Man arrested following road rage incident in Clermont County, sheriff says

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - A Brown County man is charged with felonious assault following a road rage incident in Clermont County Monday, according to the sheriff’s office.

Chief Deputy Chris Stratton says William Tyler McNichols, 30, admitted to detectives that he shot at another vehicle while driving on SR 32 in Batavia Township.

Danny Smith, 51, of Pierce Township, told deputies that a white vehicle pulled up next to him and the driver began yelling profanities then fired a shot toward his car and continued west on SR 32, a news release from the Clermont County Sheriff’s office said.

Smith got off the highway, stopped at Speedway on Old State Route 74 around 2:28 p.m., and then called the Clermont County Communications Center.

He was not hurt. There were no additional victims.

The news release says deputies located a “single projectile strike to the rear of the victim’s vehicle.”

According to the criminal complaint, McNichols told a detective that “the victim cut him off in traffic and threw a water bottle at his vehicle, which prompted him in discharging his Glock, semi-auto pistol at the victim’s vehicle.”

A firearm was found in the car, the news release says.

Stratton says sheriff’s office detectives, with the help of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, located the suspect’s 2018 Chevrolet Cruz in Evendale.

McNichols’s bond was set at $250,000 during a hearing Tuesday morning, according to court documents.

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