An off-duty police officer was taken into custody in Wellford, S.C., after allegedly threatening a woman and her children with a firearm during a road rage incident on Interstate 85 in Spartanburg County.
33-year-old Paige Marie Newell was arrested Sunday and charged with pointing and presenting a firearm.
According to the Wellford Police Department, officers were called to a disturbance along I-85 southbound near mile marker 67.
Police encountered the victim and suspect in a parking lot along Highway 29.
The incident began when the victim claimed Newell performed a brake check maneuver on the interstate before overtaking her vehicle, as the report details. The victim stated that Newell’s car came dangerously close to hers, prompting her to lightly press her brakes.
The report further describes that after this maneuver, Newell allegedly went around the victim’s car, brandished a gun, and aimed it at the child seated on the passenger side. At the time, two children were in the vehicle, aged 12 and 3.
The police report then said that the victim followed Newell in order to get her license plate number before Newell backed into the victim’s car in a parking lot.
Newell told responding officers that she was a police officer with the Anderson Police Department.
Wellford Police seized Newell’s service firearm along with a personal gun which was not used in the incident, the report stated.
The service weapon was later returned to the Anderson Police Department.
Newell was booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center and later released, according to jail records.
7News has reached out to the Anderson Police Department for comment but have not heard back.
