Police arrest Vance man in road rage case

VANCE | A man accused of attacking another driver in a fit of road rage was arrested Wednesday.

Jessie Preston Bell, 20, was charged with first-degree assault and held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on a $20,000 bond Wednesday afternoon.

The 28-year-old victim was found on the side of U.S. Highway 11 in Vance at about

11 a.m. Feb. 8. He told police officers that he had inadvertently pulled out in front of a black truck at the intersection of Highway 11 and High Road, said Capt. Loyd Baker, commander of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit. The other driver began tailgating, he said, so he pulled to the shoulder to let the other driver pass. Instead, the driver got out of his truck with a baseball bat and hit the victim in the head, knocking him unconscious and causing brain bleeding, Baker said.

Baker said that a Vance police officer located a black Toyota truck with custom rims that matched the description provided. Investigators identified Bell as the owner and talked to acquaintances who said he was responsible for the attack, Baker said. He was arrested at his home in Vance on Wednesday.

The victim was still being treated at DCH Regional Medical Center on Wednesday afternoon.