Lawyer: Man accused of driving with girlfriend on hood is guilty of "grotesque stupidity"

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — The young man who drove along Interstate 85 with his girlfriend clinging to the hood of the car was granted bond Thursday.

His lawyer said what he did was stupid, but not a crime.

Drivers who called 911 described it as a crazy scene.

"I've never seen this in my life. Oh my God," one driver said on a 911 recording.

Drivers even took pictures of the woman clinging to the hood of a car speeding along I-85.

The woman, Leidi Amu, became a sensation.

"I was begging him, and I was praying to God to not let me fell off that car," Amu said.

The driver was her roommate and boyfriend, Jonathan Sala, who police arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault.

His lawyer put Amu on the stand in Sala's bond hearing, and she admitted Sala had stopped the car, but she refused to get off, and then he got on the interstate.

"The fact that she wouldn't get off the car doesn't mean you get on the interstate and drive 70 or 80 miles an hour," defense attorney Stephen Mackie said about Sala. "What this man is guilty of, if anything, is grotesque stupidity. He's not guilty of a crime."

Amu's mother had pretty much the same thing to say about her daughter, who said she wanted Sala out of jail.

"I'm very angry with her. Why you so stupid?" Viana Amu said.

Mackie said he looked at 50 cases and couldn't find any in which driving with someone on the hood qualified for a charge of aggravated assault, even when he whipped a U-turn that could have thrown her off.

The court let the charge move forward.

"I imagine it will be indicted. The old saw among lawyers is a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich," Mackie said.

The judge let Sala out on bond, but he isn't allowed to go near Leidi Amu. But her mother is afraid she'll go right back to him.
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