Attorney Denise A. Sorino

Pedestrian vs. prosecutor: Road rage costs lawyer her job

BYLINE: Jack Warner (The Atlanta Journal and Constitution ),
Staff EDITION: Home SECTION: Metro News, 01-20-2001

Katie Sobush, a pedestrian by choice, is tired of being "treated as a

second-class citizen" because she walks instead of drives. When a car nearly ran her down Thursday, she struck a blow for pedestrians --- whacking the window of a Honda driven by an assistant Fulton County district attorney. The prosecutor took a couple of shots of her own, Sobush said, and wound up getting fired.

District Attorney Paul Howard issued a brief statement Friday, saying that the conduct of prosecutor Denise Sorino, 35, was "inappropriate and unacceptable for an employee of this office. Subsequently, Miss Sorino was terminated effectively immediately."

Sobush told police she was en route to work at Georgia Tech Thursday morning, crossing the intersection at 10th and I-85 south when Sorino' s Honda, turning left onto I-85, "almost hit me."

Sobush, who said she had the walk signal, reached out and smacked the Honda's window with her umbrella. Sorino, she said, stopped her car, got out, screamed "I'm the DA of Fulton County" and kicked her in the shin, cutting it. Sobush said she told the woman that if she was the DA, she ought to know the rules of the road. Sorino responded, she said, by trying to kick her again. She missed but followed it up with a punch in the face, breaking her glasses. Sobush said Sorino also threatened to kill her "if you ever touch my car again."

Sobush, who said she knew what to do because she's been hit by cars while riding her bicycle, got the Honda's license tag number. When traced, Sorino told Officer Elizabeth Butler that "she was trying to avoid another vehicle and Ms. Sobush walked out in traffic and then struck her vehicle with an umbrella." Sorino, who had worked for Howard's office for nearly three years, was charged with simple battery. Her attorney, Tom Ford, said she would have no comment on the case pending an investigation.