A Sweet Home man was arrested Feb. 1 after a “road rage” incident that reportedly began on South Santiam Highway near Sodaville-Waterloo Drive south of Lebanon and continued toward its city limits.
Lebanon Police Department personnel learned of the incident at around 9:39 a.m.
According to a Lebanon Police log entry, the woman reported that she was driving northbound on Highway 20, near the Sodaville Cutoff intersection, when a blue Ford SUV she was following, which was driving “erratically,” “checked her” and pulled alongside. She said the male driver, whom she described as being around 50 to 60 years old, held a “smaller automatic black pistol in his right hand on the steering wheel.” The woman said the gun was not pointed at her, but in their general direction.
The woman told police that she considered the incident “unprovoked,” and that the male subject seemed “extremely angry and she did not know why,” according to the police log. She told police that at one point the man slowed and pulled behind her “and she was very scared for her safety and the safety of her children.”
The man eventually turned west onto Weldwood Drive in Lebanon, the woman told police.
Officer Eric Stein responded to the call, at which time the suspect was no longer in the area. He learned through interviews that the man appeared distraught over traffic conditions and pointed a handgun as he passed another vehicle, police said.
Stein developed leads regarding the suspect and, with the assistance of the Sweet Home Police Department, contacted 61-year-old Kenneth Wayne Parker at his home. A firearm was found during a search of his vehicle and seized by Lebanon police.
Parker was taken into custody without incident and lodged briefly at the Lebanon Municipal Jail before being transferred to Linn County Jail on charges of unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and second-degree disorderly conduct.
Lebanon Police Department reported it has had one prior contact with the suspect; no criminal charges were filed in that case.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information pertinent to the case is encouraged to contact Stein at (541) 258-4327.