SALISBURY — Authorities say an aggressive motorist pointed a handgun at an off-duty N.C. State Highway Patrol trooper and his girlfriend Friday afternoon.
Richard Stevenson Miller, Jr. was charged with multiple offenses following the incident.
Trooper Jason Page told officers he had just gotten onto Interstate 85 southbound at Innes Street when he encountered a Ford Expedition driving erratically.
The motorist pulled close to Page’s bumper, an arrest report said, and swerved around him, “throwing up his hands in an aggressive manner and looking at him.”
Page tried to get the man’s tag number, but the driver, later identified as 44-year-old Miller, weaved through traffic, the report said.
Near the Julian Road exit, authorities said, Page was able to pull next to the Expedition.
He looked into the vehicle and saw the driver holding a Glock handgun and pointing it at Page and the officer’s girlfriend, the report said.
Page then slowed down and pulled behind the SUV. He then called 911 and followed the vehicle as it sped onto Peach Orchard Road and then toward Airport Road.
Troopers and Rowan County deputies stopped the SUV on Airport Road.
Two handguns were quickly seized, but officers found more firearms in Miller’s SUV as the search continued.
Miller told deputies he had “a beer or two” at a restaurant in Salisbury prior to the incident,?the arrest report said.
Miller blew a .06 blood alcohol level and was not above the legal limit to drive.
A concealed carry permit was also in the car, police said, and Miller told officers he kept his guns in the car because of a prior break-in at his home on Darrell Whitley Lane.
Because of Miller’s alcohol level, authorities said, the concealed carry permit did not apply. Deputies said concealed carry permits only apply if the permit holder is sober.
Inside the Expedition, authorities found two Ruger handguns, a Glock handgun, a Smith and Wesson revolver, a Remington rifle with a scope, a 12-gauge shotgun and two bolt-action rifles.
Deputies also found bags of live ammo and holsters for most of the guns.
All firearms and ammunition were seized and taken into evidence.
Miller told deputies he wasn’t running from the officer and instead thought the other driver was chasing him.
“I had road rage incidents in Virginia and I thought the guy was trying to chase me,” Miller told deputies, according to the report.
Miller was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault by pointing a gun, two counts of weapons violations and one count of aggressive driving.
He was released after posting a $5,000 bond.