Durham road rage victim released from hospital 8 days later, happy to be alive
A Durham man shot last week during a road rage incident on U.S. Highway 15-501, walked out of the hospital on Friday with the assistance of a walker.
After spending eight days in Duke University Hospital, Chris Stinnett has worked to get back on his feet, working to regain strength.
“I am just very thankful to be here,” Stinnett said. “I was pretty scared when this happened."
A GoFundMe in Stinnett's name raised more than $30,000 to help cover medical expenses. Stinnett, the current manager of Rise Southern Biscuits in Raleigh and the former owner of well-known Durham restaurants Pop’s and Rue Cler, doesn't have health insurance.
911 calls released from the shooting reveal that Stinnett thought he was going to die.
"I was just looking straight ahead. I heard gunshots. He fired three or four. And then I felt this thing in my back and I can’t move my legs," he told the 911 operator.
Now, Stinnett is on the road to a full recovery. He said he's able to walk with the help of a walker.
After being shot, Stinnett said he ran through his head the last words he said to his children — thinking that was the last time he'd ever speak to them.
“Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined somebody would have shot at me on the highway," he said.
Stinnett said he saw a driver behind him swerving in and out of traffic. He had to hit his brakes because of traffic, and the driver then began to swerve, "trying to figure out the fastest [way]" through traffic.
He then sped up beside Stinnett and started throwing his hands in the air.
Stinnett said, "I looked over at him and I literally put my hands up, and I was like, 'What are you doing?'"
Stinnett then put his hands back on the wheel and put his eyes back on the road.
"That's when I heard five gunshots and my legs went completely numb," he said.
Stinnett was paralyzed in his car while driving 65 mph in heavy traffic.
"I can’t close my eyes without hearing those gunshots and thinking about that," he said. "It’s just something you don’t ever think would happen.”
Stinnett said if he could say anything to the gunman, he would ask him why he decided to pull out a gun.
"What did you accomplish out of this? You did nothing," Stinnett said to the suspect. "The pain you could have caused me, you could have taken my life and my three kids to grow up without a father. And for what? Your road rage? Your anger with how fast I was going on the highway? It just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Even though Stinnett has a long road to recovery, he is not worried that his life will back to usual soon.
"This isn’t going to change me. I am going to be the nicest person in the world to everyone I come in contact with, because if I let this destroy me, then he wins," he said.
Stinnett said that one bullet is still lodged inside him.
"That bullet is going to stay with me because, from what I understand, it would be a little more difficult to take it out right now," he said.
