JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A teenager has been arrested for his role in a road rage incident that sent one person to the hospital and tied up traffic for hours, but the one arrested isn't the one who fired the shot.
The altercation happened just as the afternoon rush was getting underway on Interstate 295 heading from Mandarin to the Westside.
The Florida Highway Patrol said it began when one vehicle trying to merge was blocked by another, and the two began erratic, aggressive driving.
The driver of one of the vehicles, a Toyota Yaris, was 19-year-old Derick Leonard Jackson.
He told police he was merging from I-95 onto I-295 and was trying to cut off an SUV.
Jackson said that driver became angry and started yelling at him.
He said he then threw a can of air freshener at the SUV, hitting it on the side.
"I was just trying to scare him," Jackson told investigators.
The driver of the SUV, whose name has not been released, then displayed a gun in a non-threatening manner, telling police he thought the sound of the can hitting his SUV was a gunshot.
That driver said the gun then accidentally discharged.
The bullet struck a passenger in the Yaris in the leg.
Jackson said he then became angry and started chasing the SUV, even though the passenger was telling him to take him to the hospital.
Speeds got up to 80 mph, Jackson said, and he rammed the SUV at least once. When he got in front of the SUV, on the Buckman Bridge, he slammed on the brakes and both vehicles stopped in the left lanes of the bridge.
Several 911 calls pertaining to the incident indicate that Jackson was the aggressor and had been driving erratically prior to the incident.
Another passenger in Jackson's vehicle said the same thing, adding that Jackson was ignoring pleas to stop.
The ensuing investigation, which had one lane of the Buckman blocked for hours, had traffic backed up onto I-95, about eight miles away.
Jackson was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and throwing a deadly missiles (the air freshener).
JSO said no further charges are pending in the case.
First Coast News