On Thursday Dallas Police along with several different agencies announced a new task force specifically for road rage.
Dallas Asst. Chief Michael Igo said aggressive drivers on the roadway have been an issue that’s only increased over the last several years.
“We have more vehicles on freeways than we ever had before that’s leading to some tensions on our freeways,” said Igo as a possible explanation to the number of road rage cases.
He said speeding is also a factor.
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Dallas, Irving, Mesquite and Grand Prairie Police Departments along with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Department of Safety are all part of the North Texas Road Rage Task Force.
Part of the plan is to place more patrols on highways and roadways in general. They’ll target aggressive drivers, those speeding and people under the influence.
Officers said since the task force started in January, there have been at least 333 tickets given out.
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“I hope it keeps another family from being in our position,” said Christina Murzin about the new task force. “I’m glad they’re addressing the issue and trying to work on ways to prevent road rage from happening especially road rage that ends up with killing somebody.”
Her husband, Chris Murzin, was on his way to work when he was shot and killed on I-20 just past I-35 East at the South Polk exit in South Dallas. It happened at 1 p.m. on Feb. 11, the day of the deadly pile-up in Fort Worth due to the ice storm.
“Decided it would be best for him to drive straight through to get where he was going to before it got dark, and get settled in and then take the safest way there, but unfortunately that was not the safest way there. That’s what’s the worst part, if he would have come home, he would not have been on that stretch of highway,” said Murzin.
A 911 caller reported that another driver pulled up next to her husband and shot him.
The shooter is still on the loose and Murzin and her family have put up billboards and flyers for leads and advertising the $57,500 reward through Crime Stoppers.
“We would like justice, we would like to find who did this and have them pay for taking Chris’ life way,” said Murzin about the father of her three children.
So far, the case is still open and she’s hired a private investigator to search for clues.
“We are doing everything that we can on our side to try and find who did this,” said Murzin who hopes all the efforts will help them find the shooter.
“I do wish that TxDOT cameras would record, most of them are just livestream, and if TXDOT would allow the cameras to record, that would have helped in solving my husband’s case,” said Murzin who plans on reaching out to lawmakers.
A representative for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Dallas district said there are around 600 cameras in just the Dallas district alone. He said the topic of having recording capabilities hasn’t come up to his knowledge, but said it would be a huge and expensive undertaking to store all the footage captured.
Dallas Police said it does use cameras in areas of its jurisdiction where they see a high number of road rage. They wouldn’t disclose the locations but said they do have them in place.
“I appreciate them looking into it (road rage) and really focusing on it because it is out of control in our city, the numbers have just gone up and up in road rage incidents, but it really depends on Dallasites need to calm down and take it a little easy because it’s really up to our neighbors, our community, our world to step back and calm down and value others’ lives and realize that whatever happens on the highway, it’s not worth taking somebody’s life for it,” said Murzin.
The Murzins have set up a website with information on the case, https://help4chris.com/ click here for more information.
The Dallas Police Department is asking for anyone with information regarding this investigation to contact Homicide Detective Tonya. McDaniel, #8890, at 214-671-4236 or by email at tonya.mcdaniel@dallascityhall.com. Please reference case #025379-2021. Call Crime Stoppers at 214-373-TIPS (8477), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
