A Tesla driver who terrorized California highways with his fits of road rage was released from prison less than a year into his sentence on Wednesday, leaving victims “disappointed” in the state’s justice system. Nathaniel Radimak, 37, was freed on parole from state prison on Wednesday after serving only ten months of the five-year sentence handed down to him last September, according to KTLA 5. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Radimak had served “his full sentence as defined by law” and was granted 424 days for time served while awaiting sentencing, 212 for actual days in jail, and another 212 days for good behavior. During Radimak’s run of terror, he would smash passing cars with a metal pipe, make threats and harass motorists across Southern California.
In a now-viral video, Radimak jumped out of his charcoal-colored 2022 Tesla Model X with no license plates armed with a pipe and pummeled the truck behind him on Jan. 11, 2023. Radimak drove away after striking the vehicle several times. Radimak was arrested weeks later, where police discovered steroids and more than $30,000 in his car. Following his arrest, it was discovered Radimak had a long rap sheet as a criminal “which spans nearly two decades and crosses multiple states,” KTLA reported, citing prosecutors.
Last September, Radimak was found guilty on several felony counts during his rampage from 2022 to 2023. The road rager, however, would plead guilty to assault, vandalism, elder abuse, and criminal threats and was sentenced to five years in prison after he struck a plea deal with prosecutors.
Now released and back on the streets of California, several women who were victims of his rampage are outraged over his release and are “worried” for their safety. High-profile attorney Gloria Allred represents three victims of Radimak’s attack. I’m very disappointed in the overall outcome of this case leading up to his release,” one of Radimak’s victims, identified as Jane Doe, told KTLA Wednesday. I highly doubt Radimak has learned from his mistakes and will be coming out a changed person after a short time.
I’m worried he will try to find the victims whose names have been released,” Jane Doe shared. Allred said her clients were notified he was being freed from prison on the day of his release. His early release has shocked and disappointed many of the victims whom I represent,” Allred told NBC Los Angeles. Many of these victims were never consulted about the plea deal and were never given a chance to speak at the sentencing.
Another one of the Tesla terror’s anonymous victims, identified as “Jane Doe 1,” told NBC she “prays” his “brief time behind bars taught him a lesson.” Like Radimak’s other victims, she feels that California’s justice system has let her down. Parole boards continue to allow perpetrators to walk free after serving just minimal time, putting a lot of innocent people at risk and sending criminals the wrong message,” she said, slamming the Golden State’s leniency with how they handle criminals.
California’s violent crime rate in 2023 was 18% higher than when Gov. Newsom took office. Since 2019, tens of thousands of felons have been released early with credits and then rearrested for violent crimes, the outlet reported. We don’t know if (CDCR’s programs) are working,” a principal investigator for the Public Policy Institute of California, Heather Harris, told the outlet in June 2023. California lawmakers passed a bill requiring the CDCR to track the effectiveness of its rehabilitation programs following a state audit in 2018. However, in 2019, Gov. Newsom vetoed the bill, stating it “would require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to contract with a researcher to conduct a recidivism analysis of the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs and to submit a report to the Legislature. The goal of this bill can be accomplished administratively,” CBS reported.
