OSP: Bend roundabout road rage incident leads to assault

(Update: Adding initial incident involved right of way in roundabout)

Oregon State Police asked the public for help Wednesday in finding the driver of a pickup truck involved in an apparent “road rage” incident at a Bend roundabout that led to an assault minutes later along Highway 97.

OSP Captain Tim Fox said the road rage incident occurred around 4:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Third Street-Murphy Road roundabout.

Fox had few details on the initial incident, only that it was “a right of way in a roundabout issue.” But he said the female victim, driving a red Ford Fusion, then headed south on Highway 97 from Murphy Road and pulled over along the highway north of the Baker Road intersection.

A man driving a lifted blue-gray GMC crew-cab pickup with possible black wheels and larger tires also stopped, got out and approached the woman.

The man then tried to pull the woman out of her car while shouting profanities, “leaving visible injuries” on her, Fox said.

The woman then sped away — and the man followed, until she got off at the Baker Road exit, the OSP captain said.

The man was described as about six feet tall, with a long beard. There was a second male, possibly a juvenile, who was a passenger in the GMC pickup, Fox said.

Police responded to the area but were unable to find the suspect vehicle.

Fox said anyone with information is asked to contact OSP’s Northern Command Center at 503-375-3555 or text *OSP from your mobile device. Reference Senior Trooper Justin Lane and case No. SP18-332666.

It’s the second road rage and subsequent assault incident reported in Central Oregon in four days.

Prineville police said a pickup driver reported another an SUV driver pulled a gun and hit him on the side of the face Saturday evening, reportedly angry that the pickup had pulled out in front of him. Both drivers pulled over and the encounter followed.