Driver smacked me in the face and broke my phone

We all feel for the OP but, again, where is the evidence? With no witnesses and no CCTV of the assault what are people expecting the police to do?

despite possible provocation, a punch in the face is assault (I believe), and should not be treated lightly, if the photo evidence can be retrieved then should it not be followed up?, what happens next time he's in a rage, definitely a complaint re police, assaults should be followed up in my opinion

Data recovery is possible, it is highly likely that the image is still on the phone in which case the police should be making the effort to obtain it before writing off the case duet lack of evidence. By the sounds of it there is potential evidence to be had but they're too lazy to obtain it and geo from there.

The main concern I have is that this person is clearly ok with assaulting a women, where do his limits end?