New York Daily News

Road rager fam: ‘Knew it was him’

- BY MORGAN CHITTUM, THOMAS TRACY, AND LARRY MCSHANE

Just one look was all it took. Family members of the suspect busted for driving his car through a just-opened Flushing bakery’s glass front in a parking space dispute believed instantly that suspect Jie Zou was behind the wheel after watching a viral video of Monday’s road rage assault.

“We saw the white Audi, and we knew it was him,” said the accused man’s sister, Jiaoh Zou, on Wednesday. “We were so scared. ... If you can, please let [people] know maybe the cocaine makes him crazy, but he’s not an actual crazy guy.”

The 24-year-old suspect (inset) was arrested Monday as he fled the scene on foot after attacking another driver with a baseball bat and plowing the Audi into the Rainbow Bakery in Flushing. He faces three counts of assault, two counts of leaving the scene and charges of menacing and reckless endangerme­ent, and waas held on $225,000 bail WWednesday onn Rikers Issland.

Court papers i nn d i c a t e d ZZou, a nnative of CChina in thet U.S. on a green card, ran after the other driver with a baseball bat during a fast-escalating fight between the pair over the space outside the bakery.

The second driver, Li Zong, told authoritie­s that Zou punched him multiple times in the face before jumping in the Audi, hanging a U-turn and slamming into him. Five people were injured as the car continued through the Kissena Blvd. store’s glass front.

The battered Zong was unable to walk without help after the accident and required medical attention for pain and bruising of the face, court documents said.

Jonathan Zhang, the passenger in the Audi, said he intends to file a lawsuit against Zong after his arrest on an assault charge.

“It was self-defense, you know,” said Zhang. “I don’t have much to say on the matter. You can speak to my attorney. I have a lawyer, and I’m going to sue him. Everything is fine. I was self-protecting. That’s all.”

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