Road Rage

In a bizarre road-rage confrontation yesterday, a driver in University City struck three construction workers - flipping one onto his hood, smashing his windshield - then drove off but soon returned to argue, police said. Donald Myers, 39, of East Germantown, was driving a Chevrolet Malibu east on Chestnut Street approaching 30th Street around 10 a.m. when he got stuck in traffic, said Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives. The backup was caused by a construction crew directing trucks loaded with supplies onto a site next to the intersection, Walker said.

JUDGING BY the arc of the Kate and Leo movies, falling in love with DiCaprio is much easier than actually being married to the guy. The many millions who swooned over their romance in "Titanic" should expect to encounter a very different couple in "Revolutionary Road. " The bloom is very much off the rose. The movie opens with a spectacular squabble - housewife and frustrated actress April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) has just made a terrible debut in a play mounted by a dreadful amateur troupe, and is getting no consolation from her husband, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio)

The South Philadelphia man charged in the road-rage shooting of a motorist on the Schuylkill Expressway in October will remain hospitalized pending further mental evaluation ahead of a Feb. 11 pretrial hearing on attempted-murder charges, a judge ruled yesterday. Municipal Court Judge Marsha Neifield granted the request from David Ayers of the district attorney's mental health unit to extend Christian Squillaciotti's civil commitment at Norristown State Hospital by 60 days. Squillaciotti, 33, was ruled competent to stand trial but requires medication to remain stable, Ayers said without elaborating.

To his South Philadelphia neighbors, Christian A. Squillaciotti is a "gentle giant. " To associates in the martial-arts world, the 275-pound former Marine is a mystery. But to police, Squillaciotti, 33, is a man with a hair-trigger temper who expressed his rage at another motorist through the barrel of a gun. He was charged with attempted murder yesterday after police said he critically injured a Camden County man who was shot in the head Oct. 5 while driving his 8-year-old daughter on the Schuylkill Expressway.

To his South Philadelphia neighbors, Christian A. Squillaciotti is a "gentle giant. " To associates in the martial-arts world, the 275-pound former Marine is a mystery. But to police, Squillaciotti, 33, is a man with a hair-trigger temper who expressed his rage at another motorist through the barrel of a gun. He was charged with attempted murder yesterday after police said he critically injured a Camden County man who was shot in the head Oct. 5 while driving his 8-year-old daughter on the Schuylkill Expressway.

Philadelphia detectives have released a photograph that they hope will help identify a truck that may be connected to the Oct. 5 road-rage shooting of a South Jersey father. Thomas Timko, 41, of Gloucester Township, was driving his 8-year-old daughter, Katie, home to her mother about 8:40 that night when he may have cut off another driver after going through the toll plaza at the Walt Whitman Bridge. After an exchange between the drivers, Timko opened the moonroof of the 2001 Toyota Highlander he was driving and made a gesture with his hand, his daughter said.

The Glendora man shot in the head during a road rage incident Sunday night in South Philadelphia remained in critical condition yesterday as police kept hunting for motorists who may have witnessed the shooting. Thomas Timko, 41, was wounded after apparently accidentally cutting off another driver on the Schuylkill Expressway near the Passyunk Avenue exit. Police said an exchange of some sort apparently ensued between Timko and the other driver, who pulled out a .40-caliber gun. As the men headed west on the expressway about 8:45 p.m., the other driver fired, and a bullet struck Timko in the head as he tried to shield his 8-year-old daughter, Katie, who was belted in the backseat of his girlfriend's light-metallic-colored 2001 Toyota Highlander.

When Thomas Timko pulled into traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway in South Philadelphia, he may have mistakenly cut off another vehicle. For that, he paid a high price. Timko, 41, of Glendora, Camden County, was critically wounded Sunday night when another driver became so enraged that he leveled a .40-caliber gun from the window of his vehicle and shot Timko in the head as Timko tried to shield his 8-year-old daughter, Katie, who was belted in the backseat. "This whole incident is a nightmare," Sgt. Cynthia Cureton of South Detectives said as she pleaded with motorists who may have seen the shooting to contact police.