Man arrested on multiple assault charges after road rage incident
A local man was arrested on multiple felony charges Saturday morning after an apparent road rage incident in which he allegedly rammed another car and tried to make it wreck.
Matthew Chadwick Nesbett, 38, who lists a Pinewood Street address, was taken into custody around 8:30 a.m. and charged with three counts of aggravated assault, each punishable by up to six years in prison.
He was being held on a $7,500 bond and was set to appear Monday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit,
around 7:45 a.m. Saturday, Hot Springs police Officer 1st Class Rod West responded to the 800 block of Malvern Avenue regarding a hit and run wreck.
While en route, dispatch stated the suspect vehicle, a black Chevrolet HHR, had stopped in the parking lot of Exxon, 1200 Central Ave. West went there and saw a man, later identified as Nesbett, get out of the HHR and start to walk away and noted he “seemed to be very agitated.”
He asked Nesbett to sit on the ground and he complied and then West made contact with the three occupants of the other vehicle, a blue Toyota 4-Runner. They told him they had been westbound on East Grand Avenue in the outside lane when a black HHR pulled onto Grand from Spring Street and pulled into the grassy median.
They said the driver of the HHR was shouting at them and pointed his index finger at them “as if he was firing a gun.” They said they continued to the traffic light at Grand and Malvern avenues and were in the turning lane waiting to turn left when Nesbett pulled alongside them.
Nesbett allegedly leaned out the driver’s side window, banging on the passenger side window of their vehicle, yelling, “Roll your window down!” The light turned green and they said they proceeded to make a left turn onto Malvern when Nesbett pulled behind them and rammed the rear bumper of their car, causing minor damage.
After the impact, Nesbett allegedly swerved wide to the left, accelerated and swerved back to the right “in an attempt to spin (the victims’) vehicle out of control” which could have resulted in a wreck and injuries, the affidavit states.
The victim said he swerved to the right and was able to veer into the parking lot of Cash Saver, 800 Malvern, to avoid a crash. He said he turned around and began following Nesbett while calling 911 about the incident.
According to court records, Nesbett was previously arrested on April 5, 2010, on a felony charge of falsely reporting a terrorist threat, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, after he approached people in the 700 block of Central Avenue downtown while carrying a briefcase and asked them, “You want to hold my bomb for awhile?” before throwing the briefcase into the fountain at Reserve and Central.
“Police and National Park Service Rangers cordoned off Central, blocking traffic and rerouting motorists, until the briefcase could be removed and checked by Arkansas State Police bomb technicians. It was found to contain nothing but papers and pencils and various drawings,” The Sentinel-Record reported at the time.
On Aug. 17, 2010, Nesbett, who had no prior criminal history, was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in Garland County Circuit Court after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia following a mental evaluation at the state hospital.
Judge Marcia Hearnsberger ordered Nesbett into the custody of the Department of Human Services to receive mental health treatment.