LIHUE — A Lihue man who was involved in a 2013 “road rage incident” where he brandished a weapon was fined $500 after he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge. Bryson Yoneo Higashi, 35, was driving along the traffic
LIHUE — A Lihue man who was involved in a 2013 “road rage incident” where he brandished a weapon was fined $500 after he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge.
Bryson Yoneo Higashi, 35, was driving along the traffic circle in Kapaa when he and another motorist got into an altercation on the highway. The two vehicles sped along behind the Kapaa Bypass road with the two motorists shouting at each other, until Higashi allegedly pulled out a weapon, according to court records.
“Who started it and who ended it, it’s really unclear,” defense attorney Mark Zenger told the court Monday. “There was some interaction that was really inappropriate on the road.”
The man in the other vehicle called the police while driving during the incident.
Higashi was arrested at 5:30 p.m. on May 16, 2013.
Higashi was originally charged with terroristic threatening in the first degree, a class C felony and promoting a detrimental drug in the third degree, according to the June 12, 2013, indictment, which states that Higashi threatened the victim with a Crosman airsoft gun.
On Monday, Higashi pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct and was asked to pay $500.
The gun was recovered from Higashi’s vehicle, despite the deputy prosecutor stating Monday no weapon had been recovered.
Higashi could not clearly articulate to the court how he would handle the situation differently if it were to happen to him again.
His attorney said that it would help if he were to be the one to call the police.
“Let it go or call the police,” Zenger told the court. “Roads are dangerous. In this particular incidence, the other guy called the police first … Next time and there will be a next time where someone does something on the road that offends him, he will react to it differently. My hope is that he will do that.”
Higashi has a prior record. In 2015, he was fined for disorderly conduct; petty misdemeanor in 2012, second-degree terroristic threatening in 2010, five TRO violations in 2009 and harassment conviction in 2008.
