Driver's middle finger led to fatal face stabbing, cops say. They just made an arrest

Joe Pirri called 911 on March 7 with a frightening story.

The 32-year-old father of two told dispatchers that he gave another man the middle finger after he passed him on a road in New Jersey, according to the Courier-Post. But instead of that ending as a brief moment of road rage, Pirri said a man blocked his car in traffic, got out of his own vehicle and then gave Pirri a "severe" cut to the left side of his face.

Gloucester County Prosecutor Charles Fiore said that the suspect stabbed Pirri with a "sharp instrument."

"Bleeding profusely from the assault," Fiore told the Courier-Post, "he exited his vehicle to summon help from nearby residents."

Pirri, who died at the Cooper University Medical Center on March 15, said during the 911 call that his attacker fled in a Ford F-150 King ranch pickup truck, according to NBC Philadelphia. He added that the man was black, and probably in his 30s or 40s.

Police say they arrested that man on Wednesday. According to NJ.com, 54-year-old Everett E. Moore Jr. was arrested at a gas station in Williamstown and charged with first-degree murder and other weapons charges.

While there was no video of the stabbing, police say, officials used security cameras from a high school about a half-mile from the scene of the attack to get a good view of Moore's car. Police told NJ.com that they used a warrant to track Moore's cellphone and determine that he was in the area of the stabbing when it happened.

In all, police said that they used video from 20 locations to track down Moore, the Courier-Post reported.

Moore, a construction worker in Clayton, wasn't driving the described truck when he was arrested Wednesday morning, Fiore said in a press conference. But he added that the 54-year-old has multiple cars that the drives, according to the Courier-Post.

A GoFundMe created on behalf of Pirri's family described the slain man as "the true definition of a GOOD GUY."

"He would have given the shirt off his back to anyone or his last dollar if someone needed it," it read. "He was a loving and devoted husband to Megan, father to a 4 year old son, and step-father to a 9 year old daughter."

Megan Pirri, his wife, cried after investigators announced an arrest in her husband's death.

"He always put his family, friends and others before himself," she said, according to NJ.com. "He loved his family more than anything. Joe always had a smile on his face and was truly and genuinely a happy person."

Moore is being held in a county jail. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that he was set for a detention hearing Thursday.

Megan Pirri, who wore "Justice for Joe" shirts along with her family during a Wednesday press conference, called the whole situation "devastating." But she added that her family won't soon forget the man, according to The Courier Post.

"My husband was an amazing man," she said. "He loved his family more than anything. His son, stepdaughter and I were his world. And he was ours and still is."

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 9:12 AM with the headline "Driver's middle finger led to fatal face stabbing, cops say. They just made an arrest."