Man is charged with assault and firearm after a violent road rage incident in October

SALT LAKE CITY — A man is accused of following a car, rear-ending it and then firing a gun, police said.

Salt Lake City police said Peter Lyons followed a car through Salt Lake City on Oct. 16 in an apparent road rage incident. The driver of the other car told police that Lyons tried to move him out of his lane and then saw he was being followed. He then called 911, according to police.

A probable cause statement said Lyons assumed the other driver was drunk and followed him after calling 911. However, the statement said police found no evidence that the driver was drunk.

Dispatch told Lyons to stop following the other car, but he continued, the statement said.

As the driver pulled into a parking lot, Lyons rear-ended him, the driver said. The driver continued to flee until he ended up in a dead end street where Lyons allegedly confronted him with a gun.

“Lyons stated that he fired his weapon at his windshield out of concern for his and his wife’s safety and only as a warning,” the statement said.

The other driver then continued his escape from Lyon. The driver drove to Salt Lake City International Airport to wait for officers, the statement said.

Lyons allegedly told police he saw the other driver “throwing beer cans and items out of his vehicle.” Lyon’s wife, who was also in the car, said she saw the man get out with a baseball bat. Police searched the man’s car but did not find any beer cans or a bat and did not believe the man was drunk.

Lyons is charged with one count of aggravated assault and one count of discharging a firearm.