A man has been arrested in Nebraska after deputies received a report that he had brandished an AR-15 during a road rage incident. According to police, the driver of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van had pointed the rifle at the reporting party while they were heading down Interstate 80. The vehicle was located quickly, with deputies uncovering more than just the rifle in the car.
Police find more than just the weapon in the vehicle
On July 18 at around 1:00 p.m. local time, police received a report of the road rage incident, according to a post from the York County Nebraska Sheriff’s Office on its official Facebook page. The reporting party told them that the gray Mercedes-Benz had already gotten off the highway.
Deputies responded to the report and tracked down the vehicle, conducting a traffic stop with assistance from the York Police Department. The driver, later identified as Michael K. Johnson from Connecticut, told police there was a rifle in his vehicle, while witnesses were escorted to the scene and positively identified the man as the one involved in the road rage report.
After a search warrant was issued, deputies found the reported AR-15 style rifle in the car with a red dot and muzzle break, along with multiple magazines and ammunition. A juvenile who was a passenger in the vehicle at the time was released to an appropriate guardian in coordination with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
Johnson was arrested and is charged with terroristic threats, use of a firearm to commit a felony, and child abuse.
The sheriff’s office responded to several comments on Facebook that questioned what happened. When asked what caused the incident, the office said that “there is only so much we can do to ‘take of the cause’. In this situation in particular, how would we have prevented the ’cause’ of this? … Unfortunately, some criminal activity cannot be stopped before it happens.”
Another commenter was frustrated that the man was arrested based on a report “with no proof” and that it could have been misconstrued, but the sheriff’s office said that it’s not proper protocol to presume a victim is making things up.
“We don’t just go straight to assuming that a known reporter (and victim) is lying. Imagine how much we would be scrutinized if we immediately went to blaming the victim of reported crimes,” the office stated. “There are consequences for making false police reports … we aren’t out here just stopping and arresting people with no factual basis to back up the charges.”
As for why the man was charged with child abuse, the sheriff’s office said that “out of respect for the minor child, we left out the reason this individual was charged with child abuse.”
