Marine pleads no contest in choking Uber driver during trip

Published September 16, 2016

A Marine has neither admitted nor denied choking an Uber driver on Interstate 95 in Chesterfield, Virginia, while the car was traveling at 65 mph.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports 23-years-old Maxwell Sweeney of Mansfield, Massachusetts, pleaded no contest Thursday to unlawful wounding. He was initially charged with injuring a person through strangulation.

Sweeney was with a Marine attachment at Fort Lee when he and another serviceman got into Rene Sanchez Espinozo's car. While traveling on the highway, Sweeney and the driver got into a dispute because the passengers wanted to change their destination.

Chesterfield County prosecutor Juan Vega says Sweeney was drunk and choked Espinozo before running into the woods. Vega says Espinozo now has symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The judge withheld a finding of guilt until sentencing Dec. 28.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/us/marine-pleads-no-contest-in-choking-uber-driver-during-trip