Driver With Hatchet Charged In Rehoboth Road Rage Incident
REHOBOTH (CBS) – A road rage incident with a hatchet ended with a driver in jail Tuesday in Rehoboth.
Police say 34-year-old Brian Art of Dighton was driving erratically behind another car on Route 118 around 7 a.m. before eventually passing it.
However, when Art came to an intersection, investigators say he forced the other driver to stop, got out of his Jeep Liberty and then confronted by him.
"He approached the driver's window of the vehicle, (and) the driver of the first car put his window up, locked the doors and he was threatened by (Art) with the hatchet," Rehoboth Police Chief James Trombetta told WBZ-TV's Bill Shields. Police say Art never struck the driver or the car with the hatchet.
Art then drove off, according to officers. Meanwhile, the other driver called police.
"I had a jeep behind me that was driving extremely aggressive so I let him pass me," the victim said in his recorded 9-1-1 call to police, obtained by WBZ-TV. "When we stopped at the stop sign, he came after me with the hatchet."
After a two-hour search they found Art, who was still driving the Jeep. He was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct.
He was arraigned Tuesday in Taunton District Court.
Prosecutor Mike Sheehan says the victim provided a written statement, saying Art was screaming and flailing the hatchet in the air after he had locked his window.
Don Fisher, the victim, told Shields it was a scary moment.
"What went through my mind? What didn't go through my mind?" he said. "I was literally flabbergasted. You'd literally hear about this stuff happening, and you'd just think 'Oh, this doesn't happen in my town' and 'This doesn't happen to me' and I didn't know what to do at first."
Investigators have not been able to recover the hatchet.