Chehalis Man Accused of Pulling Gun on Another Vehicle During Road Rage Incident Says He Was Not Aggressor

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A Chehalis man is facing three criminal charges — including two felonies — after being accused of instigating a road rage incident and aiming a handgun at another vehicle Wednesday. 

Todd W. Duplessis, 48, was arrested Wednesday and charged Thursday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree assault, a felony, and one count of reckless driving, a gross misdemeanor. 

The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office asked Superior Court Judge Joely O’Rourke Thursday to impose $50,000 bail, in light of Duplessis lack of criminal history. However, O’Rourke ordered Duplessis held on $100,000 bail pending future hearings, citing the nature of the allegations and the fact that a firearm was involved. 

According to court documents and the Centralia Police Department, at 6:50 p.m. on Wednesday, police received a report of road rage involving a gun in the 1000 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia. 

Police responded to a location in Chehalis and interviewed the reporting party, who told officers he was with a group of people traveling toward Centralia on Old Highway 99 in two separate vehicles, when a third vehicle passed them. The driver of that vehicle, identified in court documents as Duplessis, then allegedly slammed on the brakes, and threw a bottle at the vehicle behind him, cracking its windshield. 

The vehicles continued toward Centralia and stopped near the Interstate 5 overpass at Harrison Avenue. The reporting party told police that Duplessis got out of his vehicle and pointed a gun at the car behind him. 

Police later identified Duplessis as the owner of the vehicle in question and contacted him. According to court documents, Duplessis admitted he was involved in the incident but told police his was the vehicle that was cut off, and that he threw a plastic bottle at the vehicle behind him “to get them off his back.”

He told police he put the handgun on his vehicle’s dashboard. During his initial hearing Thursday when O’Rourke outlined the allegations against him, Duplessis shook his head back and forth repeatedly when accused of aiming the weapon at the vehicle behind him. 

He also argued through his defense attorney for the day, Rachael Tiller, that he was in fact the victim in the incident. 

“He was basically fleeing for his life and safety,” Tiller said, arguing that the occupants of the other two vehicles were chasing him, flashing their high beams and yelling threats. 

According to court documents, Duplessis went grocery shopping after the alleged incident. Tiller did not offer an explanation for why he did not report being the victim of a crime. 

Police found the firearm in question and reported it was loaded, according to court documents.