Road Rage Triggered By Pro-Vax Sticker

MARCH 2--A New Mexico woman became so incensed by a pro-vaccination bumper sticker on another motorist’s car that she threw a water bottle at the vehicle before pulling a gun on the other driver, investigators allege.

According to police, the road rage incident began Sunday afternoon when Christina Blair, 33, began yelling obscenities and honking her horn at Gabriel Chavez as the pair’s vehicles traveled on an Albuquerque road.

Blair, cops say, was angered by a “Vaccinated” bumper sticker on Chavez’s car.

Chavez, according to a criminal complaint, told police that he gestured for Blair to drive around him, but she proceeded to follow him to an intersection. While at a red light, Blair “threw something at his vehicle.”

Concerned that the confrontation was “becoming more aggressive,” a frightened Chavez sought to “drive away from the situation,” a patrolman noted. But Chavez then accidentally backed into Blair’s car, prompting him to pull into the parking lot of a nearby Walgreens to exchange insurance information.

An “extremely irate” Blair, cops say, retrieved a handgun from her car and racked the weapon. A video provided by Chavez to police showed Blair “reach into her vehicle and produce a weapon,” the complaint charges. An investigator added that Blair--who was standing six feet from Chavez--appeared to “run the slide and make the gun ready for live fire.”

When Blair produced the weapon, Chavez “called 911 in fear that she was going to shoot him.”

Since Chavez’s video recorded Blair’s license plate number, officers were able to track her to an Albuquerque residence. After being read her rights, Blair reportedly said she honked her horn at Chavez after spotting his “Vaccinated” bumper sticker, and later threw an empty water bottle at his auto.

Asked about brandishing her gun, Blair claimed that she “became fearful” of Chavez. Police, however, concluded that Blair “did have an opportunity to leave the area in her vehicle, but instead overtly reached into her vehicle and retrieved a handgun, threatening Gabriel with the firearm.”

Pictured above, Blair was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and booked into the Bernalillo County jail on the felony charge. She is locked up in advance of a March 3 detention hearing sought by prosecutors who described Blair as a “dangerous person” whose actions “show that she has no regard for the safety of others.”

Blair, prosecutors noted, was convicted in 2007 of aggravated assault and tampering with evidence, while her “4 Juvenile contacts” were “All violent in nature.”

Blair told investigators that she works as a salesperson at a Dodge dealership in Albuquerque. (5 pages)