Dec 28, 2016 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – A Detroit man accused of shooting another motorist near Mt. Morris during a nearly 28-mile road rage chase along Interstate 79 in May pleaded guilty last week to lesser charges.

Nicholas Lamont Carter, 26, pleaded guilty Dec. 21 to reckless endangerment, carrying a firearm without a license and receiving stolen property, although prosecutors dropped the more serious charges of attempted homicide and aggravated assault.

Carter was a passenger in a sportutility vehicle traveling north on I-79 in West Virginia in the early hours of May 25 when Pennsylvania State Police said the SUV nearly crashed into another car near Fairmont. Police said the driver of the car, Ronnie Downey, began following the SUV in an attempt to get its license plate.

The chase continued for 28 miles into Pennsylvania near Mt. Morris where police said Carter leaned out the SUV’s window and fired three shots at Downey’s car, striking his passenger Ronald Kovach of Fairmont, once in the arm. Downey called 911 and two troopers stopped the SUV near the Ruff Creek exit, where they arrested Carter.

Police said Carter threw the handgun out the window following the shooting, but troopers found it by the side of the highway and later learned it had been reported stolen in West Virginia. Police said Carter was not permitted to possess a weapon because of a previous felony conviction for assault in the commission of a robbery.

Carter told investigators he was traveling north with three acquaintances to a bus station in Pittsburgh when the incident occurred.

Kovach, who was wearing a sling while testifying at Carter’s preliminary hearing in June, said he suffered two shattered bones and lost feeling in his arm and some of his fingers after the shooting.

Greene County District Attorney Marjorie Fox said a “potential problem” in prosecuting the attempted homicide charge hinged on whether the shooting actually occurred near Mt. Morris where the victim said it happened or just south of there on the West Virginia side of the line in Monongalia County. Fox said she would not only have to prove the merits of the case, but that it occurred in her jurisdiction.

“That would’ve been an issue for anything with the attempted homicide charge. Which side of the border did (the shooting) happen?” Fox said. “That was a big part of the case.”

Carter’s public defender, Harry Cancelmi, said his client accepted responsibility for his role in the incident.

“I don’t know if it was some game being played with the cars, but there was some provocation and whatever happened, happened,” Cancelmi said.

Following his guilty plea last week, Greene County Judge Lou Dayich sentenced Carter to two to seven years in state prison. Carter has been held without bond in Greene County jail since his arrest and will be given credit for time served.