HOUSTON The family of the Friendswood man killed during a road-rage fist-fight in southeast Houston said they can t believe he was the aggressor, as described by witnesses and the other driver.
I mean, he was murdered, in my eyes, said Tate Welton s wife, Courtney Grigsby.
Welton, 42, was involved in a minor rush-hour fender-bender with Johnathon Darling, 28, on the Gulf Freeway northbound feeder road at Canniff Road Monday night.
Darling, and several witnesses, said Welton lost his temper and confronted the other driver. The night after the accident, Darling said Welton had challenged him to a fight and wouldn t back down.
He said, I m going to mess you up, You messed up my day. I m going to be late for work. We re going to fight,' Darling recalled.
But Welton's family said that simply wasn't like him.
Tate s not a monster, said Welton s brother-in-law, Chris Grigsby. And to be labeled as a monster for the last thing said about you, it really bothers me. He s not like that. He s not a violent person.
Darling said Welton continued to throw punches, so he wrestled him to the ground and put him in a headlock while Darling s wife and other witnesses called 911. He held Welton to the ground until police arrived. When police untangled the two men, Welton was no longer breathing. He was pronounced dead minutes later at a local hospital.
And who s to say Tate wasn t fighting for his life while he was being held on the ground, said Courtney Grigsby. He s ruined our whole world you know, by taking Tate.
Welton was the father of two young children and the stepfather to a teenage boy. He worked the night shift at a Pepsi plant in southeast Houston and was on his way to work when the incident happened.
Tate loved and adored these kids too. They were his world, said Courtney Grigsby, while holding her 2-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. He thought Daddy was gonna be home last night. I told him he s not coming home. And that was pretty much the end of our conversation.
Welton s family wants to know what happened that led to the altercation. Johnathon Darling said they accidentally clipped each other s SUVs while trying to merge into the same lane. Welton s family and friends don t believe that alone would have been enough to set him off.
I think that something happened farther up the freeway you know, maybe to make him snap or piss him off, I don t know, said Grigsby. But I do know I ve never seen him act like that.
He was so soft-spoken, said Welton s next-door neighbor and friend, who identified himself as Nigel. The only thing he wanted to do was work and take care of his family, that s it. The truth is usually somewhere in between two sides of the story, but in this case you only have one side of the story. He s not here to defend himself, and so hopefully, with some sort of investigation, they can at least find out the truth.
I just don t think it should have gone that far at all, added Courtney Grigsby. And he leaves behind two kids now that are never gonna know their dad.
The Harris County Medical Examiner has not yet determined an exact cause of death. The Houston Police Department has forwarded the case to a Harris County grand jury to decide if criminal charges should be filed.
