Notorious Tesla road rage driver back up to his old tricks just months after early release from prison

A Tesla driver who became notorious for his road rage attacks appears to be back to his old tricks just months after his release from prison.

Nathaniel Radimak, 39, was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly sped past an 18-year-old driver in Honolulu, Hawaii and punched her in the face, before assaulting her mother, KITV reports.

He is now charged with unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, assault and contempt of court in Hawaii, where he also had an outstanding traffic warrant dating back to January 2023.

Radimak was cited at the time for driving without a valid drivers license and speeding more than 30 miles per hour over the posted limit, according to the Star Advertiser. 

He is also on parole in California, where he pleaded guilty in 2023 to assault, vandalism, elder abuse and criminal threats after he was caught using a metal pipe to bash in more than a dozen victim’s cars throughout Los Angeles County between 2022 and 2023.

Several of those attacks were caught on camera, showing Radimak wielding the pipe and approaching drivers’ vehicles.

He was ultimately sentenced in September 2023 to five years in prison – but was astonishingly released from prison after serving less than one year behind bars. 

A court granted him 424 days of pre-sentence credit for time served while awaiting sentencing, ABC 7 News previously reported. 

In his latest attack, Radimak allegedly sped past as Diane Ung was teaching her teenage daughter how to parallel park outside of their condo.

Ung told KITV, he was traveling at 40 to 50mph down the residential, when he almost clipped her daughter’s car.

‘And then her big mouth, you know local people gonna yell out their window, she said, “Slow down!”‘

At that point, Ung said the aggressive driver made a U-turn and started yelling at her teenage daughter, whose seven-month-old baby was asleep in the vehicle.

He taunted, ‘What the F did you say to me? Say back to me,’ Ung recounted.

‘Then he got closer to my daughter’s window, reached in and punched her in the face.’

Outraged, Ung said she got out of the car to defend her daughter – prompting Radimak to threaten her, as well.

But Ung said she had her iced coffee from McDonald’s in her hand, which she then decided to throw at his car.

‘And he came running across the street, struck me like a Superman punch right inside my face,’ she claimed.

‘I fell down to the ground, big gash in my head. And I’m just like, “Go check on the baby. Don’t worry about me. Go check on the baby,”‘ Ung remembered telling her daughter.

The attack on Wednesday left many throughout California and Honolulu outraged that Radimak was allowed to get back on the road following his release from prison.

‘When you get away with something bad, your actions only escalate – and we see that here,’ Honolulu defense attorney Megan Kau told KITV.

‘It’s alleged that this person punched a young girl in the face,’ she continued. ‘That’s crazy, and so this is a pure example of why people need to be punished.’

Stanley Aragon, the teenage victim’s uncle, agreed.

‘I would hope, you know, that HPD does prosecute him and do a better job than California of keeping him behind bars, so that he can at least learn a lesson, maybe get some sort of help,’ he told ABC 7.

‘It seems he has anger issues, he’s lashing out. 

‘Who knows what he might be capable of next?’ he asked, rhetorically. ‘It’s only escalating.’

But the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has said Radimak earned credit for timed serve while he was incarcerated and served his ‘full sentence as defined by law.’

Legal expert Lou Shapiro claims he was released due to overcrowding in California’s prisons.

‘If someone commits a violent crime – like robbery, murder, rape – something of that nature, they will be kept longer into their sentence, 60 to 80 percent marker,’ he said.

‘Anything short of that – criminal threats, vandalism – such as this case that we’re talking about, it could be only 30 to 50 percent, which would explain why he got out so much sooner than everyone anticipated.’

Still, Radimak’s victims were left infuriated when they learned the aggressive driver was going to be let back on the streets.

‘I’m unable to believe such a short sentence would result in any sort of behavioral reform or rehabilitation, considering the length of time he’s been committing crimes,’ one victim said during a Zoom news conference.

Some of the other victims said they felt the justice system failed them by not allowing their voices to be heard before a plea deal was made.

One of the victims, only identified as Jane Doe One, even called out the Los Angeles D.A., saying he ‘let many of the victims of Nathaniel Radimak down.’

‘He plays an essential role in prosecuting crimes and ensuring offenders are held accountable for their actions, but this did not happen,’ she said.

‘Our constitutional rights were violated and were not followed by the D.A.’s office. He did not properly represent our rights.’

But the Los Angeles County DA released a statement at the time saying it ‘does not determine when an inmate will be released from custody.’