Man charged with assault with a deadly weapon following squeegee attack at gas station

Flared tempers at the fuel pumps in Pleasanton, California, on Tuesday leading to a man being struck repeatedly in the head by a man wielding a petrol station squeegee. The attack at the Safeway gas station, began shortly after 6:30pm, and ended with one man arrested for felony assault and the other receiving stitches at the hospital. The victim, a Pleasanton man, says the confrontation began while he was pumping gas after he and the other man exchanged heated words.

The victim says the gas station lines were long and after waiting behind the car of the attacker, who had finished pumping his gas but was not leaving, the victim drove to another pump and made an offensive gesture to the man after the man cursed at him. According to the victim, both then swapped short, barbed comments. "The other guy got into his car and started to drive away, but came back and grabbed a squeegee," the victim said. "He approached me, swinging the squeegee."

The victim said he was temporarily blinded by the soap and water, which prompted him to start toward his attacker, who was about three feet away, which is when the suspect struck the victim several times in the head, gashing open his scalp and eyebrow area. "I tried to hit him and then push him away after the first strike hit my head. I was in such shock it was happening," he said. "The man got into his red Honda Prelude and started to drive away, but I snapped photos of his plate and he stopped." Other customers at the station called police, and at least one Safeway employee witnessed the altercation, according to the victim.

The victim, in his mid-40s, described his head and facial injuries as "gashes" that required stitches at ValleyCare Medical Center, Pleasanton. Dublin Police Lieutenant Herb Walters confirmed an arrest was made at the scene, calling it a "road rage incident," but did not release any further details of the attack or suspect. The suspect, who was booked into the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and released on $30,000 bail, is due for arraignment at the Gale Schenone Hall of Justice, Pleasanton, for 245(a)(1)(F) California Penal Code (Assault With a Deadly Weapon - Felony), according to court records.