WELLFORD, S.C. (WSPA) – An off-duty police officer was taken into custody after investigators reported she brandished a firearm at a woman and her children 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 victim recounted to investigators that Newell brake checked her while they were driving on the interstate, then continued to pass her vehicle, the report stated. It was also noted that Newell got alarmingly close to the victim’s car before the victim responded by lightly tapping her brakes.
The report further detailed that the victim claimed Newell subsequently maneuvered around her vehicle, brandished a firearm, and aimed it at her child seated in the passenger seat. At the moment, there were two children 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.
