A Rhineland man faces multiple criminal charges for allegedly threatening a man with a gun Sunday, Aug. 9, after following his son home to a location in Wright City during a road rage incident.
Lewis T. Sanchez was charged Monday, Aug. 10, with felonies including unlawful use of a weapon, first-degree harassment, and armed criminal action, along with fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor.
Shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to the area of Bell Road and Freedom Lane in Wright City following a report of a disturbance involving a firearm. Upon arriving, they found Sanchez with a handgun in the waistband of his shorts “engaged in a heated verbal argument with the victim,” according to a probable cause statement.
The victim’s son told police Sanchez had followed him from the Bryan Road overpass in O’Fallon to his residence in Wright City, at which point a verbal argument ensued, Sanchez asked the victim’s son “we got a problem here?” and displayed a handgun before leaving the scene.
The man's son said he had driven through multiple neighborhoods and county roads before arriving at his residence in an attempt to distance himself from Sanchez, but Sanchez still confronted him upon arriving at his residence.
The father of the younger driver who Sanchez followed home then made contact with Sanchez in the area of Bell Road and Freedom Lane in an attempt to determine why Sanchez had followed his son. The man told police that at that point, Sanchez exited his vehicle in an aggressive manner, pointed a firearm at him, and ordered him to get on his knees.
Police interviewed Sanchez, along with his “paramour” who had been driving. Sanchez told police that the victim's son had “cut him off on the freeway” and he followed him to “figure out where they live so we could talk to them.”
Sanchez’s “paramour” told police she and Sanchez mutually decided to chase the victim’s son “just to scare them, follow them home because they're stupid kids, that was all.”
Sanchez's gun was found to have a live round in the chamber, with eight additional rounds in the magazine. He told police he “only pulled it out right here in front of him when he jumped out of the car,” according to the statement.
Sanchez, born in 1983, is being held without bond at the Warren County Jail.
