Angry driver arrested on assault charges

Thu., March 30, 2006

By Peter Barnes peterb@spokesman.com

Police say an enraged driver whacked a man with a stick Monday morning after the victim failed to let a Ford Focus merge in front of him where eastbound Montgomery Avenue narrows to one lane.

The Ford’s driver, 27-year-old Marshall C. Minor, was later arrested at his home on Inland Empire Way, Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Reagan said in a news release.

The 29-year-old victim told police he had turned north onto Jackson Avenue from Montgomery when Minor passed him, yelling and making hand gestures.

When he, his wife and daughter continued to their home, the Ford showed up at the apartment complex on North Bowdish Road, and Minor started yelling at him, police said.

Minor and the other driver moved to a nearby lawn to “fight it out,” but then Minor went into a nearby apartment and grabbed a 2-by-2 stick, Reagan said.

Minor poked the other man in the chest a couple of times with the stick and hit him on the side of the head before running back to the Focus and driving away.

Police arrived shortly after and identified the suspect. Paramedics also showed up, but the victim did not require a trip to the hospital, Reagan said.

Minor was arrested on felony second-degree assault charges and booked into county jail, police said.

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