Eagle Mountain road rage suspect who brandished gun located and identified
Jul 1, 2024, 3:48 PM | Updated: 6:43 pm
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — A suspect who had brandished a handgun in a road rage encounter was located and named by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.
The encounter took place just before 6:30 a.m. Thursday when deputies responded to a call reporting the road rage incident. When they arrived the victim told them the other driver pointed a handgun at him, and gave deputies a license plate number.
Deputies found a registered owner of the car, but didn’t find him at the address associated with the registration or driver’s license.
The sheriff’s office said there was another citizen who spotted the car the evening of the accident near the city center in Eagle Mountain.
On Monday, a deputy set up just before 6 a.m. and watched traffic on the Pony Express Parkway when he spotted the car. He pulled the driver over and identified him as 22-year-old Ariel Rangel Perez of Eagle Mountain.
The sheriff’s office said Rangel Perez had an expired registration from November 2023, a suspended driver’s license, and no insurance for the car. Rangel Perez admitted to the deputy that he was the one involved in the road rage encounter and said he brandished the handgun, according to the sheriff’s office.
Rangel Perez was issued a ticket for “the traffic violations of the stop” on Monday and the car was impounded for the insurance and registration violations. The deputy recommended to the prosecutor’s office that Rangel Perez be charged with a class A misdemeanor count of threatening with a dangerous weapon during a fight.
Rangel Perez was found on the same day a new road rage law was enacted in Utah, making it possible for every charge connected to road rage cases to be enhanced. Rangel Perez has not yet been officially charged.