Road Rage Driver Sentenced for Assault

A 54-year-old Bellflower man was sentenced last week for assaulting a younger man following a road rage pursuit in Los Alamitos, the Orange County district attorney's office reported.

Robert Allen Barnhart was found guilty by a jury on July 25 of two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one misdemeanor count of battery, according to the D.A.'s office. On Friday he was sentenced to 180 days in jail, 185 days in jail stayed pending completion of five years formal probation, lifetime license revocation and ordered to attend 22 weeks of anger management classes.

According to prosecutors, on Nov. 5, 2011, Barnhart was driving his Dodge Ram truck on Bloomfield Avenue in Los Alamitos when he was rear-ended by an 18-year-old man at a red traffic light. Barnhart got out of his vehicle, yelled at the young man and threatened him.

Barnhart got back inside his truck and chased the victim. Prosecutors said Barnhart raced ahead and then swerved into the vehicle, striking the front of it with the rear of his truck which caused the victim’s car to spin out of control into the opposite lane of traffic.

The victim tried to drive away on the wrong side of the road, prosecutors reported, but Barnhart sped up and continued to chase him.

Barnhart got in front of the victim’s car again, swerved and hit the brakes, which caused the victim's car to slam into the passenger side of Barnhart's truck.

Barnhart got out of his truck, opened the victim’s driver side door, pulled him out of the car, threw him to the ground and punched him, the D.A.'s office reported.

Witnesses called police and Barnhart was arrested at the scene.

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