A Douglas County man was arrested in Florida after a road-rage incident ended with his and another man’s daughter injured, officials said.
William Hale, 35, of Douglasville, and Frank Allison, 43, of Callahan, Florida, are facing charges of attempted murder in the Oct. 8 confrontation on U.S. 1 in Nassau County after they shot at each other’s vehicles, Sheriff Bill Leeper said during a news conference last week.
“Sometimes we see people acting stupid and doing dumb things out on the highways,” Leeper said. “They sometimes let their emotions get the best of them, and they don’t really think about the consequences of their actions or what could happen as the result of their stupidity.”
Around 6 p.m., Leeper said a witness called 911 to report that a black Dodge Ram with five occupants and a gray Nissan Murano with three occupants were involved in a road-rage incident. With the two vehicles driving erratically, Leeper said the witness feared that something bad would happen.
”He described it as a cat and mouse game the whole time,” Leeper said.
At some point, Hale pulled his Dodge alongside Allison’s Nissan, rolled down his window and began shouting for Allison to pull over, Leeper said. The confrontation continued and Leeper said someone in Hale’s vehicle threw a water bottle into Allison’s vehicle.
That’s when Allison pulled out a handgun and fired a single shot into Hale’s pickup truck before driving away, Leeper said.
”Allison stated the reason he fired his weapon was to get out of the whole situation,” the sheriff added.
The shot went through the passenger door and struck Hale’s 5-year-old in the leg, according to Leeper. When Hale realized his daughter had been shot, he caught up to Allison and fired every bullet that was in his magazine, the sheriff said. At least three struck the Nissan.
One bullet went through the back of the vehicle and hit Allison’s 14-year-old daughter in the back, causing a collapsed lung, Leeper said.
As both drivers continued speeding, they noticed a patrol car along the highway, and Leeper said they both stopped, got out of their vehicles and began arguing. After the deputy broke up the fight, EMS was called to the scene and the two girls were taken to the hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
”Thankfully, no one was killed in this incident, but it could have very easily turned out that way,” Leeper said. “There could have been two dead kids because of two stupid grown men.”
Hale and Allison were booked into the Nassau jail and bonded out after their first court appearances.
