The incident occurred in Upper Gwynedd Township.
A Philadelphia man entered a negotiated guilty plea July 1 to simple assault and was sentenced by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Risa Vetri Ferman to two years’ probation for pepper spraying a motorist during a road rage incident.
According to court documents, Kenneth C. Peace, 31, was not prosecuted on misdemeanor reckless endangerment and lying to authorities. Four charges of reckless endangerment and terroristic threats were withdrawn at the district court level, per court records.
Police were dispatched to the 1100 block of Welsh Road at 3:29 p.m. for a report of a road rage incident. Arriving police found the driver sitting in the grass in obvious pain with his head in his lap, who said he was driving himself and four friends to Ambler when a white Honda SUV that was driving aggressively attempted to merge into his lane from the right lane, according to charging documents.
The victim stated that he did not allow the vehicle to merge, at which point the driver — identified as Peace — allegedly began shouting obscenities towards the victim and his passengers, police said. The victim then flipped Peace the middle finger, at which point Peace cut them off, stopped in front of them, then exited his vehicle and approached their vehicle, police said.
Peace continued to scream at the driver, then grabbed a pepper spray container on his keychain and sprayed the driver directly in the face. Peace then walked back to his vehicle and drove away, police said.
One of the victims captured the alleged incident on video, and two others took photos of the license plate, which was traced back to Peace, police said.
After being contacted, Peace went to the Upper Gwynedd Police Station to provide a written statement in which he confirmed he was involved in the incident, but said it was only a verbal confrontation, police said. When asked if he carries pepper spray or if he got out of his vehicle during the incident, Peace said he did not.
Once Peace left the station, investigators compared his image from the interview to the footage captured at the scene, which appeared to be a match, police said.
