A man was arrested for allegedly waving a machete out of his window during a road rage incident in Wolcott on Thursday.
A police sergeant on patrol stumbled upon the incident just after 11 a.m. when he spotted a motorist waving him down in the area of Nichols Road and Wolf Hill Road, according to the Wolcott Police Department.
The driver, who was distressed and yelling, told the sergeant “This guy behind me is crazy, he has a machete,” police said. The sergeant then spotted a man in the vehicle behind waving a machete out of the window.
The driver of the second vehicle, who was later identified as 67-year-old Robert Berardi of Wolcott, then got out of his vehicle and began approaching the sergeant while still waving the machete in the air, according to police. Berardi complied when the sergeant ordered him to drop the weapon.
Berardi was handcuffed and reportedly found with 40 glassine baggies containing a powdery substance as well as a prescription bottle with pills inside that did not match the label, police said. The powder tested positive for fentanyl.
According to police, investigators found that Berardi began following the victim following a road rage incident that began on Wolcott Road. Berardi allegedly waved the machete from his vehicle and followed the victim until police intervened. The victim told police they were driving to the police department when they flagged down the sergeant.
Berardi was arrested and charged with second-degree breach of peace, second-degree threatening, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, carrying a dangerous weapon, possession of a controlled substance, failure to keep narcotics in the original container and possession with intent to sell narcotics.
He was held on a $50,000 bond.