Couple Beaten During Road Rage Incident In Bartow County

CARTERSVILLE, GA — The Bartow County Sheriff's Office is looking for four men accused of attacking a man and woman with golf clubs during a road rage incident earlier this month. Deputies were dispatched around 1:27 a.m. Sunday, May 20 to the area of Highway 20 at Dean Road.

Officers met with a man who said he and his girlfriend were "involved in a physical altercation" alongside the major highway, according to an incident report released by the sheriff's office.

The couple was traveling in a 2000 Toyota Tacoma on Highway 20 and made a U-turn around Dean Road, which is located just east of the Interstate 75 interchange. At that moment, a lifted dark-colored Chevrolet pickup truck with bright white lights began tailgating the Tacoma. The driver told the deputy he tapped his brakes so the bigger truck would back off, as the high beams were shining through the rear window.

The truck passed the first vehicle, and ran the Tacoma onto the shoulder of Highway 20, the report states. A man wearing a white hat got out of the passenger side of the truck while three other men armed with golf clubs also exited the vehicle.

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One of the men confronted the driver of the smaller truck, and one of the alleged assailants spat in the victim's face. According to the report, the subjects began to beat the man with golf clubs. The female passenger began to yell and the man sporting the white hat struck her on the left side of the face. That suspect, the report states, told her "if she did not shut up, she would get hit again," the report notes.

The four men, all described as white males, left the scene before police arrived. The male victim suffered injuries to his head and also had redness and bruising on the right side of his shoulder in the shape of a golf club. The woman also had swelling and bruising to the left side of her face near her eye.

The report notes the woman recorded part of the incident using her cell phone. Two men were captured on film, one of which was described as a heavy-set male with tattoos on his front torso. He appeared to be bleeding from his face. Another male was wearing a white T-shirt and also looked to have tattoos on his left forearm.

Emergency medical service personnel transported both victims to the hospital for treatment. Three golf club were located near the back of the victim's truck. Two of them were broken "from being used in the incident," the sheriff's office's report added. A white hat belonging to one of the suspects was also found at the scene.

Bartow sheriff's detectives are asking anyone with information to contact the Criminal Investigation Division at 770-382-5050 ext 6030.

Photo: the suspects police are looking for in connection to a May 20 assault on a man and woman along Highway 20 near Dean Road. Credit: Bartow County Sheriff's Office