Bend road-rage suspect denies pointing gun at driver

A Bend-area man accused of pointing his pistol out his SUV at another Highway 20 driver in Tumalo late last week denied elements of the alleging road rage incident Monday, disputing what witnesses told Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies and claiming another driver began the confrontation by brake-checking him.

Callers to Deschutes County 911 dispatchers said a driver of a white Chevy Suburban — later identified Hawkens Hazelton, 22 — was driving recklessly late Thursday afternoon, pointing a gun at another driver in front of him and trying to intimidate and challenge “other drivers to fight with hand gestures, physical threats and dangerous driving,” sheriff’s Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp said.

At one point, the sergeant said, witnesses said Hazelton pointed a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol out the Suburban’s window toward another driver, although no shots were fired and no one was injured.

Hazelton’s vehicle was spotted minutes later, and he was arrested by deputies and Bend police in a guns-drawn “high-risk” traffic stop near Highway 20 and the Old Bend-Redmond Highway.

Hazelton was arraigned Friday on initial charges of unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, two counts of recklessly endangering another person and reckless driving. He was released from jail Friday evening after posting 10 percent of his $25,000 bail, a jail official said. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on an expected formal indictment.

“I didn’t have any altercations with any other drivers, besides the two (men) in the green Dodge,” Hazelton told NewsChannel 21 by email Monday. KTVZ offered to share his comments after he posted an initial brief comment on the station’s website.

“I never had my handgun out of the window, or threaten(ed) other drivers physically with hand gestures or weapon gestures,” he wrote.

“I didn’t start the situation,” Hazelton added. “The green Dodge started it with brake-checking me, and reckless driving and making hand gestures to me.”

However, Hazelton did acknowledge raising his gun at one point during the incident.

“The two men in the green Dodge, I raised my gun up inside my truck, gun still in the holster, unloaded, and was pointed to my stereo,” Hazelton said. “The gun was never pointed at anybody directly.”

“I understand that the threat I made was (too) far, with no excuse,” he wrote. “I just wanted the green Dodge to leave me alone, and not to hit my truck.”