It was a painful day in Nassau County Court on Monday for the family of 54-year-old David McKenzie of Baldwin. His heartbroken mother couldn't bear one more minute of it.
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"I couldn't take one more, not even one more," the victim's mother Pearline McKenzie said. "Because I lost my son for nothing at all. It shouldn't be."
Police say her son was viciously beaten on Schuman Place Saturday night after what police described as a minor fender bender.
Police investigating road-rage murder on Long Island
They say the 26-year-old man who triggered the car crash has a violent criminal record.
Authorities say that Patrick Destine of Brooklyn had just bought himself an Infiniti for $4,000. They say he was driving it drunk, didn't know he ran a stop sign, or didn't care.
"It was unregistered, uninsured, he had no headlights on," said Det. Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick of the Nassau County Police Department. "He got out of the car and started chasing and violently assaulting him.
"Right now, these are just allegations," defense attorney Scott Migden said. "We're not looking to rush to any judgment. We're waiting for the truth to come out."
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But prosecutors say Destine stomped on McKenzie's face and head and repeatedly told him "I should kill you."
McKenzie, meanwhile, was only feet away from reaching his home. Authorities say he had told Destine he wasn't even going to call police about the accident.
"David was the type of person who would try to walk away," the victim's sister-in-law Vivienne Williams said. "He hates trouble."
Meanwhile, Destine's 19-year-old girlfriend, who was with him in the car, was also at court on Monday.
When asked if she had anything to say, Destine's girlfriend Aisha Pitt said, "sorry for you loss."
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But that wasn't all she said.
The Hempstead resident then began confronting McKenzie's family and police outside the courthouse.
McKenzie's grieving mother looked on as Pitt resisted arrest and was then taken back into custody.
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