Photo by Keith Heffintrayer.
Keith Anthony Choice, 34, of Philadelphia, was charged with aggravated assault in the January 2019 incident
It has been more than five years since a Philadelphia man shot at another vehicle and injured an Upper Providence Township man in a suspected road rage incident in Whitemarsh Township, and now he will spend 6 to 23 months in county jail for the aggravated assault.
Keith Anthony Choice, 34, of the 4000 block of Bleigh Avenue, was sentenced this week in Montgomery County court on the aggravated assault charge, stemming from a January 2019 shooting incident on Route 309, according to The Reporter.
Choice, who was arrested and charged by Pennsylvania State Police, was convicted in a non-jury trial by Court of Common Pleas Judge Thomas P. Rogers, per the report. He is eligible for work release, must attend anger management counseling, and must complete two years’ probation after parole, totaling about four years’ court supervision, according to the article.
Rogers ordered Choice to pay $3,211 in restitution to his victim, as well, who suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, according to police.
At 9:58 p.m. Jan. 23, 2019, state police arrived on scene to the Fort Washington toll plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where they found the victim parked, police said. The Mont Clare man told police he was shot in his upper right arm driving northbound on Route 309, according to the report.
After being shot, the victim parked at the toll plaza and got out of his Toyota Tunda pickup, police said, at which time “a single, copper-jacketed .380-caliber bullet” fell to the ground. He was later taken for treatment to a local hospital.
The road rage is probable to police because the victim reported he was never involved in one.
According to the affidavit, the victim was not “involved in a road rage dispute, argument, or other negative altercation” with Choice.
An investigation of the victim’s Toyota Tundra found a small hole in the center of the front passenger side door; police said the bullet took an “upward trajectory,” per the report.
After gathering information from witnesses and talking to the victim, police determined the scenario. The victim was northbound on Route 309, according to the article, in the left lane, and then made a right lane change to exit, causing Choice’s car to be forced onto the shoulder.
Choice then passed the victim’s car on the right shoulder of the road and fired a shot at the car, police said. The victim followed Choice’s car but lost it as it exited at Route 309 and Highland Avenue, and turned around to wait for police and EMS at the toll plaza, police said.
Google Map and cellphone data led police to develop Choice as a suspect, as his location data placed him in the area of the shooting when it occurred, per the report.
Three years later, police would file an arrest warrant for Choice, and he was taken into custody a month later in February 2022, per the article.
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