Trucker pleads not guilty in road rage shooting

UPDATE @ 11:17 a.m. (Dec. 10)

Harold Baker, a Kentucky semi driver, pleaded not guilty today to charges of felonious assault and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle during a video appearance in Miami County Municipal Court.

Magistrate Gary Zuhl set Baker’s cash bond at $110,000. A mental health evaluation was also ordered by the magistrate.

State troopers recovered a single bullet inside the cab of the victim’s semi rig Tuesday night on Interstate 75 near Tipp City. The shooting did occur in Miami County while both rigs were southbound.

UPDATE @ 8:06 a.m. (Dec. 9)

A trucker accused of firing a shot into the cab of another trucker in a road rage incident Tuesday evening has been identified.

Our newsroom has confirmed Harold Baker, 51, was arrested following the road rage incident along I-75. He was arrested on charges of felonious assault and improper use of a firearm.

Baker is from Middlesboro, Ky.

He remains in the Miami County Jail.

UPDATE @ 5:49 a.m. (Dec. 9)

A trucker accused of firing a shot into the cab of another trucker in a road rage incident along I-75 south Tuesday evening is in jail.

According to jail records, Harold Baker, 51, was arrested on Interstate 75 around midnight by the Ohio State Highway Patrol. We are working to confirm Baker is a suspect in the road rage incident.

It’s unclear if the second trucker was arrested and booked into jail.

UPDATE @ 10:50 p.m. (Dec. 8)

A trucker is accused of firing a shot from a 9mm handgun into the cab of another trucker in a road rage incident along I-75 South, in the area of Tipp City near the Montgomery County-Miami County line, and the aggressor could be charged with state and federal offenses, a state patrol sergeant said.

The semitrailer driver who fired the shot is a male in his late 50s or early 60s from Kentucky and the other semitrailer driver is a male in his early 40s from Michigan, said Sgt. Frank Simmons Jr. of the Dayton post. The round lodged in the chassis and did not hit the Michigan trucker.

Both men have been taken into custody.

“We don’t know the origin of the argument. We just know a weapon was discharged during that incident,” Simmons said. “We just know he discharged his weapon illegally.”

The Michigan trucker called the Ohio Highway Patrol just before 9 p.m. to report that he was being harassed by another trucker, Simmons said. The Michigan trucker stopped his rig on the berm after the shooting. The Kentucky trucker stopped his rig another 100 feet in front of his foe. Troopers arrived soon after that and tried to sort things out.

Simmons said patrol investigators will determine whether federal charges are applicable because of interstate transportation laws, and whether to pursue state charges that could range from felonious assault to attempted murder.

“Do not hesitate to call police when confronted by someone who is acting aggressively like this or some type of road rage incident,” Simmons said. “Get away from the situation if you can, if it can be done safely.

“In this case, he had nowhere to go, no exit ramp. Once he was fired at, he had to stop his vehicle.”

FIRST REPORT

The Ohio Highway Patrol is investigating a shots fired incident on I-75 South near the Tipp City exit, in the area of the Montgomery County-Miami County line.

There appear to be two scenes on the interstate — one involving a semitrailer and a second, farther south, involving a passenger car and a second semitrailer.

We’re told a trooper asked aloud, “is there a bullet hole in that vehicle?”

The answer must have been in the affirmative, because the officer quickly followed with this response: “Well, this is a crime scene.”

A trooper has confirmed that shots were fired.

We’re there also and working to find out what happened on the interstate.