A Spanish male has been arrested by the National Police after threatening a driver with an axe in Palma and chasing him for several kilometres following a traffic dispute. ‘Get out of here or I’ll split your head open,’ he apparently threatened. The officers seized the weapon, an air pistol, three magazines and a bottle of propane gas that he was carrying in the boot. He is charged with threatening behaviour.
The incident took place last Tuesday morning. A patrol from the National Police Response Task Force that was carrying out routine controls was alerted by a member of the public who reported that he had been threatened by a driver after a traffic dispute. The officers who arrived at the scene interviewed the victim, who told them that hours earlier, while driving his vehicle, he began to hear another vehicle honking its horn and saw flashing lights behind him. The man thought it was another driver and waved.
The complainant continued driving along a narrow street and after several kilometres he noticed that the same vehicle was still flashing its lights and that the man driving it was waving his arms. The victim slowed down and the chasing vehicle accelerated and pulled up alongside his.
Once both vehicles had stopped, the complainant said that a tall, burly young man got out of the other car and, for no apparent reason, began to shout insults and threaten him. The driver went to the back of his car, took a large axe out of the boot and said: ‘Get out of here or I’ll split your head open.’
The complainant drove off quickly for fear of being attacked and headed home. Once he got near to his house, he saw the driver who had threatened him again. The man got out of the car and walked towards him. The offender snatched his mobile phone so that he could not record him, then threw it on the ground and fled.