Road rage suspect’s views of women cited in attacks
Investigator: Man held ‘very dim’ opinion of female drivers, ranted on social media
A Katy man known to have a "very dim view of women" faces two charges for allegedly shooting at women while driving in west Harris County, authorities said.
Deputies arrested Nicholas Dagostino on Thursday after connecting him to a vehicle involved in a March shooting. Dagostino’s latest charge — his second accusation of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon this year – came a day after the 29year-old was released on a $75,000 bond for similar charges related to a July shooting.
The latest arrest stems from a March 7 incident, when a woman was shot around 2:25 p.m. as she exited a Shell gas station in the Katy area.
She heard a loud noise and felt a pain in her right arm, but she didn't realize she’d actually been shot until later. The woman told investigators that after she was shot, she noticed a man who was sitting in a green SUV while appearing to watch to see if he'd hit her, according to charging documents.
A Harris County prosecutor said in probable cause court on Thursday night that Dagostino ranted and rambled on Facebook about female motorists, “and how incompetent they are, that their sole purpose is to give birth to male children.”
Ken Mingledorff, Dagostino’s attorney, said he hasn’t had the opportunity to speak to Dagostino about the latest charges and declined to comment specifically on claims that his client held sexist views.
“I have known Nick’s parents for a very long time. They’re wonderful people,” Mingledorff said. “Nick is very sorry for any pain that he’s caused anyone.”
The idea that women aren’t good drivers is a stereotype with roots as early as the 1920s. As more middle-class women began driving, the stereotype emerged partially as an attempt to “keep women in their place,” researcher Michael L. Berger wrote in a 1986 paper.
Krista Gehring, associate
professor at University of Houston-Downtown, said that crimes against women can originate because of views that women should behave a certain way.
“When we see individuals, males, who enact violence against females, they tend to have those very traditional ideas about where women should be in society, and that tends to justify the violence against women,” Gehring said.
Dagostino was initially
“When we see individuals, males, who enact violence against females, they tend to have those very traditional ideas about where women should be in society, and that tends to justify the violence against women.”
Krista Gehring, associate professor at University of Houston-Downtown
charged in the shooting of a 39year-old woman who was shot in the arm the afternoon of July 10 as she drove south on south Mason Road. The woman told investigators that at first she thought her window had been hit by a rock, according to court records — but as she pulled into a nearby car wash, she realized her arm had a gunshot wound.
An investigator from the sheriff's office found and arrested Dagostino after using surveillance footage from a nearby business to identify his vehicle. Dagostino was accused of shooting a .45 caliber Beretta Storm handgun at the woman’s vehicle “without provocation,” court documents show.
Dagostino told investigators he had shot the woman in self-defense after she swerved into his lane twice. He also told them he had been involved in similar situations before and had discharged a firearm at another vehicle five times.
While both women who were shot likely had no connection to Dagostino, they appeared to be chosen intentionally, Gehring said.
“He’s not shooting at men who are swerving, he’s shooting at women,” she said.
During an interrogation, Dagostino told deputies that he shot the woman in March to stop what he perceived as a threat because “she struck his vehicle with her vehicle and then purposefully swerved at him another time,” according to court documents.
Dagostino is now being held in jail on $250,000 bond.