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Aspen road rage driver cited

Police arrested a 31-year-old Basalt man Thursday after an officer saw him outside his vehicle in Highway 82 traffic beating on a hotel shuttle and yelling obscenities at the driver, police said.

Matthew Kornafel was taken to Pitkin County Jail, booked into custody and released after being charged with disorderly conduct, said Aspen Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn.

One of the Aspen Police Department’s community resource officers witnessed Kornafel’s behavior about 11:55 a.m. Thursday in the eastbound traffic lanes between the roundabout and the Cemetery Lane intersection, Linn said. Kornafel was hitting the door and window of a shuttle from the Dancing Bear Aspen private-residence club with his hand, he said.



The resource officer called police officers, who arrived on scene, moved Kornafel and his vehicle to the side of the road and spoke with him, Linn said. He told them he’d been driving behind the shuttle and that it was going too slow, so he passed it in the bus lane, he said.

Kornafel said the shuttle driver then began tailgating him and taking photos with his cellphone, “which he didn’t like,” Linn said. As traffic halted for the Cemetery Lane light, Kornafel said the shuttle stopped very close to his car, prompting him to get out, beat on the vehicle while shouting curse words at the driver and making obscene finger gestures, Linn said.




The shuttle driver was not cited, he said.

jauslander@aspentimes.com