A 21-year-old Provo man is facing multiple felonies after police say he fired a gun at another motorist and three children in an apparent road rage encounter on Sunday.
Max Craig Judd was charged Monday in 4th District Court with four counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, on Sunday at about 9:30 p.m., troopers received a report of a reckless driver traveling northbound on Interstate 15 near mile marker 207, about 15 miles south of Nephi.
Another driver told police the driver — later identified as Judd — had turned on a light bar on top of the pickup truck he was driving; that he was tailgating her; and that he had pulled in front of and brake-checked her while flipping her off and recording her.
After she lost contact with dispatch, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper called her on her cellphone. She told him both she and Judd had pulled off exit 228 and were on a dirt road. According to a probable cause statement, she “began to scream in the phone” that the man had a gun and was walking toward her.
According to the state trooper, when he arrived at the scene, he found the pickup truck with two people in it. He drew his gun and ordered them to step out of the truck. Both Judd and his female passenger surrendered and were taken into custody.
In the probable cause statement, the trooper wrote that he found a handgun “with the hammer back” in the glove box of the pickup truck, and four bullet casings on the ground nearby.
The other driver, who was still on the phone, told the trooper that Judd had gotten out of his truck while “brandishing a gun” and fired it at her “multiple times.” She said she drove away quickly and was at a gas station in Mona. According to police, no bullet holes were found in her car and neither she nor her three passengers — all children — were injured, but they were “visibly shaken up.”
Judd was booked into the Juab County jail; his bail was set at $10,000. His initial court appearance was scheduled for Tuesday.
