By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

It was a case of senseless violence, but then again, violence never makes sense for victims.

Road rage can be found on roads across the country on a daily basis, but rarely is it as horrific as the incident involving Jennifer Boulden, 34, of Prior Lake, on Feb. 25.

Although road-rage incidents rarely involve a physical altercation, reports are quite common, with people sometimes yelling at each other from within their vehicles as they drive, weaving in and out of lanes or braking to get back at someone who may have cut them off or tailgated, said Captain Jeff Tate of the Shakopee Police Department.

According to the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Boulden cut off a man while talking on her cell phone and making a U-turn on Highway 169 and Highway 41 in Jackson Township. Boulden was confronted by the angered driver. After attempting to offer an apology to the man she cut off, Boulden was involved in an argument with the suspect and was pushed backward into rush-hour traffic after trying to keep the man from shutting his door. Boulden fell to the ground, and her cell phone broke.

After pushing the petite mother of five into the highway, the man then left the scene.

Boulden lay in the middle of the road with injuries that caused her to spend the next four days recovering at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee.

Her story was plastered all over local media and made it into newspapers as far away as Chicago and Detroit.

After interviewing witnesses and re-interviewing Boulden, the Scott County Sheriff’s Office clarified that at no time was Boulden pulled from her vehicle, and her cell phone was not taken from her and smashed. Her phone broke when she fell, according to a Sheriff’s Office release.

A week later, Boulden is home, but her real-life nightmare still hasn’t set in.

Trying to recover

This week, Boulden sat on her couch, cuddling with her 3-month-old puppy while her 2-year-old child took a nap. Her other children were at school and her husband was at work.

Things seem normal, but Boulden continues to struggle to come to grips with the idea that she could have lost her life for no reason.

“I’m just grateful my 2-year-old child wasn’t with me,” Boulden said. “I almost brought him along. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I did.”

She can’t recall what she was thinking as she lay in the middle of Highway 169, listening to cars come to screeching halts while a complete stranger stopped traffic and another witness carried Boulden to the side of the road to wait for emergency services to respond.

Tuesday, she made her first strides to heal physically with a variety of therapies and acupuncture treatments in attempts to heal the injuries to her back and her right leg.

While her physical wounds will eventually heal with pain medication, physical therapy or surgery if needed, Boulden said her emotional scars may take longer to heal.

She still hasn’t driven her car since the incident, and she isn’t sure when she will decide to get behind the wheel again.

She hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since the incident, as she is awoken by nightmares every time she falls asleep.

“I have a lot of fear,” Boulden said. “It’s like a bad dream.”

The one thing she really wants to come from this incident is closure.

Through justice, she hopes future road-rage incidents by the man can be prevented.

“I don’t believe this was the first time this man did something like this, and I fear it won’t be the last,” Boulden said.

Boulden hopes someone who knows something about the man will go to Scott County authorities with information. The suspect is described as a white man in his mid 40s with gray hair, between 5 feet 8 inches and 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighing between 180 and 260 pounds.

The man was driving a dark-colored, possibly blue or green, full-sized pick-up truck with a topper and a possible extended cab, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Prior to the incident, Boulden was on her way to be fitted for a bridesmaid dress at about 5:30 p.m. Feb. 25.

Her legal U-turn caused the man she cut off to hit the brakes and go into the median to avoid her, said Captain Greg Muelken of the Sheriff’s Office. The two vehicles then pulled over on the shoulder of the road near Mobile Manor, he said.

Boulden doesn’t recall much of what happened to her on that Monday evening, but she accepts responsibility for making a mistake.

She got out of her car after the man yelled at her because she didn’t have the opportunity to apologize while he was “ranting and raving” at her vehicle window, she said.

“I’m trying to take the good out of this, rather than the bad,” Boulden said. “I’m upset, but I don’t want this story to die. I want to find this person. I want to know why. I want some closure.”

Boulden, a stay-at-home mother, is trying to heal herself both physically and mentally before she tries to explain to her children what happened.

“My 14-year-old thinks I’m a movie star since I’ve been on television so much,” Boulden said. “If that’s what she needs to think to deal with this right now, that’s fine.

“I’m doing all I can to shield my children from this right now because they’re scared,” she said. “They’re afraid we’re going to get in a car and it’s going to happen again. They’re freaked out.”

Boulden said she has never dealt with a situation like this before, so all she can do is “try to do the best I can to heal myself.”

She and her family are planning to go to psychological therapy to help heal the emotional scars.

As for the physical injuries, Boulden has nerve damage to her right leg; she re-injured a couple of herniated discs in her lower back; she has bumps on the back of her head, bruises on her shoulder blades and soreness in her neck.

“My back had been fine, but this incident re-injured it to the point to where I couldn’t move for two days,” Boulden said.

The road to recovery seems to be a long one at this point, Boulden said.

“But I feel very lucky,” she said.

The outpouring of support from strangers has been overwhelming, she said. Several witnesses have called her mother to get updates on how she is feeling.

“It is amazing to know how many strangers stopped at what many of them thought was a domestic situation,” Boulden said. “Some people kept driving, but that is understandable when they don’t know the situation. I just can’t believe all the people who stopped and put themselves in harm’s way to help me. When I start feeling better, I would like to thank the people who helped me.”

Boulden said she can’t help but blame herself for this incident.

“If I would’ve been more careful, this may not have happened,” she said. “There were two parties at fault, and I accept my responsibility. Drivers like me need to take their time and relax when they are late to something, so you don’t upset others.”

Boulden said one lesson she will take from the incident is to never get out of her vehicle.

Because people never know who the person is they’re dealing with in road-rage situations and what that person might be capable of, Tate said people should remain calm, let the other vehicle pass and call police with identifying vehicle information.

“By escalating the situation, their actions could have serious consequences,” Tate said.

“I was just trying to apologize, because that is the type of person I am,” Boulden said. “I didn’t want someone mad at me. But I never thought someone would physically hurt me, either.”

“I could sit here and think of the negatives all day long, but I can’t do that to myself,” she said. “I have to think of the positives, and hopefully something good will come of this.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Scott County Sheriff’s Office at (952) 496-8300 and ask to speak to an investigator.

 Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com. Shannon Fiecke contributed to this report.