Off-duty officer threatened in road rage incident

Team coverageThe suspect in a road rage threat apparently picked the wrong motorist to mess with. The victim turned out to be an off-duty police officer. The incident prompted a massive show of law enforcement early this morning.

It started near 500 South and 300 West in Salt Lake City around 1:30 a.m. An off-duty officer was on his way home from work in an unmarked car. He was just about to drive onto I-15 when another vehicle tried to merge into his lane, nearly hitting his car.

The officer honked his horn to warn the driver.

The man in the car then pulled up alongside the officer, rolled down his window and yelled, quote, "Watch it, or I will shoot you."

Police say the suspect then acted like he was reaching for a weapon under his seat.

The sergeant followed the suspect as he got on I-15 heading and called for backup.

In the area of 4500 South, the suspect suddenly found himself surrounded by a lot of police officers.

Lt. Craig Gleason of the Salt Lake Police Department said, "These kinds of things happen. You know, we're out there in unmarked cars. If you're going to say these kinds of things to other motorists, this could be the result of your foolishness, so use care."

"You certainly cannot roll down your window and offer to shoot someone without violating the law," he added. "I think that our suspects in this case would have been surprised if that officer perceived he was about to be engaged by some deadly threat."

Officers from Salt Lake and other agencies were part of this traffic stop.

Police arrested Santiago Martinez. Police say he did not have a weapon in his car, but they did find some cocaine. Martinez is in jail for possession and aggravated assault.

E-mail: syi@ksl.com
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
E-mail: spark@ksl.com

Related topics