PORT ANGELES — A 64-year-old Oregon man has been charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon in what the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is calling a probable incident of road rage.
James E. Jones of La Pine, Ore., was arrested March 22 after allegedly pointing a gun for an extended period of time at a car containing two adults and their two children while Jones drove behind them in the vicinity of Spath Road, McCawley Road and Kitchen-Dick Road between Port Angeles and Sequim.
Jones, who was charged Wednesday, is on his own recognizance as he awaits his arraignment at 9 a.m. April 5 in Clallam County Superior Court.
“It appears that Mr. Jones was unhappy with an unsuccessful attempt to pass the other vehicle,” Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg said Thursday.
“Mr. Jones was upset at the other driver.
“That’s typically what you would call road rage, I guess.”
Arrest report
The arrest report from county Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Wagner gave this account of the couple’s allegations:
At about 6:30 p.m. March 22, the couple and their two children were traveling on Spath Road when Jones attempted to pass them.
When Jones almost ran them off the road, they sped up.
The driver looked in his rear-view mirror and saw Jones pointing a silver pistol at the family’s car.
The woman said Jones was driving his vehicle with his left hand and pointing the pistol out the window with his right hand.
Jones turned off at McCawley Road but then apparently returned to Spath because the couple said they saw him behind them again still pointing the gun.
He followed them to Kitchen-Dick Road. They sped north on Kitchen-Dick, and Jones turned around on Spath and headed east on that road, they said.
The couple “feared for their safety and the safety of their children,” Wagner said in his report.
Authorities obtained a search warrant and retrieved a loaded Taurus .45-caliber pistol from a West Buena Vista Drive home, arrested Jones and booked him into Clallam County jail.
A friend of Jones’ lives at the house, Troberg said.
Jones was released Monday on his own recognizance after the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office unsuccessfully requested $10,000 bail.
Jones was ordered to surrender any firearms in his possession and maintain a physical residence at an address in Port Angeles.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
