Photo Credit: Mike Radice, KSL TV file photo
WEST JORDAN — Police are investigating a road rage case that ended with a shot fired. It happened Friday night. West Jordan police say Arlo Rey Beltan, 31, fired a shot at another driver after he and a 28 year old man got into a dispute somewhere on I-15.
West Jordan police officer Scott Lift says the fight on the freeway went on for 15 minutes.
“They were going back and forth, swerving into each other,” he said.
When the two cars reached the area of 9000 South and 3800 West just before 9 p.m., “the victim swerved toward the suspect’s vehicle, causing him to be angry. The suspect pulled out a gun from his center console and pointed it towards the victim’s vehicle,” according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
At least one shot was fired, but the victim didn’t realize at first that he had been hit, according to Lift.
“He didn’t think he’d been shot. But he did see what he thought was a handgun being pointed at him,” the officer said. “And then later on realized he had been hit by something.”
Investigators believe the man was not hit by a bullet, but by shrapnel. But before he knew he was injured, he continued following Beltran while calling 911. When he realized he was hit, the man drove himself to the hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and later released, police said.
A witness gave police part of a license plate and gunman’s car description and an officer used the information to link a car to Beltran and call him, the report states.
Beltran told investigators he was in Magna and that a friend had borrowed his car. Officers called the friend who told them he was in Vernal, the report states. Detectives found Beltran hiding at his parents’ business in West Jordan in the early morning hours Saturday. A handgun was also recovered, Lift said.
In List’s experience, there are rarely cases of road rage that didn’t involve escalating behavior from both parties involved. However, he says there are easy methods to de-escalate road rage.
“Let them go,” says List. “Let them get ahead of you. You can take the next exit.”
