By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A truck driver accused of throwing an empty crushed Coke can and a vape pen cartridge case at a moving car at Highway 51 and Fairgrounds Road east of Stillwater has been notified by a prosecutor’s letter to voluntarily appear in court on Jan. 13 or be arrested.
If convicted of throwing an object at a moving vehicle, Nicholas “Nick” Ray Peterson, 33, of Stillwater, could be given as much as a 10-year prison term and a $10,000 fine, according to the felony charge that was filed last week.
Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Secrest was advised at 7:23 pm on March 5 “of a road rage incident in which the suspect had vandalized the victim’s vehicle,” his affidavit said.
“The incident had initiated in the area of SH 18 and 51 and the vandalism occurred at 6th and Fairgrounds,” the affidavit alleged.
A female driver said that the incident began when she got to a four-way stop that turns the two-lane road into four lanes and then goes back to two lanes, which describes the SH 18 and 51 intersection, the affidavit alleged.
She said “Nick accelerates in front of her and cuts her off when the lanes transition back to a two-lane road west of the intersection,” the affidavit alleged.
She said “she slowed down, but so did Nick and every time (she) would try to pass Nick, he would either slow down or speed up to keep her from doing so,” the affidavit alleged.
She said “when she would pass Nick, he would follow her extremely closely and flash his high beams at her before speeding past her and cutting her off again,” the affidavit alleged.
She said “at one point, they came to a complete stop and (his passenger) began to exit the truck, but traffic came up behind them so they took off again. (She) said “after they got up to speed again is when Nick threw the objects, one of which was red, from his truck at her car damaging the windshield,” which broke, the affidavit alleged.
She said “this continued until they reached the traffic light at 6th and Fairgrounds and had to stop because it was red,” the affidavit alleged. She said “Nick exited the truck and began to yell and cuss at her and kicked the side of her car,” the affidavit alleged.
She said “when the light turned green, Nick got back into his truck and both he and (his male passenger) ‘flipped her off’ and continued to do so until they turned south onto Jardot,” the affidavit alleged. She said “she continued to the Rent-a-Center parking lot and contacted the Stillwater Police Department,” which forwarded her call to the Payne County Sheriff’s Office, the affidavit said.
When the deputy located the suspect truck and told the driver he was stopped “because his vehicle matched the description of one that was recently involved in a road rage incident, Nick replied ‘was it a lady that was tailgating me?’ I asked Nick if he had exited his vehicle and kicked (her) car and he admitted he had because (she) was tailgating him,” Secrest alleged in his affidavit.
“Nick admitted to me he did not have a license and was in the process of getting one,” according to the deputy, who was advised by a dispatcher “Nick’s driving privileges had been denied by the state of Colorado.”
“Nick advised approximately 45 minutes prior to our contact, he had passed (her) car at SH 18 and 51 and from that point all the way to the light at 6th and Fairgrounds, (she) was tailgating him. Nick said he tried to brake check (her) several times to get her to back off and she would not. Nick said he tried to swerve back and forth in the lane to make (her) think he might be drunk so she would back off and she would not.
“Nick advised at 6th and Fairgrounds they caught the red light so he put his vehicle into park and exited. Nick said he was mad. He approached (her) vehicle and began to yell and cuss at her telling her to stop following him so closely and to back off and he kicked what he thought was the front quarter panel of her car behind the driver’s side front tire,” the affidavit alleged.
“I asked Nick if he had thrown anything from his car at (hers) and he admitted he had thrown two objects. One was an empty crushed Coke can and the other was an empty plastic box for a vape pen cartridge,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“The area kicked by Nick did not appear to be damaged,” the affidavit said. But the woman’s windshield will need to be replaced, the affidavit alleged. “The main point of impact appeared to be towards the top corner of the passenger side of the windshield,” the affidavit said.
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