Man arrested in road rage case

SAGLE — A Bonner County man was arrested for aggravated assault after an alleged road rage incident at the north end of the Long Bridge Tuesday.

Matthew Edward McCorkle, 45, was charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after Bonner County Sheriff's deputies say he pulled a gun on a driver after cutting the man off as the other driver attempted to merge onto the Long Bridge.

The man told deputies that he was headed south and attempted to merge onto the bridge when a white Lexus with the Idaho license plate DIVINE1 cut him off. When his car got close to the Lexus, a man leaned out of the window and pointed the gun at him, court records indicate.

"I asked [him] what went through his mind when the gun was pointed at him," Deputy Matt Bergstrom testified. "[He] stated that he backed off the car and thought it was '50/50 if he was going to shoot me or not.' "

Bergstrom said the man told him that he was in fear for his life and, while he didn't know if the weapon pointed at him was real or plastic it didn't matter at that point, that he wasn’t sure if he was going to start “slinging rounds” at him.

After speaking with the driver, Bergstrom testified he was headed west on Dufort Road en route to a residence associated with the Lexus when a vehicle matching the description passed him headed east. The deputy told the court he turned his vehicle around and pulled the driver over.

Bergstrom said the driver, later identified as McCorkle, when asked why he had been pulled over, told him that some guy had run him off the road when he accidentally cut him off. While he admitted to leaning out the window, flipping the other driver off and yelling an expletive, McCorkle denied doing anything else.

Bergstrom testified he advised McCorkle he was under arrest for aggravated assault and placed him in the back of his patrol car.

A K-9 unit called to the scene alerted on the rear of the vehicle. When he opened the trunk, Bergstrom testified he found a red backpack in which he located a black handgun as well as ammunition. In addition, Bergstrom testified he found a brown paper bag with commercially packaged marijuana joints from a shop in Washington state.

Magistrate Judge Tera Harden found probable cause to sustain the charges and set bond at $75,000.

A preliminary hearing was set for June 2.