A truck driver was arrested on Sunday after a road rage incident led him to chasing another truck driver with a knife.
The incident happened on Sunday, April 20th along Interstate 80 in Uinta County, Wyoming.
According to Cowboy State Daily, officers responded to the area of exit 33 off of I-80 at about 3:40 p.m. after receiving a call from a winded truck driver, called NM in the report, stating that another driver was chasing him around with a knife.
“He’s chasing me with a knife!” the caller said at the time.
When the officer responded to the scene, NM told him that the other truck driver had driven away in a white semi truck and was driving aggressively. NM told the officer that he had been traveling west on I-80 in his rig alongside another semi truck when the driver passed him on the left and then veered into his lane as they were driving next to each other. NM then drove onto the shoulder and honked at the white semi truck.
A short time later, NM was traveling behind the white semi truck when it braked suddenly, and the two eventually exited the interstate to work out the issue. Once parked, the driver in the white truck, identified as 36-year-old Alisher Sabirov, began shouting things like “F*** you” and “I’ll kick your ass.” NM said that Sabirov had then kicked and punched him.
NM stated that Sabirov then threatened to shoot him, went back to his truck, and returned with a knife. NM then insulted Sabirov for using a knife instead of fighting “like a man,” and instructed a box truck driver nearby to call 911. At that point, a chase allegedly ensued.
A trooper later found Sabirov and pulled him over. Sabirov initially denied being involved in any kind of road rage or altercation, but later described NM as speeding on the roadway and cutting people off before the two confronted each other. Sabirov says he warned NM that he was a UFC fighter and told him to go away. He says they then yelled at each other and left.
Officers then searched Sabirov’s truck and discovered a knife matching the description given by NM. Sabirov was then taken into custody. Once in custody, Sabirov claimed that he had picked “something black” up off the ground to defend himself against NM, who he says ran at him with his arms up.
Sabirov is 6 feet tall and 238 pounds, while NM is 5 foot 9 and weighs 165 pounds.
“It did not appear to me that Mr. Sabirov would need any sort of weapon to defend himself against an open-handed attack from N.M.,” added the investigating officer, also citing Sabirov’s alleged mixed martial arts experience.
Sabirov is currently being held in jail on one count of aggravated assault and one count of reckless endangerment. He is being held on $10,000 cash or surety bond, and has a hearing scheduled for Friday.
