A semi-truck driver accused of running an Idaho family off Interstate 80 near Rawlins, then pulling alongside their pickup and opening fire with a handgun, is now being sued along with a trucking company the family says was responsible for putting him behind the wheel.
The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Wyoming, stems from a November road-rage confrontation on Interstate 80 in Carbon County where a bullet struck the family’s pickup, in which their 2-year-old was strapped in the back seat.
Truck driver Rabindranath Bunsee was later arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder.
Nearly 10 months later, the lawsuit accuses J&A Logistics Transportation LLC of negligently hiring, supervising and retaining Bunsee despite what it describes as a staggering record of safety violations involving the company and its drivers.
The family is seeking damages for emotional distress, psychological trauma, medical expenses, lost income and other injuries, along with punitive damages against Bunsee and J&A.
Burst Of Gunfire
The confrontation began on westbound I-80 near Rawlins on the afternoon of Nov. 20, 2025.
The Idaho couple was in separate vehicles.
The man told Wyoming Highway Patrol investigators he saw Bunsee's semi-truck move into the passing lane and nearly hit the woman's vehicle, forcing her off the road.
Then the semi came for him, he said.
Bunsee swerved the truck toward his pickup and forced him completely off the interstate, narrowly missing a roadside delineator.
He managed to get back onto I-80, but when he tried to pass the semi, he said he saw a black handgun sticking out of the driver's window.
Then he heard a gunshot.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Cody Lenke wrote in the charging affidavit that the man immediately feared for his life and for the 2-year-old behind him.
He knew he wasn't been hit, but he couldn't tell whether his daughter had been. It wasn't “until she started moving” in the back seat that he knew she was OK, Lenke wrote.
When Lenke met the family off the interstate, he reported finding a bullet hole in the passenger-side door of the pickup.
Troopers began looking for the white semi-truck.
About 36 miles farther west, near mile marker 198, Lenke spotted a truck matching the family's description. He waited for a Carbon County sheriff's deputy to get closer before making a high-risk traffic stop.
Investigators reported finding a black semiautomatic handgun inside Bunsee's truck with two rounds missing from the magazine.
Bunsee was arrested.
Bunsee's Version
Bunsee told investigators a different story about what happened on I-80.
He initially said the pickup and another vehicle ran his semi off the road and into a ditch. He then regained control, parked on the shoulder for about 20 minutes and continued west.
At his December preliminary hearing, Bunsee took the stand.
He testified that the pickup driver became enraged after Bunsee's semi lost power on an incline. He said both vehicles eventually pulled over. He claimed the other driver got out of his pickup, struck Bunsee's trailer and yelled a racial slur.
Then the other driver started shooting — three shots into the air and two toward his semi — “And I was scared for my life," said Bunsee.
He claimed one bullet barely struck his radiator while another crossed his windshield “like a fireball.”
Bunsee told the court he grabbed his own .380-caliber handgun and fired twice into the air because he feared for his life.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Caleb Hobbs testified that investigators did not find the bullet holes in Bunsee's semi that he described.
Prosecutors also questioned why Bunsee did not immediately tell investigators another driver fired five shots at him.
Circuit Court Judge Susan Stipe ultimately found probable cause to send the felony case to Carbon County District Court.
Bunsee faces attempted second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault, reckless driving, two counts of reckless endangerment and property destruction, along with a charge of using a radar detector. The attempted murder charge alone carries a potential sentence of up to life in prison.
He has pleaded not guilty and has not been convicted.
Beyond Bunsee
The family's lawsuit argues the shooting wasn't simply the product of one driver's behavior.
The complaint says J&A accumulated more than 150 unsafe-driving violations during the preceding 24 months, including 11 instances of drivers traveling at least 15 mph over the speed limit.
It lists 53 false-log violations and dozens of equipment problems, including 50 tire-pressure violations, 38 brake-adjustment violations, 22 automatic brake-adjustment failures and 17 brake out-of-service violations.
The lawsuit also points to drug and alcohol violations and instances of drivers operating commercial vehicles without valid licenses or with suspended commercial driver's licenses.
Attorneys for the family say J&A drivers were involved in at least 33 at-fault crashes from roughly mid-2025 into early 2026.
The complaint also cites an Oct. 27, 2025, crash in Fort Worth, Texas, that killed two people — less than a month before the Wyoming shooting.
The family argues J&A knew or should have known about problems involving Bunsee and its broader operation and should not have entrusted him with a commercial truck.
Cowboy State Daily contacted J&A Logistics seeking comment on the lawsuit and asking the company to clarify Bunsee's relationship with J&A, but no response was received.
Not Fit For Trial
Bunsee's criminal case was moving toward a jury this summer.
A four-day trial was scheduled to begin June 16 in Carbon County District Court, but it never happened.
A forensic evaluation from the Wyoming State Hospital, filed July 14, concluded Bunsee wasn't mentally fit to move forward with the criminal case. At a hearing two weeks later, neither prosecutors nor his defense attorney, Ryan Semerad, challenged the evaluator's findings or asked for a second opinion.
District Judge Dawnessa Snyder agreed, putting the criminal case on hold. She ordered Bunsee be committed to the Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston for inpatient competency-restoration services until hospital officials determine he is fit to proceed.
At the time, a hospital bed wasn't available for him.
Snyder allowed Bunsee to return to Florida while he waited but imposed new restrictions. Bunsee cannot drive, must surrender his passport, and must remain in regular contact with Semerad.
When the Wyoming State Hospital tells him a bed is available, the order gives him 72 hours to report for inpatient treatment.
Semerad confirmed Wednesday he still represents Bunsee in the case but declined to answer questions about his competency, hospitalization or the civil lawsuit.
Bunsee's $100,000 cash-only bond remains in place.
As of Wednesday, the Carbon County court file contained no new jury trial, verdict or disposition.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
