A Middletown Township man has been charged after police allege a road-rage incident that began near a Walmart ended with him repeatedly punching another driver in a church parking lot.
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Tulyltown Borough police were dispatched on Friday, Sept. 4, to the St. Michael the Archangel parking lot on Levittown Parkway for a reported altercation between two men.
An officer wrote in court papers that they found one man bleeding from his nose and mouth, with swelling around his right eye. He “appeared shaken and disheveled.”
An ambulance responded, but the injured man declined medical treatment, police said.
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According to cops, the man told officers he was driving through the Levittown Town Center parking lot near Walmart when he honked his horn at the driver of a white Ford truck after the traffic light turned green and the truck did not move.
The Ford driver became “enraged,” according to police, and followed the man’s vehicle as he drove on Levittown Parkway toward Route 13.
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The two vehicles turned around, and the Ford continued following the man through the shopping center parking lot, police said.
A crash happened before the vehicles ended up in the church parking lot, police said.
Authorities said the Ford driver got out and approached the other vehicle. The man whose vehicle was struck grabbed a baseball bat and told the Ford driver to stay away.
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The Ford driver then began striking the man, and the two struggled over the baseball bat, police said.
The bat fell from the vehicle, and the Ford driver pulled the other man from his vehicle and repeatedly punched him in the face and head, police said.
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According to court papers, police reviewed security camera footage that showed the Ford driver attempting to force the other vehicle off the road and later repeatedly punching the man.
Two witnesses were reported to have provided statements to police.
The Ford driver was identified by investigators as Tyler Thomas Starrett, 31, of Middletown Township.
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Tullytown Borough police filed charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, disorderly conduct and harassment against Starrett last week.
A separate incident followed on Monday, Sept. 7, when Middletown Township police alleged Starrett fled from officers in a vehicle. He was charged with fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, license expired, speeding, reckless driving and disorderly conduct.
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Starrett was jailed on 10 percent of $200,000 bail in the Tullytown Borough case and 10 percent of $25,000 bail in the Middletown Township case.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
