A man was arrested over the weekend and accused of lying to state police when he said a driver pointed a gun at him during a road rage incident on Interstate 84 last year.
Gerard Carbonaro, 61, was arrested Saturday on charges of reckless driving, improper passing, second-degree reckless endangerment and false statement, according to Connecticut State Police.
The charges stem from an incident reported to troopers on I-84 in Middlebury on March 7, 2024, when state police were dispatched to a commuter lot at Exit 17 on the report of a road rage incident involving a firearm.
Carbonaro told troopers he was driving east in the left lane on I-84 around 11:45 a.m. when he tried passing a flat bed tractor-trailer, according to the warrant affidavit supporting his arrest. As he did, Carbonaro told troopers, the driver of a Chevy Silverado pickup truck cut in front of him and missed hitting him by about three feet, the warrant affidavit said.
After both motorists passed the tractor-trailer, Carbonaro claimed that the other driver moved over to the center lane and pulled alongside him, at which point he made a crude gesture, according to the warrant affidavit. Carbonaro alleged that he gave him the “stink eye” and continued to pass him until the other driver came barreling by him going more than 90 mph, the warrant affidavit said.
Carbonaro told police the pickup driver then swerved in front of him and slammed on his brakes like he wanted to be struck, state police wrote. He alleged that the other driver then pulled alongside him again and pointed a handgun at him.
Carbonaro told troopers he followed the vehicle off of Exit 17 so he could get his vehicle and license plate information.
Troopers used the information to find the owner of the vehicle and went to his residence to investigate. The man admitted that he was involved in a road rage incident, though he said the other driver was the aggressor.
According to the warrant affidavit, the man said he was in the left lane and was about to pass a large truck when he saw a driver in a white SUV come up very quickly behind and to the right of him. He said the SUV driver cut in front of him, only missing him by about five feet before he could pass the large truck and slammed on his brakes.
The man told troopers he assumed the other driver did not want to get stuck behind the tractor-trailer. He also admitted that once the two drivers were alongside each other he made a crude gesture, though he denied pointing a handgun at him and told police he did not have any weapons registered to him, the warrant affidavit said.
State police said they found that the man had a dashboard camera mounted to the windshield of his pickup. He said he did not know how to use it but allowed state police to take the SD card. Troopers found video of the incident and said it corroborated the pickup truck driver’s account of what happened and not the version Carbonaro described, according to the warrant affidavit.
Troopers later obtained a warrant for Carbonaro’s arrest. He is free on a $10,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 21 in Waterbury Superior Court.