Police: Man tried to strangle driver in Fayetteville road rage incident

Joseph Mark Norton
Joseph Mark Norton

FAYETTEVILLE -- A Farmington man was arrested Friday after he tried to strangle a motorist following a road rage incident, according to Fayetteville police.

Joseph Mark Norton, 34, of 285 Ecology Drive was arrested in connection with aggravated assault, a Class D felony, according to a preliminary arrest report. Norton also faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving.

According to the report, Norton was driving a 1997 Volvo about 10:31 a.m. Friday near the 500 block of South Shiloh Drive in Fayetteville when he sideswiped another driver in a Ford Focus while trying to pass the vehicle. Norton became enraged after hitting the other vehicle, then cut it off and left his vehicle, the report said.

Norton confronted the driver, who wasn't named in the report, and tried to strangle the victim while making "growling noises," the report said. Bystanders intervened to keep Norton from strangling the driver. The report said the victim had pain in the neck area and red marks to the neck and throat.

Norton was being held Monday at the Washington County Detention Center with no bond set.

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