A Dubois man is in jail on a $20,000 cash-only bond, facing accusations of ramming another man’s truck with his Hummer, then charging the man with a knife and punching the truck windows.
Chad M. Thomas, 45, faces one charge of felony property destruction and another of aggravated assault, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison if he’s convicted.
Thomas rammed his H3 Hummer head-on into another man’s Dodge Ram pickup the morning of Sept. 1 outside a Dubois restaurant just as the man was parking to go inside the establishment, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed Friday in the case.
Thomas hopped out of his Hummer, tried to get into the Dodge truck and was punching the windows, the other man later told Dubois Police Chief Sean Hampton.
A witness said Thomas was charging the man, brandishing a knife and yelling that he was going to kill the man, the affidavit says.
The man in the truck was able to drive away and get to a local business where someone, the affidavit doesn’t say who, called 911.
The police chief later found Thomas sitting in a chair outside his room. When Thomas stood up from the chair, he removed a knife from his belt, the affidavit says.
Police arrested him and took him to the Fremont County Detention Center in Lander, where Hampton interviewed him.
Thomas admitted to pulling in front of the Ram truck, hopping out of his Hummer and punching the Ram’s windows because he wanted “to punch him in the face,” the affidavit claims.
The affidavit doesn’t say why Thomas wanted to assault the man in the truck.
The Hummer had front-end damage to its grill and bumper, Hampton noticed, which looked like an active braking impact. The document says the Ram truck had damage on the lower section of its bumper.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
