Road rage 911 call: Driver ‘pointed a gun at me’
PALM CITY — “He pointed a gun at me,” an incredulous Central Florida woman tells a 911 dispatcher in a recording describing an Episcopal priest’s alleged road rage assault.
William Rian Adams is charged with pointing a semi-automatic Glock handgun at Sharon Hughes, 54, and her son, Christopher, 24, who was driving, on July 5 on Florida’s Turnpike.
“For him to do this, a man of God, I just don’t understand it,” said Hughes of St. Cloud, an Orlando suburb.
In its first statement since the incident, the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina, which oversees Adams’ church, said that consultation and conversation are underway and “pastoral care is being provided to Father Adams, his family, and his congregation.”
The statement, by the Right Rev. José A. McLoughlin, bishop for western North Carolina, added: “It is best to remember that, as in all situations, there are many facets to consider. We believe in, and will follow, all formal processes. I ask that you continue to keep everyone in your prayers.”
It did not say whether Adams faces any discipline.
Adams’ church, Calvary Episcopal in Fletcher, south of Asheville, has not responded to requests for comment. The church’s website lists the “Very Rev. W. Rian Adams” as church rector, a term for a parish priest. A newsletter describing that Adams, along with his wife and son, joined the church Sept. 11 was online Monday but has since been taken down.
Adams’ lawyer, Brian Mallonee of Fort Pierce, has professed Adams’ innocence. No court date has been set.
A Florida Highway Patrol report says Adams, 35, was at mile marker 125 near Palm City in Martin County, when a Chevrolet Silverado pickup came up close behind his red Corvette.
Hughes told the FHP that Adams came alongside and hit his brakes, then pointed a gun.
Adams said that as the truck pulled alongside, one of the people inside rolled down a window, started screaming and threw a soda bottle.
He also said his Glock 22 — a 15-round, .40-caliber pistol — was not loaded and never came out, but was under his passenger seat the whole time.
Sharon Hughes said Monday that she and her son had been traveling to visit with an ill relative at the time of the encounter. She said she didn’t learn until later that her alleged assailant was a priest.
Adams faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was booked early on July 6 and released about two hours later after posting $15,000 bail, the Martin County Sheriff ’s Office said.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office provided the recording of Hughes’ call, answered first by a Martin dispatcher and later transferred to an FHP counterpart.
“This guy in the red Corvette slams his brakes in front of us and we pulled up to him and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he pointed the gun at me,” Hughes is heard telling the highway patrol dispatcher.
“He held it up and pointed it toward me. He’s flying up the road. Him and some girl in the car. I said, ‘Why did you slam on the brakes?’ And he cursed me and everything and pulled the gun out.”
The dispatcher asks if Hughes wants to talk to troopers. She says yes, if they are able to pull over the Corvette. She says she did not get a license plate because the Corvette was going too fast.
According to a July 2016 Calvary newsletter, welcoming Adams, he was a “preacher’s kid” who earned two religious degrees and later served as a military chaplain in such places as Afghanistan and Kuwait. It said he is married with one child.