Background: The 200 block of Webster Street in Hudson, New Hampshire (Google Maps). Inset: Eric Chadbourne (Hudson Police Department).
A man is accused of pulling out a gun because he was “upset” over traffic delays caused by a car crash, authorities in New Hampshire say.
Eric Chadbourne, 38, has been charged with criminal threatening with a deadly weapon, a felony, the Hudson Police Department announced. The underlying incident is said to have occurred on Thursday.
A car and a UPS truck were reportedly involved in a “serious” crash on Webster Street in Hudson, sometime in the late afternoon and early evening. As officers began traveling to the scene, they learned that not only had a crash occurred, but someone at the scene had allegedly “brandished a firearm.”
Workers at a nearby body shop are said to have seen the crash occur and rushed to help. But the crash was apparently affecting more than just the occupants of the two vehicles.
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Chadbourne, driving a white Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck, was “upset over traffic delays caused by the accident,” police said. Witnesses described his attitude at the time.
“He said, “I just gotta get home,’ and I said, the guy’s over here laying in the ground, we can’t really let you by,” witness Colby Jackson told local ABC affiliate WMUR. “He kept reaching for a pistol in his pocket, and from there we all told him to stop, you don’t want to do this.”
Chadbourne reportedly proceeded to drive over a lawn — nearly hitting a wall — in order to get around the crash site. Google Maps shows that Webster Street runs right through the center of Hudson, New Hampshire, which has a population of about 25,000 people.
At one point while trying to get away, Chadbourne allegedly pulled the gun out into the open air, authorities said.
“The subject was unhappy that the traffic had come to a stop and needed to get to the residence down the street, and because of that, he pulled a firearm,” Hudson police Captain Patrick Broderick told the local outlet.
Witnesses are said to have given officers — who had since arrived — a description of Chadbourne and his vehicle after he had driven off. Law enforcement then saw the Chevy truck parked at a home on the same street. A “high-risk motor vehicle stop” was conducted, and Chadbourne was arrested.
According to Hudson police, the suspect had a gun in his pocket at the time of his arrest.
