PUNTA GORDA / CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA - A news report posted on winknews.com states that a Punta Gorda man who has been accused of road rage in Cape Coral appeared in court on Thursday. The man has been charged with several criminal offenses including, two counts of burglaries with battery, throwing a missile into another vehicle, and three charges of misdemeanor battery.
The judge set bail in the amount of $130,000, and the 40-year-old suspect was ordered to keep away from the alleged road rage victim and the two juveniles inside of the alleged victim's motor vehicle at the moment of the road rage incident. Moreover, if the suspect makes bail, he will be required to wear an electronic tracking device.
The Cape Coral police stated the road rage incident occurred close to the 1100 block of Del Prado Boulevard South. The incident caused both motor vehicles to stop while in a parking lot. The road rage quarrel happened on Wednesday at approximately 10 am. Cape Coral Police stated that the suspect was operating his vehicle in a reckless manner close to the victim's motor vehicle as the two vehicles were traveling eastbound along Viscaya Parkway.
The two drivers allegedly exchanged words and gave each other the middle finger. According to the report, the suspect then threw a protein shaker cup at the front seat rider. The 12-year-old girl was struck in the eye. The suspect then cut the motor vehicle off by forcing the vehicle to enter the parking lot of the Shoot Center. The suspect then exited his van and approached the alleged victim's vehicle, and allegedly tried to pull the victim from the front seat. When the suspect failed to remove one of the occupants in the car, the suspect purportedly attempted to remove one of the girls sitting in the backseat. The suspect supposedly ripped off the girl's top as he tried to remove the girl from the vehicle. The driver then allegedly got out of their car to prevent the suspect from attacking one of the passengers. The suspect then allegedly turned on the woman driver and dragged the woman by the shirt, police stated.
The girls who were in the car exited the vehicle and began to strike the suspect to free the woman. The suspect allegedly then got into his van and fled the scene of the purported attack.
Surveillance camera video footage collected by WINK News showed the road rage altercation in the Shoot Center parking lot.
According to Aaron Forum, the Shoot Center's owner/operator stated that the video on the security cameras shows two motor vehicles enter the parking lot off of Del Prado. The first motor vehicle was the white van which the three females were following in a vehicle behind the white van. As the vehicles pull in, there is an altercation that lasts about 40 seconds.
Another security video camera angle allegedly shows the suspect driving off with his van's back door wide open.
The suspect was captured by police at a 7-Eleven located at 1526 Chiquita Blvd South, at approximately 4:30 in the evening. This was not the suspect's first arrest. In 2007, the suspect was arrested by Cape Coral Police for trying to steal a bottle of Nautica cologne and a hairbrush and from Publix. According to the suspect's arrest report, he was stopped by a Publix worker, who the suspect pushed to the ground. The suspect was charged and convicted of the battery and theft on a person over the age of 65.
In 2020, records show the suspect was arrested for driving with a suspended license in Charlotte County. The suspect remains in Lee County Jail.