense. Nobody goes on a trip in their car, expecting someone to stick in AK-47 in their face, with the hope that they can shoot the guy holding the AK. The result is absurd on its face.
When traveling from SATX to visit our daughter at UNT, we almost always took 281 to avoid Austin. A little longer drive, but much more scenic. Dad was born and raised in Austin and by the time he passed five years ago, it was 180° out of phase from his experience.