The Marine road rage incident shocked America. Now, the mother of the victims is sharing her reaction to the horror with INSIDE EDITION.
It's the road-rage video that has stunned America.
A decorated Marine Sergeant subjects two people in another vehicle to a barrage of foul-mouthed abuse after a fender-bender. The video horrifies everyone who sees it. But one woman is particularly appalled at what happened.
Tearful Connie McCurdy is the mother of the young man calmly refusing to be provoked as he is relentlessly insulted.
Connie said, “What gives you the right to talk to my son that way? How dare you do that?”
In the passenger seat, shooting the video and also being subjected to unbelievable abuse was Connie's daughter, Bree, a fellow Marine confined to a wheelchair.
Connie said, “My daughter's in a wheelchair, for Christ sake. To go off on them that way. No, that's unacceptable. You're representing the United States Marine Corps. 24/7 he's a Marine. It doesn’t matter whether he has the uniform on or whether he has that uniform off, he is a Marine.”
Connie first saw the video when her daughter e-mailed it to her. She was horrified and knew she had to act.
She said, “The only thing I could do to punch back was to put it on YouTube.”
She posted the video under the name "Marine Mom" and it soon went viral.
She also wrote on her Facebook page: "I am very proud of my two kids for not doing anything but tape this."
Connie said, "My son's not a fighter. My son clearly shows that in the video."
Connie says her other daughter, 13-year-old Christina, has unfortunately seen the video.
The Sergeant, Joshua Brightman, is a veteran of Afghanistan and recipient of the Purple Heart.
The young man he abused, Connie's son Michael, told INSIDE EDITION that Brightman later apologized.
But Michael doesn't think the sergeant's apology was sincere and neither does his mother.
Connie said, "I don't accept his apology."
Connie stresses she has utmost respect for members of the armed services in general.
Surprisingly, she says she feels a degree of sympathy for the road-rage sergeant who abused her kids.
She said, "I want him to get the help he desperately, desperately needs."
