The Louisiana man who allegedly gunned down former New York Jet Joe McKnight during a road-rage dispute has been charged with manslaughter — as a defiant sheriff defended the investigation Tuesday and lashed out at critics who had demanded a swift arrest.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said at a news conference that “bad driving behavior and bad spoken words” by Ronald Gasser and McKnight led to the shooting.
“Let us not try to make this out to be something that it is not,” Normand said, shifting his attention to a black parish council member who was the target of Internet trolls.
“It’s not fair for him to be called ‘You punk ass, Uncle Tom c–n, we saw you sell out to him, you rat-ass, f-ggot punk.’ ” Normand continued. “That’s the tone of what we’re calling our elected leaders.”
Normand denied that race played a role in the encounter between Gasser, who is white, and McKnight, who was black.
“What we had were two adult males engaged in unacceptable behavior,” he said.
The altercation — which started when both men were driving erratically and shouting at each other on a bridge — came to a head at a stop when McKnight got out of his car and approached Gasser, who remained in his car, he said.
Gasser pulled out a handgun and fired three rounds at McKnight, killing the ex-player, Normand said. When deputies arrived, Gasser handed over the gun and said he shot the 28-year-old.
Normand said McKnight had a gun in his vehicle but no evidence suggested he insinuated anything about it. It was his stepfather’s gun, and his stepfather’s vehicle.
Gasser, 54, was questioned and released after the killing Thursday pending further investigation — a decision that sparked demonstrations and outrage on social media.
An incensed Normand said Gasser had been sprung initially for “strategic” investigative reasons and because authorities needed to talk to witnesses.
“Gasser gave a statement, but we had no corroborating statements and no contradictory statements from any witnesses we gathered that evening,” he said.
Gasser said he was frightened by McKnight’s threatening comments and acted in self-defense, the lawman said.
The only witness police had spoken to at that point lied when he said Gasser got out of his car, shot McKnight through the windshield, pulled him out of his car and said he had voted for Donald Trump – and was going to “show him,” Normand said.
Police discredited the witness’s account that Gasser stood over McKnight’s prone body, yelling, “I told you I was going to f- -k you up,” before pumping a final shot into McKnight.
“In this state, we have a very forward-leaning, stand-your-ground, self-defense, justifiable homicide laws that creates for us an obligation to get it right,” he railed. “Justice is not a sprint, it is a marathon.”
He said that by waiting a few more days, police conducted more than 160 interviews, identified 260 people to talk to and reached out to dozens of businesses in an attempt to find surveillance video.
He said that if people found fault with the delay in charging Gasser, “Tough! I don’t care!”
Gasser, who didn’t ask for an attorney, was interviewed for more than 10 hours and gave police permission to search his home.
The sheriff condemned the tone of some of the racist slurs aimed at elected officials and law enforcement. Slamming his hand on the podium, he blasted the demands for swift justice and read aloud some of the inflammatory, racist comments.
“This isn’t about race. Not a single witness has said to this day that there was a racial slur uttered in the course of the events,” he said. “Two people were engaged in bad behavior that day. Why, I don’t know.”
McKnight’s death was similar to that of former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith, who was killed in April in a shooting sparked by a traffic altercation. Cardell Hayes is charged with second-degree murder.
In February 2006, Gasser was involved in a similar altercation — at the same intersection — with a driver. A man observed a truck being driven erratically and called a number on the truck, speaking to a man later identified as Gasser.
Gasser — who got into a fight on the phone with the man — followed him to a service station and hit him several times before driving away. The victim called 911. Gasser was found and slapped with a misdemeanor summons for simple battery, which was later dismissed.