Chevy Chase, famous for his work on Saturday Night Live starting in the 1970s and many movie and TV appearances since, met some people who were decidedly not fans of his on a New Jersey highway on Feb. 9.
Chase gave chase in his blue Mercedes, following the offending vehicle across the Mario Cuomo Bridge, while flashing his headlights.
The other vehicle, a black Dodge Ram pickup, pulled over near Exit 10, and Chase got out.
Chase responded, “If I were a lot younger I'd bust your nose,” TMZ reported.
Police documents show that the pickup driver, 22-year-old Michael Landrio of East Patchogue, New Jersey, claims Chase tried to throw a punch. Someone—Chase says it was one of the passengers—kicked Chase in the shoulder, knocking the elderly actor to the ground.
Landrio tells a different story.
According to Landrio, Chase then launched into a foul-mouthed tirade, screaming “You know who the XXX I am? I am going to ruin your lives!” Fox reported.
Landrio claimed that Chase opened the door to his truck and reached in, trying to punch him, at which point Landrio kicked Chase, sending him spinning back into his own car.
Landrio then closed and locked his car door and was still inside with Chase raging outside his window when a nurse and an off-duty police officer escorted him away, Fox reported.
“I didn’t know who he was—I was just trying to defend myself. He was physically trying to harm me,” Landrio told Fox.
“I looked him up on Google and I still didn’t know who he was,” he said. “He didn’t look like he looked when he made his movies.”
Landrio was given a summons for second-degree harassment. The case will come to court on March 5.
