Road rage incident ends in arrest

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Road rage led to the arrest of a Ventura man after he tailgated and harassed a man driving to work in Santa Barbara on Wednesday afternoon, police said.
A 26-year-old Oxnard man was on his way to work on Milpas Street, driving at 65 mph in the fast lane of Highway 101, when a pickup truck approached at high speed and began tailgating him, authorities said.

After the victim changed lanes, the driver of the truck — a 2007 Toyota Tacoma — passed and then pulled in front of the victim, applying the brakes, Santa Barbara Police Spokesman Lt. Paul McCaffrey said.
“It appeared to the victim that the suspect was deliberately antagonizing him,” McCaffrey said. “The suspect driver repeated a pattern of accelerating to 65 mph, and then rapidly braking while directing in front of the victim’s truck.”
As the victim exited the freeway at Milpas Street, the suspect followed suit, authorities said. The victim lost sight of the Tacoma for several blocks, but when it reappeared directly behind him, he called the police, McCaffrey said. When the victim parked at his workplace in the 600 block of Milpas Street, the suspect, identified as 23-year-old Idelberto Cruz Martinez (pictured), challenged him and two coworkers to a fight, police said.
“Just then, SBPD Sergeant Stoney arrived to handle the disturbance,” McCaffrey said. “He tried to separate the parties and ordered Martinez to step back. Martinez exclaimed that the police ‘can’t tell me what to do,’ and assumed an aggressive stance.”
After handcuffing Martinez, officers conducted a sobriety test, which he failed, police said. Authorities arrested the 23-year-old for suspicion of DUI, being an unlicensed driver, disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, McCaffrey said.
Officers also determined that a 49-year-old Ventura woman had allowed Martinez to borrow the Tacoma. Since she admitted knowing that Martinez did not have a driver’s license, McCaffrey said authorities will request that a charge be filed against her for providing a vehicle to an unlicensed driver.