Man facing charges for allegedly aiming BB gun at tow truck driver on I-95 in road rage incident

A Rhode Island man is accused of pointing a BB gun at a tow truck driver during a road rage incident on Interstate 95 in Darien on Monday.

A Rhode Island man faces charges for allegedly pointing what turned out to be a BB gun at a truck driver during a road rage incident on Interstate 95 in Darien on Monday.

Troopers responded just before 2:20 p.m. to the area of I-95 South, near Exit 13, after receiving a 911 call reporting a road rage incident involving a firearm and a black sedan with front-end damage with Rhode Island license plates, according to Connecticut State Police.

State police located a vehicle matching the description and pulled it over at the Exit 10 entrance ramp. A trooper directed the driver, later identified as 24-year-old Dae Jesus Acosta of Central Falls, Rhode Island to get out of the car and called for backup so he could pat him down based on the nature of the call, according to state police.

Before he could be patted down, Acosta allegedly became uncooperative and combative, so troopers handcuffed him, state police said. He then resisted when police tried to put him in a cruiser, according to state police.

Once he was in a cruiser, troopers told Acosta about the 911 call they received and asked him if there was a firearm in his car, state police said. He told them there was not.

Troopers searched Acosta’s car and reportedly found a BB gun, which was seized, state police said.

When troopers spoke to the man who had originally called 911, he said he was driving a tow truck in the right lane of I-95 South when a motorist in a black sedan tried entering the highway through the Exit 15 entrance ramp. The sedan driver was not immediately able to merge into the right lane because the tow truck was in the way, according to state police.

The driver, who was wearing a mask covering his face, then passed the tow truck and allegedly slowed down to about 5 mph in what appeared to be an attempt to get the truck driver to stop, the man told state police. When the tow truck driver moved into the center lane, the driver of the sedan maneuvered into the left lane alongside him and allegedly pointed a black handgun at him while shouting for the truck driver to pull over, state police said.

The tow truck driver said he called 911 and lost sight of the sedan. He was able to identify Acosta’s vehicle as the one involved in the incident, state police said.

Acosta was taken to the Troop G barracks in Bridgeport and charged with illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, interfering with police, second-degree breach of peace and first-degree threatening/displaying a firearm.

He was held on a $30,000 bond and was expected to be arraigned in Stamford Superior Court on Tuesday.