ST. LOUIS — A Manchester man involved in a violent road rage incident that happened last month is in custody after police put out a warrant for his arrest earlier this week.
According to a probable cause statement, 35-year-old John Jacob Ehlinger was charged Tuesday with first-degree assault resulting in serious injury, unlawful use of a weapon to shoot at a person from a motor vehicle and armed criminal action in connection to an attack that occurred on Oct. 22 in downtown St. Louis.
The victim was waiting at a red light at the intersection of 10th Street and Clark Avenue and honked his horn when Ehlinger went straight through the light in a right-turn lane. That's when Ehlinger allegedly backed up aggressively, got out and approached the victim's car. He forced open the car door and pulled the victim out before punching him in the face numerous times, according to the statement. He then got back in his truck and drove off.
The victim suffered swollen and black eyes, a broken nose, a fracture to the left side of his jaw and a fracture in his upper right temple area, according to the statement.
The assault was captured on surveillance video, and the video showed Ehlinger chasing after another driver who witnessed the assault. He drove up alongside the witness' vehicle, held a gun outside the window and asked "Do we have a problem?" The victim drove away, but Ehlinger allegedly followed before ramming the back of the victim's car with his truck. The victim drove away and heard two gunshots.
Later, Manchester police found Ehlinger's truck abandoned but were familiar with him. According to the probable cause statement, he is currently on parole for an incident in May when slashed the tires of another vehicle.
"We received some information on Wednesday regarding Mr. Ehlinger. We took everything seriously as public safety is our main mission," said Swansea Police Chief Matt Blomberg.
"We started doing a little research on it and found more details in KSDK's web story. I can't thank you as the media enough for putting out important information for public safety," added Blomberg.
"He does have an extensive history and obviously the charges that were pending were very worrisome to us and we made it a priority, " he said.
"I have no idea what the connection was over here at this point, but the investigation is ongoing. I can tell you he and two other men were taken into custody," he said.
5 On Your Side's Robert Townsend spoke with the 57-year-old road rage victim by telephone.
He declined an on-camera interview because he said right now he's still traumatized by the incident and "struggling to eat due to my broken jaw."
The man also said he's relieved to hear that Ehlinger is now in jail.
An at-large warrant was issued Tuesday for Ehlinger's arrest. Police said Thursday he had been taken into custody and was being held at the St. Clair County Jail.
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