It said she had to swerve off the road to avoid them -- that's not quite the same as being run off the road.
I've swerved onto the shoulder before because someone who was merging from the left was watching to make sure the car in front of them didn't stop and just didn't notice me.
Maybe the woman had a gap between her and the next car, but when the other driver signaled, she ran up so they couldn't merge in, and they didn't notice and started merging anyway.
I know I've merged into the same lane as someone else at least one or twice in my life, not on purpose. Fortunately, every time I've done it or others have done it to me, one of us was attentive enough to pull over and prevent an accident.
I never responded by throwing things at their car.
It could of course be that the other guy WAS being a completely obnoxious driver. The story seems to tell the story only from the woman's perspective, since the other driver wasn't charged so far as we know he probably figured keeping quiet was the best avenue.
I liked that the woman in the other car was upset the police took this to a trial and she might have been jailed. Community service would have been an appropriate way to handle it, with a record being expunged. No use having a criminal record for just throwing a soda.
No disagreement with you on the Eliza chick, it's the boyfriend I have suspicions about. You must have only read one account - I read a couple and one says she was run off the road. If that's true, I think the Boyfriend should have to pay a little to justice, too, this crime didn't just happen out of the blue. I have a big problem with weavers, scumbags who refuse to use their turn signals, drunks and anyone else who doesn't observe road courtesies and laws about using signals. They too have got to pay if the war wife does. Still, I suspect the thrown ice was just a crime of opportunity. I prefer to report scumbags to the authorities and watch the reaction if I give them a good enough case, rather than throw things myself, I just am not that good a shot and tend to prefer to use the law as my weapon, not a stupid cup of ice.