Contra Costa DA won’t charge Orinda man who killed unarmed driver during road-rage attack
ORINDA — A man in his 70s who shot and killed another driver during a violent road-rage incident last year won’t face criminal charges, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office has determined.
The man, who this news organization is not naming, was 72 when he shot and killed 50-year-old Scott Patrick Decker on Sept. 12 near Las Vegas Road and La Espiral in Orinda. Though Decker was unarmed, authorities say he was standing outside the 72-year-old man’s car, punching him through an open window, while screaming, “I can do this all day.”
The man who shot Decker would later tell police that he believed he would’ve been killed if he hadn’t fired. He pulled a gun from a console and fired a single shot, fatally striking Decker. Authorities say he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
After the shooting, the 72-year-old man called 911. He told police that he suffered from medical maladies that could cause a head injury to be fatal.
The incident occurred in Orinda streets. The 72-year-old man said that Decker was driving slowly in a Toyota so he moved his own Tesla around the Toyota. He later concluded that this must have irritated Decker, who began to tailgate the Tesla while occasionally attempting to swerve around it.
After the man stopped near Las Vegas Road and La Espiral, Decker allegedly got out of his own vehicle and began to punch the man through the open car window, while holding his cellphone in his other hand and screaming at him. The entire physical confrontation, as well as the shooting, was captured on surveillance footage, authorities said.
The Contra Costa Sheriff’s office investigated the shooting and recommended prosecutors not file criminal charges, according to court records. A review by the DA’s homicide unit, finalized Tuesday, concurred.
While they were investigating the shooting, investigators were approached by a woman who said she believed her husband had a road-rage incident with Decker a year before. One of his family members also told investigators that he was an angry person with a history of road rage incidents, authorities said.
The 72-year-old man was never arrested and provided a statement to police after the shooting, authorities said.