LA PORTE, TX (KTRK/CNN) – A Texas woman faces a felony assault charge after she was caught on video pointing what looked like a gun at other drivers on the road.
Jacob McNeil had been sleeping in a vehicle as his father drove last Wednesday morning when he was awakened by his dad throwing a cell phone to him and telling him to record.
"Shock and fear, man. Shock and fear, really,” McNeil said.
The video captured 25-year-old Amanda Downs driving down the highway, pointing what looked like a gun at the McNeils’ car.
"I wake up to some guy basically trying to knock us off the road, turned out to be a woman. And he throws me the phone and says record. As soon as I do, she comes past with her hand out the window, holding that gun, pointing it at us,” McNeil said.
La Porte Police say Downs started swerving at the McNeils’ in an apparent road rage incident before finally holding up the weapon.
McNeil and his father say the incident was terrifying.
"Well, that's a gun, and I was thinking that we need to get out of the line of where she's firing,” McNeil said.
But though it looked like a gun, police say the object was actually a novelty knife shaped to look like a firearm.
Investigators say Downs confessed to this incident and another one in July. She is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
"They told us that, whenever they interviewed her, that was the way she got through traffic. That was her method,” McNeil said.
Police say if you ever find yourself facing a similar situation, do not engage but call 911 immediately.
Copyright 2017 KTRK, La Porte Police Department via CNN. All rights reserved.
