By Tiffany Williams –
WESTPORT, Conn. — A road rage confrontation on Route 15 escalated into an alleged gun threat, a police search and an arrest after Connecticut State Police say a driver pointed a firearm at another motorist while a small child was inside her vehicle.
The incident unfolded at approximately 6:53 a.m. Thursday, August 6, near Exit 20 on Route 15 Southbound in Westport.
State Police said Troop G received a report of a road rage incident involving a red Honda sedan and another vehicle.
According to the police report, the woman told investigators that the Honda had brake-checked her before its driver pulled alongside her vehicle. Police said she reported that the driver then brandished a firearm and pointed it at her for several seconds.
There was another disturbing element to the encounter: State Police said the woman’s vehicle was carrying a small juvenile at the time.
Troopers quickly located the Honda farther south on Route 15, south of Exit 13 in Stamford. Police stopped the vehicle and detained its occupants without incident.
The driver was identified by State Police as Nicholas Alexander Dagostino, 27, of Farmington, Maine.
According to investigators, Dagostino admitted having a firearm beneath the driver’s seat but claimed that he had only waved the gun’s holster at the complainant.
Troopers searched the vehicle.
What they reported finding dramatically raised the stakes.
State Police said investigators recovered the firearm beneath the driver’s seat. The weapon was loaded with a 12-round magazine containing 11 rounds of ammunition.
Police said several bags of psilocybin mushrooms were also discovered during the vehicle search.
Dagostino was arrested and transported to Troop G for processing.
State Police charged him with threatening in the first degree, two counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, possession of a pistol without a permit, illegal possession of a high-capacity magazine, possession of a controlled substance, risk of injury to a minor, breach of peace in the second degree and operating a motor vehicle to impede traffic.
The case brings together allegations of road rage, a loaded firearm and a child caught in the middle of an encounter that police say began on a Connecticut highway during the morning hours.
Dagostino was held on a $25,000 cash bond.
State Police said he was later released after posting 7% of that bond.
Dagostino is scheduled to appear September 3 in Stamford Superior Court.