Jury Selection Starts in 'Road Rage' Case

Jury selection started on Monday for a trial in a road rage incident in Long Beach in 2009 that resulted in the death of a 34-year-old city resident and the arrest of a 22-year-old Oceanside man.

Evan Potts, now 24, will be on trial for the death of Ian Sharrin, an engineer from Long Beach, stemming from the May 15, 2009 incident. Potts was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, and if found guilty he could serve a maximum sentence of 5-to-15 years in prison. 

Potts has been out on $500,000 bond while he awaits trial.

A 12-member jury is expected to be seated next week to hear testimony in the trial, which could last a month.

According to authorities, for nearly two miles, Potts and Sharrin were driving aggressively near each other on West Park Avenue, when Potts, who was at the wheel of a black 2008 Nissan Altima, suddenly turned south on National Boulevard, made a U-turn and headed back toward West Park. Sharrin, driving a yellow 1978 Porsche, ran a red light on West Park and blocked Potts's car.

According to witnesses, Sharrin jumped out of his vehicle, pounded on the hood of the Nissan and shouted obscenities at Potts. At that point, police said, Potts tried to back up, but when a car blocked him, he accelerated forward, knocking Sharrin to the ground and running over him. Potts then drove a block, south on National Boulevard, where two pedestrians who had witnessed the incident pulled him from his vehicle. Long Beach police then arrested Potts.

Michael Brown, an attorney for the Sharrin family, said this week they believe that Potts was the aggressor from the beginning and the punishment should fit the crime.

“The family hopes that the jury sees the criminal conduct of the defendant,” Brown said. “They hope that justice will be served and that Potts will receive his due punishment.”

Asked if he believed it was an accident or an act of self-defense, Brown said, “I think he took a 4,000-pound vehicle, pressed the accelerator and ran over a human being.”

Stanley Kopilow, the attorney for Potts, insisted that it was Sharrin who was the aggressor, relentlessly pursuing his client for about two miles.

“Ian Sharrin exhibited classic road rage,” Kopilow said. “He chased Evan down for almost two miles over nothing, got out of his car, not once but twice, and pounded on Evan’s car. He kicked and pounded on it with his fist, screamed, yelled and cursed. And just before he died, he threatened Evan.

“Evan was running for his life,” Kopilow added. “Evan never intended to run over that guy, but the guy chased him and chased him and chased him.”

Kopilow said that for about two years the incident “has been hanging over Evan’s head like a Sword of Damocles” and he is looking forward to clearing his name during the trial.

“I don’t think that Evan did anything legally wrong,” Kopilow added. “He didn’t do anything that anyone else wouldn’t have done.”

Brown described Sharrin, who was engaged to be married, as a “loving, hard-working family man. He was just a beloved human being.”

Brown said the Sharrin family is managing to cope with their loss by “taking it one day at a time.”

Kopilow said Potts has no prior criminal record, adding that he was working part-time as he was attending college.

“Evan is a fairly typical kid who was trying to do the best he can for himself,” he said.

Nelson Vinokur, an estate planning attorney, said he witnessed the tail end of what happened from his office at 100 West Park Ave.

“I saw this guy totally out of control,” Vinokur said of Sharrin. “And I saw this scared kid in a car. And it looked like the kid panicked and ran over him.

“I think the kid thought the guy was going to break the glass and kill him,” Vinokur added. “I don’t know what would get him so upset, but it doesn’t justify giving up your life for that. It was just a terrible thing to happen.”

* This story was updated from the original.