Festive cheer was in short supply on a Florida roadway last week when a Porsche-driving investment banker allegedly punched a 16-year-old girl in the face for cutting him off in traffic.
Stephen Irvin Saunders IV, 47, “became enraged” at around 10.30 p.m. on Thursday evening when his alleged teenage victim “accidentally cut off” his convertible Porsche on a road near the suspect’s waterfront Tampa home, according to a court affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun.
After the motoring mishap, Saunders reportedly tailed the young driver to an intersection before cutting in front of her vehicle right before a red light and bringing his high-end set of wheels to a standstill. The maddened money man is then said to have exited his Porsche and yelled, “What the fuck are you doing? You stupid bitch! You cut me off!”
According to the affidavit, Saunders reached into the girl’s rolled-down window and “punched her in the face with a closed fist,” leaving the “youthful”-looking juvenile with “redness, soreness and bruising to the left side of her jaw.”
The girl was able to quickly identify the suspect from an array of images after describing his distinctive white and black convertible Porsche 911 with “911” printed on the driver’s side, investigators said.
Saunders has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of burglary of a conveyance with assault or battery. He was released from the Hillsborough County jail on $15,000 bond, The Smoking Gun reported.
Saunders’ booking sheet identifies him as a self-employed investment banker. He purchased his current residence with his wife for $800,000 in 2019, according to the investigative website.