Chevy Chase (pictured) claimed that he was attacked. Now the other man speaks out
A man has claimed he kicked Chevy Chase in self-defense after the comedian climbed into his vehicle yelling ‘I am going to ruin your lives!’ and tried to punch him.
Long Islander Michael Landrio, 22, told his side of the story on Friday in an interview with the New York Post, saying his February 9 scuffle with the 74-year-old Chase in South Nyack, New York was purely in self-defense.
Former Saturday Night Live star Chase had told police he was viciously attacked after he was cut off by another driver on the Tappan Zee Bridge and followed the vehicle, thinking his car might be damaged.
Now Landrio, a UPS worker from East Patchogue, says that’s now how the encounter unfolded at all.
Landrio, a UPS worker from East Patchogue, was heading upstate with his girlfriend and another couple when he says Chase forced them off the road and tried to climb in the truck
The incident unfolded after a road rage encounter on the Tappan Zee Bridge (pictured)
Landrio was in the passenger seat with his girlfriend and another couple, all on their way to go snowmobiling upstate.
‘We were in the right lane and as we came up to the bridge we went to the middle lane,’ when a blue Mercedes flashed its lights and pulled next to them on the bridge, Landrio told the newspaper.
‘It was an old guy yelling – something we couldn’t hear – super pissed-off. … We just tried to get the heck away from him. He followed us the whole length of the bridge, driving crazy.’
He said the other driver pursued the truck he was riding in before both vehicles pulled over in South Nyak, on the west bank of the Hudson.
‘My friend opened his window and just said, ‘I apologize, we were just trying to go upstate,’ he said.
‘You know who the f**k I am?’ Landrio said Chase screamed. ‘Then he started cursing at me for no reason and said, ‘I am going to ruin your lives!’ I said, ‘F**k you!”
Landrio, left with girlfriend, said he didn’t even know who Chase (right) was until a cop told him
Landrio said Chase yanked open the truck door while yelling ‘I’m going to punch you in the nose’ adding that the comedian ‘had his hands in my face’.
Landrio said that Chase took a wild swing at him that failed to connect, and he responded by kicking the actor, sending him sprawling out of the truck and onto the ground.
Landrio said he closed the vehicle’s door and locked it to protect himself and his friends, and an off-duty cop intervened and escorted Chase away.
Police cited Landrio for second degree harassment with physical contact. Chase was not charged.
Landrio, who has launched a GoFundMe campaign for his legal defense fund, says he didn’t even have an idea who Chase was.
‘I didn’t know who he was — I was just trying to defend myself,’ he told the Post.
A spokeswoman for Chase says the actor didn’t get into the vehicle and didn’t try to attack Landrio.