MANCHESTER, N.H. – A state trooper on patrol for aggressive drivers got an eyeful on Interstate 93 on Wednesday.
A driver got angry when a gold pickup swept across a couple of lanes of rush-hour traffic and cut close to him, so he cut off a tractor-trailer, chased the other driver down and flashed a pistol, police said.
It turns out Trooper Andrew Player was driving behind them in an unmarked cruiser, and caught the incident on videotape.
“The lane change wasn’t necessarily unusual,” Player said. “As far as the other vehicle chasing him down and pulling up alongside of him, that’s not really normal.”
Player said that after riding side-by-side for a short time, the pickup pulled away and the second man tossed a gun out the window. Police recovered the pistol and found it was a BB gun-air pistol.
Player arrested William Jsirandanis, 19, of Manchester, at gunpoint. He is charged with reckless driving, reckless conduct, disorderly conduct and littering, for allegedly tossing the weapon.
The trooper said he is not sure the other driver saw the weapon.
“He didn’t report it,” he said.
He said the other driver is not facing charges for the lane change, which happens frequently as drivers cut across a short section of Interstate 93 southbound as they make their way from Route 101 to Route 293 in Manchester. “I would like to talk to him to see what he witnessed,” he said.
Player said if he had determined the lane change was hazardous, he would have stopped the pickup driver, but his attention quickly turned to Jsirandanis.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen somebody get upset like that and start chasing down another vehicle,” said Player, who has been on the aggressive driver patrol for 21/2 years.
Player said if someone angers you in traffic, it’s better to just let them go, or get a license number and call the police.
“You don’t know who is in the other vehicle,” he said. “This could have turned into a very dangerous – or deadly – situation had the other person had a gun.”
Comments are no longer available on this story