O'FALLON, Mo. — A man is facing multiple charges after police said he followed and yelled at a woman and pointed a gun at her husband while driving drunk with his granddaughter in the back seat Saturday.
Daniel Fitzgerald, 56, was charged with unlawful use of a loaded weapon while intoxicated, endangering the welfare of a child and fourth-degree assault after police said he pulled a gun on a man as a part of a road rage incident Saturday.
According to the probable cause statement, Fitzgerald was driving on Breezy Point Lane in O'Fallon, Missouri, when he got angry after he thought a woman almost hit him. He then started following her "extremely closely", leading the woman to fear for her safety.
When the woman reached her home, Fitzgerald was still following her, so she kept driving, the probable cause statement said. Her husband saw her drive by, so he called to see what was happening. When she told her husband what was going on, he said she should park on the street so Fitzgerald didn't know where they lived.
According to the probable cause statement, she parked on the street and Fitzgerald pulled up next to her car so she couldn't open her door and stared at her. When her husband came out to confront Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald started yelling profanities.
The husband asked Fitzgerald to leave, but Fitzgerald refused and put the car in park. Fearing for his safety, the husband pulled his gun from his waistband, pointed it in the air and asked Fitzgerald to leave again because they were calling the police, charging documents said.
At that point, Fitzgerald pulled his own gun out from beneath his steering wheel and pointed it at the husband and said he would shoot the husband, charging documents said. The husband put his gun away, but Fitzgerald continued to point his gun at the husband and threatened to shoot the husband.
The husband noticed a girl in Fitzgerald's back seat screaming and told Fitzgerald to leave again, which Fitzgerald finally did.
Police caught up with Fitzgerald a short time later where they found a loaded handgun with a round in the chamber affixed to a magnet under the car's steering wheel. They also saw that he appeared to be drunk, and administered a field sobriety test, according to charging documents. Police found out that the girl in the back seat during the entire incident was Fitzgerald's 8-year-old granddaughter.
The charging documents said a breathalyzer test administered two hours after the incident revealed he had a blood-alcohol concentration of .108. He was previously found guilty of two drunk driving offenses.
His bond was set at $30,000, cash only.
