Staff Reports
A road rage incident near the University of New Mexico-Gallup on Nov. 18 escalated into a confrontation involving a hammer and a Gallup man facing battery and assault charges, according to campus police.
UNM-Gallup Police Sgt. Richard Perez was patrolling on Vo-Tech Drive when he met a man who flagged him down and said another driver had run him off the road and broken his truck window. The other driver, identified as Reynold Bahe, 41, pulled over nearby but immediately confronted the man, shoving him twice before being ordered back to his truck by Perez.
According to the police report, the victim said the confrontation began after Bahe’s maroon Dodge truck cut into his lane on State Road 564 and brake-checked him. When the victim later blocked Bahe’s vehicle on Vo-Tech Drive to speak with him, Bahe allegedly retrieved a hammer from his truck and smashed the driver’s side window of the victim’s white Chevy, sending glass onto the victim and his juvenile passenger. The passenger reportedly suffered a cut to her cheek.
Bahe told Perez he struck the window with his fist while confronting the victim and denied threatening him with a hammer. However, UNM-Gallup security cameras captured footage of Bahe shoving the victim and swinging the hammer at the Chevy’s window.
In all, Bahe faced chargers for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal damage to property under $1,000 and two counts of battery. Following a series of hearings and a bind over on May 13, Bahe failed to appear at a June 2 hearing before being arrested and booked on Aug. 12. His warrant hearing is set for Sept. 8 in Gallup District Court.
