Man Swings Machete At Woman In Fremont Road Rage: Police

FREMONT, CA — A man has been charged with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor exhibiting a deadly weapon for allegedly swinging a machete at a woman during an apparent road rage incident in Fremont on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

At 1:04 p.m. on Tuesday officers responded to a report of a confrontation that had just occurred between the drivers of two vehicles on Brophy Drive in Fremont's Glenmoor Gardens neighborhood.

Police said a witness told officers that it appears the incident stemmed from a road rage incident in which both drivers swerved and cut each other off.

Police said the female driver pulled into a driveway and the male driver, later identified as 30-year-old Nicholas Steadman of Fremont, parked his vehicle and got out with a machete in his hand.

Steadman pointed the machete at the female and swung it toward her but apparently didn't strike her because no injuries were reported, according to police.

The witness, who captured some of the incident on a cellphone video, told police that when he approached Steadman the suspect got back into his vehicle and began to drive away.

However, the witness followed Steadman until officers arrived and located him on nearby Mildred Drive and arrested him, police said.

The machete was located in the front seat of Steadman's vehicle and was collected for evidence, according to police. Steadman was booked into the Fremont Jail but has since been released on bail.

Steadman was arraigned at the Fremont Hall of Justice and is scheduled to return to court on Friday morning to finalize his legal representation and possibly enter a plea.

— Bay City News; Image via Renee Schiavone, Patch