Smithfield man charged with assaulting, stalking family after road rage incident

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LOGAN — A Smithfield man is facing criminal charges related to a road rage incident that police say led to him to stalk a family at their home.

Cache County sheriff's deputies responded Aug. 27 to reports that Andrew Skyler Nielsen, 22, and his friend, who were both on motorcycles, were trying to box in a family in a car on a two-lane highway while yelling profanities at them, according to a police booking affidavit.

Nielsen's friend was not identified in the court documents.

The driver told police he feared what Nielsen and the other person would do to his family. He said he tried turning the steering wheel back and forth to get Nielsen to back down, and said Nielsen slid off the road, the affidavit states. The driver told police he didn't see Nielsen crash.

Nielsen and his friend later went to the driver's home and yelled at them that they were going to call the police, according to the affidavit. Police say Nielsen and his friend left, but came back about 15 minutes later with their wives and children, pulling into the driveway of the man's home and yelling at the family more.

The man called police, who arrived and reported instructing Nielsen to leave and to avoid any additional contact with the victims.

The next day, the victims called the sheriff's office to report that Nielsen had returned in a Dodge truck and was doing "burnouts" near their home, the arrest report states. One family member said the truck swerved "toward her on the roadway, causing her to go off the road."

Deputies responded to Nielsen's house and said he admitted to doing the burnouts, but said his truck was "having issues with alignment causing him to correct the vehicle's sway," the affidavit says.

"Andrew's wife stated she was with him when all of this occurred and stated that Andrew purposely swerved towards (the victim)," police wrote in the affidavit.

Nielsen was charged with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony; violation of a civil stalking injunction, a class A misdemeanor; reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, an infraction.

He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.