SUV driver pounded chest like a gorilla, said witness to fatal road rage

Last Sunday around 2pm in Kirkland, Washington State, 56 year old Patrick Rexroat may have been chasing another car southbound on the I-405 highway in a possible case of road rage when his SUV careened off an exit ramp at Northeast 85th Street and he lost control, before colliding with a BMW driven by one Steven Lacey.

Patricia Kaiser, who witnessed the crash, said in an interview Wednesday that she was just a few feet away from the two cars when she saw Rexroat's SUV fly around a corner and slam into Lacey's BMW. The two cars briefly went airborne.

"I ran over to the BMW first because it was completely totaled," Kaiser said. "I took [the driver's] pulse, and he was dead."

Minutes later, Rexroat climbed from his vehicle and started wandering around, picking up parts of his SUV from the ground, she said.

"Eventually he came toward me. I told him don't come toward me," Kaiser recalled. "He just started pounding his chest like a gorilla. I was so upset. I knew the minute he got out of the car he was drunk."

Steven Lacey was killed instantly.

Rexroat was charged Wednesday with vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving. If convicted, he faces about 3 ½ years in prison.

In charging Rexroat, Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Miller cited Rexroat's "flagrant disregard for the value of human life, coupled with clear indications of impairment" as reasons.

Rexroat had a blood-alcohol level of 0.29 percent, or more than three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent, after the crash.

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